New England Bed Bug Forum

Recently with a plane shut down for what was thought to be the monkey pox virus, which turned out to be bed bug bites, there has been some questions as to if bed bugs can transmit diseases.  Here is the bed bug news on this subject.  Although bed bugs do carry 24 known pathogens, they are not known scientifically to be able to transmit any kind of diseases.  Bed bug bites won’t make you sick by giving you monkey pox, aids, malaria, or any other known blood transmitted disease. Though not known to carry diseases, bed bugs can substantially reduce quality of life by causing discomfort, sleeplessness, anxiety, and embarrassment. According to some health experts, the added stress from living with bed bugs can have a significant impact on the emotional health and well-being of certain individuals.

Mosquitoes, though, can carry diseases, such as malaria and West Nile disease, which can be transmitted to humans.

It’s not known why bed bugs can’t transmit diseases to humans by their bites when mosquitoes can.  They both have the same kind of blood sucking process in which they feed.  Bed bugs pierce their human victims skin and inject an anesthetic and coagulant into the person’s blood stream. That means the person will not feel anything while the bedbug then inserts a tiny tube into the person’s bloodstream and starts sipping a small quantity of the sleeping person’s blood which comes out of the person slowly because of the effect of the coagulant. Mosquitoes feed on humans in the same way as bed bugs.

So, in closing, its not to say there are no worries about being bitten by bed bugs and getting a disease, because you never really know.  But, science, for now says you can’t get any diseases from bed bug bites….hopefully science is right.  Still if I had a bed bug problem come up I would have it inspected and exterminated immediately.  Who wants to get bitten by bed bugs for one and do you really want to take a chance that science is wrong?

Chances are, you or someone you know has had a run-in with bed bugs. It might have happened in a scrupulously clean bedroom. Or maybe it was a hotel room, office or college dorm. In the February issue of Scientific American entomologist Kenneth Haynes of the University of Kentucky explains how, after a lengthy absence, bed bugs are staging a comeback. The good news is scientists are intensively studying these insects, and their insights suggest novel ways of detecting the bugs and eradicating infestations. Some of those potential solutions are a long way off, however. In the meantime the best bet is to avoid bringing bed bugs home in the first place.

Do bed bugs only feed on humans?

No. Bed bugs are also pests in poultry operations, and they’re known to drink the blood of bats. Some labs that study bed bugs rear them on guinea pigs and mice. The bugs might feed on cats and dogs. Fur is probably a barrier to them, but they could feed at any place on the body without fur. Bed bugs are not specific to humans, but they are adapted to parasitizing us.

Could you have a bed bug infestation in your home and not know it?

That’s very possible. I have heard of couples reporting that only one partner is getting bitten. The truth is that both are getting bitten, but only one has a reaction to the bites. Thirty percent of people or more don’t react to bed bug bites at all, and the elderly are less reactive than the rest of the population. Among those people who do react to the bites, most of them don’t respond to early bites, but develop a sensitivity to subsequent ones. Those individuals who are not sensitive to bed bug bites may not know they have an infestation. Because bed bugs are nocturnally active, it’s hard to see other signs of their presence—unless you’re accustomed to waking up at 3 A.M. and taking a census. With a huge infestation, bed bugs start to move away from the bed, so you’re more likely to see one in an exposed place during the day. In very severe infestations people can become anemic. That takes a lot of bugs though—maybe 100,000 feeding once a week or more.

Another clue to infestation is odor. Like many species of bugs, bed bugs release odors called alarm pheromones. When a group of bed bugs gets disturbed, you may get a whiff of that odor, which is similar to the odor stink bugs give off. At higher concentrations the odor is unpleasant. Some people say at low concentrations it’s a pleasant smell—like coriander. In fact, older literature refers to the bed bug as the coriander bug. I’ve tried to smell the coriander scent in bed bug alarm pheromones and have not been able to make the connection, however.

What can one do to avoid getting bed bugs?
The first thing is you have to be able to recognize and distinguish a bed bug from any other insect. Everything starts to look like a bed bug if you start to worry about them. An adult bed bug is about the size and shape of an apple seed. If it has not fed recently it will be flattened and brown. If it has fed it will be round in circumference and reddish. Immature bed bugs have a similar appearance to adults, with the smallest being the size of the head of a pin. You can then learn to look for their fecal spots, which can be easier to detect than the bugs themselves. Check your hotel rooms when you travel. And think twice before bringing home used furniture. If you are purchasing used furniture, ask the furniture store how they deal with bed bugs. If they have no plan whatsoever, that’s probably not a good sign. If you purchase used clothing, put it through a clothes dryer on a medium to high setting for a cycle as soon as you bring it home. And before you move into an apartment, ask the landlord whether there has been a bed bug infestation, or whether the building has ever been treated for bed bugs.

Why are bed bugs so hard to get rid of?

Bed bugs are extremely difficult to get rid of once they’ve established themselves in a home base, apartment, home, business, or any dwelling for that matter. What makes it so hard to get rid of bed bugs?

Well, There are a couple of reasons why it is so hard to get rid of bed bugs once they have made a foot-hold. Up to 88 percent bed bugs are resistant to pesticides and insecticides that you would normally be able to treat other insect infestations with. Secondly bed bugs are not like cockroaches, for example, which have pads on their feet. You can spray a pesticide or insecticide down and and when the cockroaches walk over it the chemical sticks to these padded feet and they’re deader than a door nail. Bed bugs have claws on their feet with a much smaller surface area that the chemicals do not adhere to, thus it doesn’t kill them as effectively.

Bed Bug nymphs are only a millimeter wide. They can crawl in the middle of your mattress and just  come out for a while and feed. Bed bugs are small, flat, insects that are very adept at squeezing themselves into tiny spaces. They can hide in places a person would never think of looking for them, like behind loose wallpaper or under electrical switch plates. To successfully get rid of a bed bug infestation, you’ve got to find and kill every viable bed bug, which is not an easy task.

These parasitic insects multiply by leaps and bounds, a single female can lay 500 eggs during her life, and within a few months her offspring can reproduce as well. A few individuals introduced to a new environment can increase dramatically. Depending on conditions, bed bugs can produce 3 or 4 generations in one year. Additionally, bed bugs reproduce most quickly in temperatures between 70 degrees to 82 degrees, right in the range where most people keep their dwelling temperature at. Bed Bugs have been known to live for 18 months without a blood meal in a controlled environment. Bed bugs can go a very long time without feeding, should no host, meaning you, be present to provide them with needed blood meals. Scientists have documented adult bed bugs living up to 550 days without eating, and nymphs may last for months. So simply leaving an infested dwelling unoccupied for a few months in hopes of starving them out will do nothing to discourage the little freeloaders. So what happens is that these little bloodsuckers just hang out, your pesticide or insecticide degrades and by the time the bed bugs come out to feed the insecticide or pesticide is useless.

Just to make their extermination more difficult, bed bugs can sense chemical odors, and may avoid areas where cleaning agents or even pesticides have been applied.

Those are the main reasons why bed bugs are hard to get rid of.

One way to get rid of bed bugs is to use heat to kill them. This effective measure to kill insect infestations has been around for a very long time. Farmers in ancient times would burn down crops infested with bugs so that they would not spread to other uninfected crops. We are not saying you have to burn down your house in order to get rid of a bed bug problem. Many bed bug management companies that offer bed bug inspection and chemical extermination also offer heat treatment in getting rid of bed bugs. Some pest control agents even have new mobile heat treatment units that you can load your belonging into that cook bed bugs and other insects, thus getting rid of them.

September will mark the first National Bed Bug Awareness Month in which U.S. Rep. Robert Dold, (R-Ill.) and 10 of the foremost bed bug experts from across the country team up to create videos, articles and interviews geared toward helping the public fight back against bed bugs.

This educational campaign serves as a comprehensive response to the continued spread bed bugs throughout the country. National Bed Bug Awareness Month will kick off Sept. 1 with the launch of an interactive, online tutorial series and culminate with the North American Bed Bug Summit being held in Chicago from the Sept. 25-27 at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare.

National Bed Bug Awareness Month is an important step in educating the public about bed bugs as the pest takes root in untouched regions of the country.

“Last year bed bugs received a tremendous push in awareness due to constant media exposure. However, this year awareness is stagnating, not because bed bugs have gone away, but because they are not receiving enough coverage,” said Cooper. “In the war against bed bugs education is still critical. This campaign is aimed at creating awareness in a more engaging and interactive way.”

Research entomologist and doctoral candidate Richard Cooper of Rutgers University has been championing public education as crucial element in the war against bed bugs since 2003. Cooper acknowledges that while there is increased awareness, actual education is lacking.

“The initial lack of public education and awareness enabled bed bugs to spread and become a major problem in the United States,” said Cooper. “Although awareness that bed bugs exist has vastly improved, education has not. There are still myths and misconceptions that allow bed bugs to continue to spread. Without the proper education, prevention is not accomplished and the spread is not stemmed.”

“During the past three years bed bugs have proven to be an extraordinarily complex pest to deal with on a large scale,” said Dold. “In order to develop both practical and effective bed bug treatment methods, leaders in government, the private sector and even local communities will need to collaborate closely to find long-term solutions. The work being done at this summit is a step in that direction.”

The North American Bed Bug Summit represents the culmination of National Bed Bug Awareness Month. The summit, officially titled Bed Bug University: North American Summit, will bring together 26 of the leading entomologists and bed bug experts from around the world together with a cross-section of affected industries.

By gathering stakeholders such as government agencies, colleges and universities, health care, hospitality and multifamily housing under one roof, entomologists and experts will able to provide an educational blue-print for dealing with bed bugs across a variety of sectors.

The Summit will also demonstrate over 70 of the latest bed bug technologies including all-natural bed bugs sprays such as Stop Bugging Me!, entomologist approved mattress encasement’s such as Protect-a-Bed™ and BugZip Luggage Protectors.

A exhibit about the invasion of the bloodsuckers, bed bugs and beyond is now running at the Peabody museum in New Haven.  This exhibit is very hands on and is not only good for a lot of useful information on bed bugs, but is also a great and fun learning experience for  kids of all ages.  There are not only 3-D models of bed bugs and other bloodsucking insects, it is filled with some cool interactive games and morphing programs that show the evolution of bloodsucking insects such as, bed bugs, mosquito’s and fleas.

One of the games/interactive’s that is a must to play is spot the bloodsucker.  This is a very funny game in where you have to spot and identify the blood sucking insects in time so that, Gary, can sleep through the night.

How do you identify bedbugs, lice, mosquitoes, fleas and other bloodsucking arthropods? Media headlines are full of stories about these animals and this exhibit at the Peabody museum in New Haven will give visitors the chance to meet these common human parasites up close (but safely!). A family-friendly multi-media display, it will include interactives, giant models, preserved and living specimens, film footage of blood feeding, and signage that explores where and how they live. Visitors will learn about the complex evolution of their mouth parts that enables blood feeding and how these organisms differ from other household pests. Large-scale photos and specimens will compare and contrast them with common lookalikes such as spiders, mites, beetles, millipedes and silverfish. Finally there will be information on how to treat for and protect yourself from these unwelcome guests.

Here is a very alarming case of  a mosquito passing on a sexually transmitted disease to a human.  If mosquito’s can pass on an STD to a person can a bed bug do the same?

I am not a biologist or medical professional but, my common sense tells me that if an insect is injecting some kind of stimulant into your body in order to numb the area then, whatever they are injecting into you may make you susceptible to an STD.

Bed bugs and mosquito’s have the same kind of feeding habit, wherein they inject you with a numbing agent that their body produces.  After this stimulant/agent is injected into a human the bug can feed on your blood without you knowing.

Here is the article about a scientist being infected with a sexually transmitted disease by a mosquito.

Scientists think they may have documented the first case of a sexually transmitted insect-borne disease, according to a study in Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Brian Foy, a vector biologist at Colorado State University who traveled to Senegal, was bitten by a mosquito and subsequently developed the Zika virus, which causes fatigue and joint pains.

When Foy returned to the U.S. and had sex with his wife, he unknowingly transmitted the disease to her.

Foy, who is also the author of the study, initially wrote about three anonymous patients, but later revealed in an interview with Science Now that he is patient No. 1; his colleague, Kevin Kobylinski, a Ph.D student who accompanied Foy on the trip, is patient No. 2; and Foy’s wife, Joy Chilson Foy, is patient No. 3. Chilson Foy co-authored the study.

Foy and Kobylinski returned from Senegal in August 2008 after collecting mosquitoes as part of their research. Five days later, they both developed rashes on their torsos, fatigue, headaches, and swollen, painful wrists, knees and ankles. Foy said he also had an inflamed prostate, painful urination and blood in his semen.

By early September, Chilson Foy became ill – she also had a headache with hypersensitivity to light, muscle pains and chills. The Foy’s children did not get sick. The couple said they started to feel better within a week, except for the joint pains.

The Foys took their case to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lab for insect-borne diseases in Fort Collins, Colo., and the scientists there were just as stumped. Foy and Kobylinski both tested positive for dengue fever, but Chilson Foy did not. However, a medical entomologist at the University of Texas Medical Brach at Galveston, Andrew Haddow, had another theory – the Zika virus.

Since Foy had kept serum samples frozen, he had a colleague of Haddow’s run tests and sure enough, the samples came back positive for Zika.

According to Foy’s study, the circumstantial evidence for Chilson Foy’s sexual transmission is strong.

“Patients 1 and 3 reported having vaginal sexual intercourse in the days after patient 1 returned home but before the onset of his clinical illness,” he wrote.
Foy said there are hints in other literature that sexually transmitted mosquito-borne viruses are possible. Boars who were infected with Japanese encephalitis shed the virus in their semen, and when female pigs were artificially inseminated with the boars’ semen they also became infected.

Haddow said most cases of the Zika virus are mistaken for dengue fever, which is mostly found in parts of Africa and Southeast Asia.

I don’t know about you but, after reading this article about a mosquito infecting a human with an STD I think it is possible that a bed bug could do the same.

Check out this awesome and heartbreaking video that was on Animal planet. This unfortunate family had a major bed bug infestation on their second floor that they spent almost $17,000.00 dollars to exterminate. One month after they thought the bed bugs were killed with pesticides they came back. The culprit was their four year old’s “sock Monkey” stuffed animal. Bed bugs love to hide in a child’s stuffed toy because they can smell the kids body on it from being in such close proximity with the toy. A good, eco-friendly, and safe way to kill bed bugs in children’s toys is insect heat treatment.

Going out of town soon? Traffic, blizzards or spending a long weekend with your crazy uncle may put a damper on the trip, but in your haste to come home make sure you’re not transporting six-legged souvenirs: bed bugs.

A decade ago bed bugs were still the vermin of lore — blood-sucking creepy-crawlies laid to waste by the amazingly effective (and toxic) pesticide DDT.

These pesky insects have made quite the stateside comeback lately. In 2010 bed bug outbreaks have been reported everywhere from homes to office buildings, hotels, stores, schools and hospitals. No less than former president Bill Clinton’s Manhattan offices suffered an outbreak.

Although the exact cause remains a mystery, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chalk up the resurgence of these tiny terrors to “increased resistance of bed bugs to available pesticides, greater international and domestic travel, lack of knowledge regarding control of bed bugs due to their prolonged absence, and the continuing decline or elimination of effective vector/pest control programs at state and local public health agencies.”

Translation: Bed bugs are great travelers. Every region of the country has been besieged, with bed bugs hitchhiking rides in handbags, the folds of clothes, luggage, planes, trains, cars — even ambulances.

While every major metropolis has reported infestations in 2010 (as well as a rapidly increasing number of smaller towns), some cities have been harder hit than others.

“This list is based on our experience, and it’s not to say that other cities might not be as bad,” stresses Ron Harrison, entomologist.

The results? Bustling densely populated urban epicenters with high turnovers of tourists and business travelers are among the worst sufferers. Those cities include New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

The state most afflicted by bed bugs is a bit of a surprise: Ohio. Three of the Buckeye state’s cities — Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton — are on the exterminators’ bed bug-infested lists.

“At this point we don’t know, nor does anyone know, why cities in Ohio seem to have a much higher influx of bed bugs per capital than larger cities,” says  Harrison.

One possibility is that Ohio citizens may simply be more willing to seek help rather than let infestations worsen (a common and harmful response, given the stigma of bed bugs and cost of eliminating them).

The National Pesticide Information Center, which offers information about pesticides and related topics, tracks bed bugs by state, based on the calls it receives.Its data parallels the pest management companies’, with the most inquiries coming from New York, California, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

NPIC Project Coordinator Kaci Buhl says the center has also been receiving bed bug-related calls this year from new states like Oregon, which now claims a weekly presence in the inquiry logs.

Getting rid of bed bugs is complex. It can take up to several visits and treatments. Some states have introduced bed bug related legislation. New York now requires landlords to tell new tenants whether a property has experienced past outbreaks; Pennsylvania, whose largest city Philadelphia makes our list, is considering legislation that would clarify whether a landlord or tenant is financially responsible for an infestation.

Edwin Rajotte, professor of entomology and IPM coordinator at Penn State University, says the good news is that bed bugs don’t carry diseases and are physiologically the same everywhere.

“There aren’t super bugs in Detroit or something like that,” he explains. “The main defense against bed bugs is education and awareness because everybody has a role to play in managing bed bugs, and it’s much easier to manage if you catch it early.”

Both Rajotte and Buhl stress a proactive approach when traveling this holiday season. Check the space you are sleeping in, whether it’s a hotel or the home of a loved one.

“Look everywhere, bring a flashlight and inspect the box spring, seam along the mattress, under tags on the bed, even the headboards,” instructs Buhl.

If possible, leave your luggage in the bathroom since the apple-seed-shaped insects aren’t prone to migrating there. Inspect your luggage before bringing it into your house (Harrison stores his suitcases in the garage to be safe).

Once home, launder your clothes and dry them on high heat for at least 30 minutes to kill all life stages of the potential hitchhikers.

If you spot them in your home or experience bites, do not wait to call in an exterminator. The infestation will only worsen and become more costly and challenging to treat.

Follow these simple steps and you have a good chance of sleeping tight, and not letting the bed bugs bite.

As the year winds down we thought we would give you a basic overview on some bed bug information.

Bed bugs are small, oval, non-flying insects that feed by sucking blood from humans or animals.  Bed bugs can live in any area of the home and can reside in tiny cracks in furniture as well as on textiles and upholstered furniture. They tend to be most common in areas where people sleep and generally concentrate in beds, including mattresses, boxsprings, and bed frames.

Bed bugs are most active at night and bite any exposed areas of skin while an individual is sleeping. The face, neck, hands, and arms are common sites for bed bug bites.  A bed bug bite is painless and is not noticed. Small, flat, or raised bumps on the skin are the most common sign; redness, swelling, and itching commonly occur.  Typically, no treatment is required for bed bug bites. If itching is severe, steroid creams or oral antihistamines may be used for symptom relief.

Fecal stains, egg cases, and exuviae (shed skins) of bed bugs in crevices and cracks on or near beds are suggestive that bed bugs may be present, but only observing the bugs themselves can confirm an active infestation. A professional pest-control company may be required to help identify and remove bed bugs from the home.

How Bed Bugs Feed

Bed bugs only source of nourishment is human blood. They are a nocturnal feeder, meaning they eat your blood at night or in the dark like a vampire. When darkness comes and all is still in the house the bed bugs come out of their hiding places and look for a warm host body to feed off of. This happens when you are asleep. These parasites have chemicals that they inject into the human host that acts like an anesthetic so you don’t feel the bite and also an anti-coagulant so your blood will flow freely. It only takes about fifteen minutes for them to get a full feeding of human blood, after which they go back into hiding. After the bed bug is fully  fed with your human blood and is engorged it can live from four to six months before it has to feed again.