I bet everyone that reads this is going to start itching, and then check underneath your bed! Sorry, but that can’t be helped. You see it seems that bedbugs, also known as Cimex Lectularius (sounds even creepier doesn’t it), are making a comeback.
The bloodsucking bugs were virtually eradicated in the United States in the 1950s. But they are now showing up practically everywhereâ€â€nursing homes, jails, apartment buildings, dormitories (video: bedbugs plaguing hotels and houses). There has been a 500% increase in the last few years!
Experts blame the resurgence on increased international travel, immigration, changes in pest-control practices, and the bugs’ growing resistance to insecticides.
Bedbugs can live for a year without a blood meal, but once they start biting their victims may be plagued with multiple bites each night.
According to this NPR Article:
For a long time, the bedbugs weren’t there. In the 1950s, exterminators armed with pesticides like DDT drove the parasites out of most of the houses in the country. But then, 10 years ago, the bugs started coming back. Exterminator Richard Kramer says he found one of the first new infestations in Washington, D.C., in 1998.
“We discovered bedbugs in a hotel downtown,” he says. “And ever since then, it’s been exponentially increasing  that’s the only way to describe it.”
Kramer runs Innovative Pest Management, a small firm near Washington. He says he gets thousands of calls a year from people who have just found bedbugs. First, he tells them not to panic. Bedbugs aren’t venomous, they don’t spread dangerous disease, and they aren’t linked to filth or moral decay.
He says the best way to fight the bugs is to make sure they don’t get into your house in the first place. When you travel, always look for brown dots – dried blood  on hotel sheets, and don’t forget to check your luggage.
“I saw a suitcase one time in an apartment  couldn’t find a bedbug on the bed, [but] looked at the suitcase [and] there had to be 200 bedbugs on this suitcase,” Kramer says. “It’s like they were catching the train. They found a way to get around.”
Harvard also has the best article I’ve seen about bedbugs right here.
Here is a short and informative National Geographic video that will tell you all about how the bedbug operates, and gross you out at the same time!
If that wasn’t enough for you, here is a 7 minute video that will definitely freak you out!
Finally, here is a lady who filed a $20 million lawsuit over bites sustained at a hotel. The suit may be outrageous, but the story is scary.
To check to see if you have bed bugs, especially when traveling:
- When you first enter the room, pull the bed covers down. If you see something moving, or if you see spots on the sheets, move to another room.
- Look for small blackish or reddish colored dots. Bedbugs usually leave signs of their presence.
- If you wake up and find a bedbug on your skin, pull it off. It does not burrow like a tick.
- Bedbugs can be found almost anywhere including the nightstand, carpeting, drawers and headboards.
- Check your clothes and luggage before you leave the hotel.
- Vacuum your suitcases before bringing them into the house.
- If you think you have bedbugs, call a professional exterminator.
For further reading see:
- Bedbugs Biting Again in U.S.
- Bed-Bugs.org
- Everything You Need to Know About Bedbugs but Were Afraid to Ask
- Hundreds Of Bed Bug Bites Sicken Couple On Cruise
Damn. The whole time I was writing this article I was itching, and I don’t even have bedbugs!
Haven’t run into bedbugs at a hotel or motel yet. But we ran into something just as bad. A motel room full of fleas. It was horrible.. a nightmare. Woke up covered in bites which hitched like crazy….. then we found the fleas. Got out of there really quick., and had to triple check everything we had.
Which is worse ? ? Fleas or Bedbugs ? ? ?
talk about nasty. all i have to say.
Thanks for the interesting article. This article really gave me the creeps. I unfortunately got to know these suck’rs (bedbugs) in Paris France. Horrible experience.
The worst is: The bites / itching bumps only start appearing after 6-7 days!! This means: you get bitten every night for 6-7 nights before you finally start noticing something is wrong. Simply horrible.
Best Regards
Philip
I JUST WANTED TO COMMENT ON THE BEDBUG THING..ALL I KNOW IS THAT MY FAMILY AND I MOVED INTO A HOME AND IT WAS ALREADY IFESTED WITH THESE SMALL PEST. WE DIDN’T FIND OUT UNTIL AROUND 4AM THAT MORN WHICH BY THAT TIME ALL OF OUR BELONGINGS WERE ALREADY IN THERE. WE THREW OUT ALL THE BEDS BUT THEY STILL CAME BACK THEY WERE IN CLOTHES, DRAWERS, AND CABINETS ALSO ON WALLS IT WAS HORRIFIC THEY EVEN MADE THEIR WAY INTO THE RIM OF MY SONS PAMPERS. WE GOT OUR HOME EXTERMINATED 2XS IN TWO TO THREE WEEKS AND NOTHING HAPPENED IT SEEMED TO HAVE GOTTEN WORSE…TIS DROVE US TO MOVE TO ANOTHER HOME AND LEAVE EVERYTING THERE WHICH WAS ALSO HORRIFIC BUT WAY BETTER THAN GETTIN ATE UP EVERY NIGHT..IM STILL FREAKED OUT TO THIS DAY…WE LEFT THE HOME WITH THE CLOTHES ON OUR BACKS AND THEN TOOK THOSE OFF AND INSTANTLY GOT RID OF THOSE…SO TO ANYONE SUFFERING FROM BEDBUGS; MY ADVICE TO YOU WOULD BE TO PACK UP AND GET THE HELL OUT OF DODGE.
well i am 11 and when me and my family went on a trip, when i went to bed i saw these bed bugs and i didn’t no what they where so i didn’t really think that the could do any thing to me and then i told my little sister that i had bugs in my bed and she was like i am going to tell mom & dad so she told them, so my dad look at the bugs and he said the where bed bugs, so my mom was like did you get bit and i did, so we called the people who work there and the got some people to take a look at it, so they told us we would have to go to a new room so we did
Hopefully they’re not going to come to my country too, as we already have another nasty kind of bugs, like those stinky kitchen roaches. I can’t thing of something more terrifying than waking out with a couple of nasty critters on your body. Yachs
Disgusting little critters, I had them attack me in a little fleabag hotel on a small island in the Philippines. This was the only hotel on this God forsaken island and next boat out was not until the morning after. They got me on my arm and hand, I could not even close my fist for days after…
Kim:)
I know, Derek – it’s like, “Oh, thanks for telling us, John!” :) and then in the next breath, it’s like, “Oh, thanks for telling us, John!” :P
Oh that’s gross. That was informative, but oh so disgusting. On the one hand I’m thankful for the information. On the other I’m pretty grossed out and feeling a little itchier than I did before!
Did you find bed bugs in your own home?
Ok, I totally itch now! Yikes! I’d heard bits and pieces over the last few years about their return, but, have been just blocking it out of my reality. I just had to sit here and watch all three of these videos, though! No more ‘blocking’ available! Eeks!
I got those bugs that get under your skin once, from this little boy I was babysitting. That offered the same kind of heebie-jeebies! Oh, I remember – they’re called scabies! It was awful!
$20 million? Who do I sue for the thousands of misquito bites I sustained growing up in the mid-west?
Oh man, that National Geographic video was corny.
This where I say it pays to live in Iceland; too cold equals minimal insect infestations. Sleep tight.
OMG those are disgusting little creatures and yet I watched all the videos lol, my curiosity overpowered my disgust..