How Not to Let the Bed Bugs Bite


Just the thought of bed bugs is enough to keep you up at night. Insidiously emerging from sheets, blankets, pillowcases, mattresses, box springs, carpets, and upholstery, these nearly ubiquitous household pests bite human skin, squirt natural anesthetics into the wound, feed on human blood for 10 to 20 minutes at a time, and crawl back to their hiding places to reproduce.

The bugs that can inhabit your bed aren't just creepy to think about. After the painkilling chemicals in their saliva wear off, the site of the bite can tingle and itch. That is because of the astonishing variety of toxic chemicals spat out by the bed bug to help it obtain its meal.

Bed bugs secrete a chemical nitrophyrin, which makes the blood vessels in the skin dilate and fill with blood. They release an enzyme called apyrase, which acts as kind of "meat tenderizer" to stop blood vessels from repairing the site of the bit. These parasitic insects even produce their own antimicrobial agents that keep them from acquiring infections from you, although they can inject over 40 different kinds of disease-causing microorganisms back into their hosts.

Itch and scratching often follow bed bug bites. A significant percentage of people bitten by these creepy-crawlies develop allergic reactions causing purple blotches on the skin or hives, and even, in the very worst cases, hemolytic anemia, which breaks down red blood cells. Many people have undergone weeks or months of invasive and expensive medical testing to track down the causes of allergies and autoimmune diseases only to find out by accident or inspection that the real culprit was bed bug bites. Even worse, these insects can spread Salmonella, Lyme disease, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, hepatitis E, Q fever, aspergilliosis, and a variety of parasitic infections.

Know Your Bed Bug

Bed bugs are in the same insect family as aphids and cicadas. As adults, they are reddish-brown ovals that grow up to 1/8 of an inch (about 3 mm) across. Their two wings are vestigial; they cannot fly. Like all other insects, they have six legs, and as hematophagous, blood-sucking insects, their heads end in sharp pincers.

From egg to adult, this blood-sucking insect goes through 5 instars, or developmental stages. After the egg hatches, the larva grows a tough exoskeleton that it "fills in." To molt out of its exoskeleton, it has to feed on human blood. (This is true of the two species that feed on humans; there are other species of closely related creatures that feed on the blood of birds, bats, and pets.) Every time a bed bug molts, it leaves its "shell" behind as a tell-tale sign of infestation. After each molting, the hymen, or abdomen, gets lighter, and the thorax, or trunk, gets darker.

A much more noticeable sign of infestation, however, is the accumulation of bed bug feces. Like other animals, beg bugs poop. They prefer the cracks along the edges of mattresses and box springs for their latrine. Any brown, crusty accumulation underneath the sheets at the edge of the bed may indicate the problem.

Bed bugs also have a skunk-like function when they become alarmed. Anything that threatens the insect may trigger the release of a sickly sweet odor, but humans cannot detect the odor of just one or two bugs. Many pest companies have trained dogs to track bed bug odor; these dogs are typically 80% to 100% accurate, and false positives (pointing at bed bugs that are not there) are rare.

Know Your Bed Bug Bite

If you are bitten by just one or two bugs, chances are you won't even notice. If you are bitten by a family of bugs, however, you almost certainly will.

Bed bugs feed in a "breakfast, lunch, and dinner" pattern. Usually the bites occur in a line running up or across an arm or leg, concentrated in groups of three.

Since these pests don't just live in beds, the bites may appear in unexpected locations. One doctor reported seeing a number of female patients who had lines of bed bug marks across the backs of their knees. It turned out that all of the patients rode the same commuter train, and were being bitten insects also riding the train to work in seat cushions.

The real reason to control bed bugs, besides the bites, is the variety of after-effects of the bites. Not just the bites but the mere presence of the creature can cause:

Allergic reactions, including asthma.

Anemia, especially in infants and the elderly who are confined to bed.

Food poisoning, from Salmonella in their feces.

Hepatitis B, when the insect bites someone who has the virus and then bites someone else who does not.

A number of diseases that are also carried by ticks and fleas, such as Lyme disease, leishimaniasis, Q fever, and tryposomaniasis.

Getting Rid of Bed Bugs for Good

Professional bed bug extermination is not cheap. A survey in New York City in 2010 found that the average cost of exterminating an infestation in a single room was $1,310. Exterminating the insects in a house that has more than three bedrooms can cost more than $5,000, not including the cost of hotel stays that are necessary while the house is being heated. Most families simply can't afford to hire professionals to take care of their bed bug problems, but they have to control bed bugs for the sake of health.

The first thing to know about do-it-yourself bed bug control is that insecticides usually don't work. These pests have developed resistance to the pyrethrin insecticides you can buy for home treatment. The poisons that actually kill them are too dangerous for home use, especially for families that have children, elders, or pets.

So what can you do to keep the bed bugs out? Here are my 10 suggestions.

Place a cover on the mattress. The mattress cover will keep an insect from retreating to its daytime hideouts, and since the cover is white, it makes identifying the bugs easier.