Photos and Information on Bed Bugs: Learn the Health Risks & How to Detect Them!
Bed Bug infestations are a major problem that have increased in occurrence over the past decade. The monetary and psychological costs arising from these pests can cause extreme financial burdens to home owners and businesses alike.
Mattress Safe® provides bed bug certified mattress and box spring encasements to protect your family as well as your bedding investment from bed bugs.
The Importance of Mattress Encasements
Mattress and box spring protectors are very important weapons to protect your bedding against bed bugs or during a bed bug treatment program.
Mattress Safe® Bed Bug Certified Mattress Encasements:
- Help to eliminate bed bug hiding spots
- Address early detection of bed bug infestation
- Protect and recover your expensive bedding investment
- Stop the escaping of bed bugs
A bed bug certified encasement creates a barrier between the mattress and person sleeping on it. Mattress Safe® laminated "Superior" or "Ultimate" encasement will not allow bed bugs to enter, escape or bite through the encasement. Used as a prevention tool or during a treatment program, bed bug certified mattress encasements are safe, eco-friendly, and provide non-chemical protection.
Bed Bug Certified Mattress & Box Spring Protectors Eliminate the Primary Hiding Spots of Bed Bugs
Mattress Encasements must remain on the mattress during quarantine for 18 months or longer during bed bug treatments. This length quarantine period is due to the fact that bed bugs can live for 1 1/2 years without feeding. Mattress Safe® offers the unique "Duo" Protection System consisting of the "Superior" or "Ultimate" Total Mattress Encasement plus the "Simplistic" Overlay Topper with corner anchor bands, thus enabling the removal of the topper for laundering or when maintenance is required. The "Duo" Protection System provides an extra layer of comfort and with the "Ultimate" mattress encasement, it also allows the option of flipping the mattress anytime during the quarantine period.
About Bed Bugs
Bed bugs are small parasitic insects, roughly the size of an apple seed. These insects are elusive, preferring to spend most of their time hiding in undisturbed areas. Bed bugs are well known to be "hitch-hikers" and are often carried unnoticed by their hosts to infest new locations.
Because of their elusive nature, one of the first signs of a bed bug infestation are the actual bed bug bites people suffer, leaving one to wonder "What do bed bugs look like?"
Adult bed bugs are light to reddish-brown, flattened, oval shaped, and have no developed wings. Preferring to feed on human blood, these insects get their name from their preferred habitat. Bed bugs are mainly active at night and are capable of feeding unnoticed on their hosts.
Bed bugs have six life stages (five immature and one adult stage). They will shed their skins through multiple stages of their life cycle. The discarded outer shells look like clear, empty exoskeletons of the bugs themselves and are often one of the early signs of an infestation. Bed bugs must take a blood meal before molting to the next stage. An adult bed bug may have fed on you or your family as many as 6 times.
Female bed bugs lay about five eggs daily throughout their adult lives in a sheltered location such as mattress seams, crevices in box springs, spaces under baseboards, etc. Bed bug eggs hatch in about 4-12 days. Adult bed bugs live 6-12 months. Bed bugs can survive a wide range of temperatures. Bed bugs will die after 15 minutes of exposure to -32°C (-26°F) and all stages of life are killed by 15 minutes of exposure to 46°C (115°F).
Because of the fact that bed bugs are capable of surviving for extended periods of time without feeding, they can be a difficult pest to manage.
Health Risks of Bed Bugs
Bed bugs can cause a number of health effects including skin rashes, psychological effects, and allergic symptoms. No study has clearly found that the insect is able to transmit disease to a human being.
Bed bug bites, may range from no visible effects to prominent blisters. Treatment involves the elimination of the insect but is otherwise symptomatic.
Bed bug populations are rapidly increasing. Additional research is needed to determine the reasons for the resurgence, the potential for bed bugs to transmit disease, and their impact on public health.
Signs of Bed Bugs
Signs of a bed bug infestation usually start with bite marks appearing on the face, neck, arms, hands and other body parts. Additional signs of bed bugs may include the exoskeletons of bed bugs after molting, bed bugs in the fold of mattresses and sheets, a sweet musty odor, and rusty-colored blood spots from their blood-filled fecal material that is often excreted on the mattress or nearby furniture.
Bed bugs usually remain close to their hosts, commonly in or near beds or couches. Harborage areas can vary greatly, however, including luggage, vehicles, furniture and bedside clutter. Bed bugs may also nest near animals that have nested within a dwelling, such as bats, birds or rodents.
Bed bugs are an "equal opportunity infester." They do not discriminate between properties based upon location, type, or quality. Due simply to their nature, logistics, and other factors, every lodging location and multi-family property is subject to bed bug infestation.
If a bed bug infestation is found, a professional pest management company should be contacted for proper control measures. Control practices against these secretive pests must be detailed and extensive. Most of the bed bugs will be located around areas where people rest, but a percentage of bugs will move away from these sites to "hide" in more remote areas. If people do not address these "remote bugs", an infestation will continue. Along with professional pest management controls, a bed bug certified mattress encasement will help protect you from bed bug attacks.
Bed Bug Prevention Tips*:
- Launder clothing on High temperature and vacuum suitcases after returning from a vacation (be sure to discard vacuum bag in a sealed container). SuitcaseSafe® from Mattress Safe, Inc. is a good remedy to discourage hitch hiking bed bugs likewise for your clothes, use a LaundrySafe® encasement by Mattress Safe, Inc. while on your trip.
- Check your bed sheets and along the seams of the mattress for tell-tale fecal matter, resembling tiny blood spots.
- Consider bringing a large plastic trash bag to keep your suitcase in during hotel stays or use a SuitcaseSafe® encasement manufactured by Mattress Safe, Inc.
- Carry a small flashlight to assist you with quick visual inspections.
- Call pest control professionals immediately to address an infestation as bed bugs are elusive creatures and difficult to control.
*Source: National Pest Management Association, Inc.
http://www.pestworld.org/For-Consumers/Pest-Guide/Pest/Bed-Bugs
Portions of content provided by:
Entomologist Paul J. Bello, PJB Pest Management Consulting, LLC. - Author of "The Bed Bug Combat Manual"