There is a stigma about bed bugs. People are led to believe that a bed bug infestation is a manifestation of poor housekeeping or hygiene. But that is not the case.
The truth is that the common bed bug has been a houehold pest for as long as there have been houses. In fact they were likely plaguing man long before people moved from cave to house.
A New York Times article speculated that 1 in 5 Americans have been plagued by bed bugs. A rising number of infestations requring professional eradication services have been recorded in Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Washington D.C., New York City, Miami and Baltimore. Recent studies also indicate a dramatic increase in infestations in every U.S. state, throughout Europe, in Australia and in many Asian countries.
At the beginning of 2020, the French Union for Pest Control stated that, “France’s bed bug problem has seen the number of cases go from 180,000 to 400,000 in just two years”.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) all list bed bugs as a public health pest. Fortunately bed bugs are more an irritant and source of psychological torment than serious health threat. Bed bugs are not known to transmit or spread infectious disease, but their bites do create skin lesions (itchy bites).
Bed bugs feast mostly at night. They generally crawl from host to host. Once the host begins noticing bites, and signs of infestation, needless to say, insomonia becomes a common ailment.
The recent increase in bed bugs in the United States is attributed to a rise in international travel, a lack of knowledge about how to prevent infestations, and the resistance of bed bugs to many over the counter pesticides. The professionals at Baron Services may not be able to assist with the former, but they can help with the later.
Bed bugs can be hard to find and identify. They can be as small as the head of pin, and in general they hide in dark seams of fabric on mattresses and cushions. They are difficult to erradicate. We bring them into our hotel rooms, homes and offices on suitcases and clothes. And bed bugs can thrive in a clean environment as well as they do in a dirty one.
As they live for many months without having a meal of human blood, they may be present for quite sometime before being noticed. But when active they reproduce in huge numbers. A female can lay two to five eggs each day and as a result, a small infestation can grow rapidly.
But bed bugs can be controlled and erradicated. The first step comes with getting accurate information about prevention, control, and elimination. Here too the professionals at Baron Services, the oldest pest control company in Bullhead City and the Colorado River Valley, can assist and provide peace of mind.
Written by Jim Hinckley of Jim Hinckley’s America