Bedbugs: Biology and Health Significance
Bedbug Biology
Bedbugs are small, flattened insects with piercing mouthparts, who feed on the blood of warm-blooded animals (including humans). They are wingless and reach about the size of a ladybug when they are full grown. They also give off a sickening stench that can become quite overpowering when an infestation is severe.
Adult female bedbugs lay two to four eggs a day in crevices in upholstery, furnishings, baseboards or other trim, picture frames, or pretty much anywhere else they can find a suitable crack in close proximity to humans. The nymphs hatch about one to three weeks later, and immediately set out looking for a blood meal. The nymphs undergo five molts before reaching adulthood, and the total time from egg to adult ranges from one to two months.
Bedbugs feed at night, so they tend to take up residence in close proximity to where their hosts sleep. Adult bedbugs often live in structural cracks and gaps in bed frames, night tables, and headboards; as well as in mattresses and structural elements of a room. There, they lie in wait until you hit the sack and fall asleep -- and then they make their move.
Bedbugs reproduce prolifically. It's not at all unusual for exterminators to encounter thousands of bedbugs in a single mattress. They also can spread to adjacent bedrooms (or adjacent units in apartment houses, hotels, motels, condos, co-ops, and other multiple dwellings), so one infested room or unit can rapidly lead to a bedbug problem in an entire building.
Unlike the case with many other pest problems, cleanliness is not related very much to bedbug problems. Although frequent vacuuming and cleaning may reduce the chances of a few stray, hitchhiking bedbugs becoming established in a new location, bedbugs can become established in the most immaculate of surroundings. (Also for this reason, the commonly-believed association of bedbugs with poor personal hygiene is unfair and untrue.
Still, bedbugs can gross out even exterminators. Many exterminators still refuse to treat bedbugs. Those who do consider bedbug jobs the very worst, most unpleasant work that they do. Jim O'Brien of Pest Quest Pest Management in NYC, even tells a story of a bedbug job so bad that he stripped naked in his back yard before going into his house, for fear of carrying bedbugs into his home.
Bedbugs and Human Health
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Bedbug bites affect people differently. Some people get terrible rashes and welts, accompanied by intense itching and even pain. Others, however, seem to have little or no reaction.
In terms of disease transmission, bedbugs are believed to be capable of transmitting relapsing fever, Chagas disease, and possibly hepatitis; but at the time of this writing, there is no direct evidence of any cases of disease transmission by bedbugs in North America. The USCDC does not consider bedbugs to be vectors of any serious diseases.
Still, the bites are annoying enough and can lead to infection. Some people are also particularly sensitive to bedbug bites and can suffer serious, painful inflammation and other skin conditions that can require medical treatment. Or as the CDC so clearly puts it:
"Bed bug bites can result in clinical manifestations; the most common are small clusters of extremely pruritic, erythematous papules or wheals that represent repeated feedings by a single bed bug... Less common but more severe manifestations include grouped vesicles, giant urticaria, and hemorrhagic bullous eruptions ... Bites should be managed symptomatically with topical emollients, topical corticosteroids, oral antihistamines, or some combination of these treatments....
Although bed bugs could theoretically act as a disease vector, as is the case with body lice, which transmit Bartonella quintana (the causal agent of trench fever) among homeless persons..., bed bugs have never been shown to transmit disease in vivo..."
(You can read the rest here if you like.)
So in a nutshell, although some people can get serious rashes from bedbug bites, and the bites can become infected, there is no evidence that they spread serious diseases from person to person. If your exterminator tries to tell you that they do, then it's time to find a new exterminator.
Next: Preparing for Professional Bedbug Control