Bed Bugs
What are Bed Bugs?
Bedbugs are small parasitic insects that feed exclusively on the blood of warm-blooded animals. Bedbugs can be found worldwide. Cimex lectularius, also known as the common bedbug, plays a role in human health due to the ability to transfer pathogens. Once inside a home, an adult female bedbug can lay up to five eggs per day, reaching approximately 500 eggs over its lifetime (approximately four to six months). Bed bugs are efficient hitchhikers and can be transported into a home on luggage, clothing, bedding, furniture, etc. (while it is possible that they can also be transported on cats and dogs, they are not bioengineered to travel through fur efficiently and prefer to feed on human blood). Adult bed bugs are flat, reddish-brown in appearance with an oval shaped body (approximately the same size as an apple seed); after feeding on blood, their only primary food source, their bodies become swollen and reddish. Immature bed bugs, or nymphs, are white to tan in color and are approximately the size of the head of a pin.
Health Effects
How Can Bed Bugs Be Harmful and Dangerous?
A bed bug bite affects each person differently. Bite responses can range from an absence of any physical signs of the bite, to a small bite mark, to a serious allergic reaction. Several small bits can cause a allergic reaction that may need medical attention. Although bed bugs are not generally known to spread any blood transmitted pathogens, their bites, can be very itchy and when scratched one can easily introduce germs into the wound. Also, if a bed bug bites you in a hotel or public area, there is a possibility for the bedbugs to introduced infected blood to the area in which they bite.
Bed bugs can also keep you awake all night, depriving you of sleep and exhausting you physically and mentally. Some people describe their experience with bed bugs as the worst thing that has ever happened to them in their lives, when they felt completely drained out and worthless. A person residing within an infested home will often begin to suffer from the effects of insomnia which include but are not limited to anxiety, irritability, inability to focus, depression, loss of appetite, and in some cases psychosis. Constant sleep deprivation combined with itchiness and unsightly reddish bumps and scabs on your skin results in stress and, if left untreated, can lead to depression and immune system weakening.
Inspection & Testing
The scope of a bed bug assessment includes a visual inspection of all visibly and physically accessible areas inside of the subject property, collection of necessary/contracted samples, and explanation of laboratory data. This inspection documents conditions present at the specific time and date of the inspection. A written report of our finding and recommendations are presented to our client upon completion. In this report, our conclusions are based upon our visual observations and samples collected specifically at the time and date of inspection and collection of limited data from the inspection site.
Our lead consultants can assist you in a number of ways:
Bed bug education
Inspection
Risk assessment
Clean-up recommendation
Post clean-up prevention
Regulations & Resources
JLM Environmental can help building owners and managers meet their regulatory requirements to test for bed bugs.
For California, 25 CCR § 40 State Housing and Community Development- Bedding states that Beds in apartments and hotels that supply beds and bedding to renters must ensure that all bedding is clean and free of bedbugs. Linens must be changed before a new occupier occupies the unit. Hotel bedding must be changed before each new guest arrives.
Bed Bug Myths
Myth: You can’t see a bed bug.
Reality: You should be able to see adult bed bugs, nymphs and eggs with your naked eye.
Myth: Bed bugs live in dirty places.
Reality: Bed bugs are not attracted to dirt and grime; they are attracted to warmth, blood and carbon dioxide. However, clutter offers more hiding spots.
Myth: Bed bugs transmit diseases.
Reality: There have been no cases or studies that indicate bed bugs transmit diseases between humans.
Myth: Bed bugs are not a public health pest.
Reality: Bed bugs are a public health pest. The EPA coordinated with CDC and USDA to identify pests of public health importance and issued a Pesticide Registration Notice that listed pests of significant public health importance. Bed bugs are on this list. In 2009, EPA and CDC collaborated on a joint statement to highlight the public health impacts of bed bugs.
Myth: Bed bugs won’t come out if the room is brightly lit.
Reality: While bed bugs prefer darkness, keeping the light on at night won’t deter these pests from biting you.
Myth: Pesticide applications alone will easily eliminate bed bug infestations.
Reality: Bed bug control can only be maintained through a treatment strategy that includes a variety of techniques plus careful attention to monitoring. Proper use of pesticides may be part of the strategy, but will not by itself eliminate bed bugs. In addition, bed bug populations in different areas of the country have developed resistance to the ways many pesticides work to kill pests. If you're dealing with a resistant population, some products and application methods may not work. It is a good idea to consult a qualified pest management professional if you have bed bugs in your home.
