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If you wake up one morning with prickly lumps on your body, you will probably think that you had been bitten by mosquitoes or ants the night beforehand, but there is also a possibility that bedbugs have got at you. If this occurs in your own bed, then you have worries. If you are in a hotel, go and complain to the manager.

You can be sure that most hotel bosses will take complaints about bed bugs very seriously, because it is well known that the incidents of bedbugs are rising fast and have been since 1995.

It is also everyday knowledge that large compensation payments have been made against hotels. Some of them were worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Most so-called ’bed bugs’ will only feed on people if their favourite host, frequently chickens, are not on hand, but there is one that only sucks human blood and that species is known as Cimex lectularius.

Cimex lectularius was virtually extinct in the developed world by the late 1950’s because of the extensive use of DDT in houses and hotels to eradicate all pests such as ants, bed bugs, silverfish, millipedes and cockroaches.

However, there has been a gigantic resurgence in the number of bedbugs since 1995. In fact, between 1995 and 2001, one report on bedbugs in London reported that incidents of bedbug call-outs had doubled every year.

The resurgence in bedbug numbers has been attributed to global travel and immigration from Asia and Africa. However, it is also probable that they were never entirely wiped out and that they have become resistant to modern insecticides. There is not a lot you can spread down or spray around now that will kill bedbugs.

So, what do bedbugs look like? Well, there are plenty of different types of bed bugs, but most of them are brownish, unless they have just fed and then there is a red tinge to them. However, they may also be white to yellowish. Sometimes, they look striped because bedbugs are covered with short hairs which reflect light like a stripy lawn.

Bedbugs have a beak-like mouth-piece with two tubes. One tube pumps saliva into you and the other sucks blood out. The spittle contains anti-coagulant and an analgesic, so that you do not realise that you have been bitten until long after the bedbug has left.

Some people never know they have been bitten, because they are not allergic to the spittle, others get a lump or slight swelling almost right away, but sometimes the swelling can take a week to come out. These bites may or may not be itchy.

If you travel much, or if you go to parts of the world that are less concerned with hygiene, you must be wary about not taking bedbugs home with you. They will not remain on your body, but they may lay eggs in your clothing or hide in your suitcase.

Consequently, either before you go home or immediately on arrival have your clothes washed at a temperature above 46c and treat your suitcase with a jet of steam or hot air.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently concerned with Bed Bug Covers For Mattress. If you want to know more, visit our website now at Pest Management at Home.

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