Bed Protection Information
Information on Bed Bugs:
Information on Dust Mites:
Bed Bugs
What are Bed Bugs?
As mentioned at the outset, the common bedbug is a small (about the size of an apple seed), reddish-brown, flattened bug that looks a bit like a beetle that exclusively feeds on blood of warm-blooded animals, particularly humans, chickens and bats.
Where do bed bugs live?
They are found in al parts of the world, but hide in cracks, crevices, seams of mattresses, cracks between floorboards, anywhere they can, until the early hours of the morning, when their victims are sound asleep. They then crawl out to feed.
How do Bed Bugs feed?
Bedbugs are generally most active just before dawn. Their peak feeding period is about an hour before sunrise. They do feed at other times, too.
If all of this isn't enough to give you insomnia, consider this: they often climb the walls up to the ceiling and then jump down on their human victims, when they feel the warmth of your body and the presence of carbon dioxide rising up.
The bedbug pierces the skin of its host (you) with two hollow tubes. With one tube it injects its saliva, which contains anticoagulants and anesthetics, while with the other it withdraws the blood of its host. After feeding for about five minutes, the bug crawls back to its hiding place. Normally, the victim won't feel the bites until minutes or hours later, as the skin reacts to the injected agents. The first sign of a bite usually comes from the desire to scratch the bite site.
Although bedbugs can live for a year or as much as eighteen months without feeding, they typically seek blood every five to ten days. Bedbugs that go dormant for lack of food often live longer than a year, well-fed specimens typically live six to nine months. Low infestations may be difficult to detect, and it is not unusual for the victim not to even realize they have bedbugs early on.
Are Bed Bugs harmful?
Here, at least, is some good news. Although bed bugs could theoretically act as a disease carriers (as is actually the case with body lice and fleas) which transmit trench fever commonly among homeless persons ), bed bugs have never been shown to transmit disease. Hepatitis B viral DNA can be detected in bed bugs up to 6 weeks after they feed on infected blood, but no transmission of hepatitis B has been found. There is currently no scientific evidence that these blood-sucking insects spread diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). This means, that while the bugs are disgusting, and may produce allergic reactions in some people, they are no considered to be threatening from a medical perspective.
JAMA tells us to treat the symptoms of the bites using over-the-counter topical antihistamines or topical corticosteroids and topical, oral, or intravenous antibiotics may be required when secondary bacterial infections occur.
How to recognise sysmptons of Bed Bug bites
Since bedbugs inject an anesthetic so you won't feel them bite, you generally will only notice their bites after they have gone back into hiding. The bedbug bites usually affect only the surface of your skin, leaving a small itchy red raised mark. Sometimes the bites appear in a line or cluster, when the bedbug feeds repeatedly.
You might find the lesions in a linear or clustered fashion, indicative of repeated feedings by a single bedbug. Patterns of bites in a row or a cluster are typical as they may be disturbed while feeding. Bites may be found in a variety of places on the body.
People who are allergic to the bites may see a reaction in their skin, like larger, itchy bite marks (as big as 6 to 8 inches across - 20 cm), blisters, sometimes filled with pus and other marks of an allergic reaction, like hives.
See this page on the Mayo Clinic website for photos of actual bites.
Identifying Bed Bugs
The common bed bug, Cimex lectularius, is the species most adapted to living with humans. Mankind has been bedding down with bedbugs since ancient times, hence the expressions "Sleep Tight and Don't Let the Bedbugs Bite". Other bed bug species feed on bats and birds, especially chickens. The bed bug is wingless, reddish-brown, flattened shaped insect that grows up to 1/4 inch (7 mm) in length. They are sometimes mistaken for ticks or cockroaches. Bed bugs can move rapidly over floors, walls, ceilings and other surfaces (apparently, they have a hard time crawling up smooth metal surfaces, though)
Its lifespan is several months to more than 1 year. Newly hatched nymphs are translucent, lighter in color and become browner as they molt and reach maturity.
Biology of Bed Bugs
Female bed bugs lay their eggs in secluded areas. They deposit 1, 2 or more eggs per day. The eggs are tiny, whitish, and difficult to see on most surfaces without magnification (individual eggs are about the size of a pinhead). When first laid, the eggs are sticky, causing them to adhere to surfaces. Newly hatched nymphs are pale tan-colored and are no bigger than a pinhead. The immature nymphs resemble the adults, but are smaller and lighter in color. As they grow, they molt and shed their skin, up to five times before reaching maturity.
A blood meal is needed between each successive molt. Under favorable temperatures (70-80°F- 21 - 25 C), the bugs can reach adulthood in as little as a month, producing three or more generations per year. Cooler temperatures or limited access to victims slows their development time. Bedbugs are perversely resilient. Nymphs can survive months without feeding and the adults live for more than a year. Leaving premises unoccupied rarely eradicates an infestation. And although C. lectularius prefers feeding on humans, it will also bite other warm-blooded animals, including dogs, cats, birds, chickens and rodents.
Bed Bugs: They're on the increase and they want to feed on you! What you can do about Bed Bugs.
Bedbugs, those disgusting bugs that scurry out of a mattress or cracks in the wall to suck human blood in the early morning, are in the news again, as they are making a resurgence. Home infestations have skyrocketed. The common bed bug (Latin name, Cimex lectularius) is a wingless, reddish-brown, blood-sucking human-parasitic insect that grows up to 1/4 inch (7 mm) in length and has a lifespan from several months to more than 1 year. Bed bugs hide in cracks and crevices in beds, inside mattresses and box springs, wooden furniture, floors, cracks between floorboards, in walls, even behind wall outlets during the daytime. They emerge at night to feed on their preferred host, you and your family! According to Sanitarian Chuck Fisher in this TV interview, "The bed bugs have a tendency to climb the walls, move across the ceilings and drop on you!".
Bed bugs are found worldwide. Infestations are growing more common in the developing world, especially in unsanitary living conditions and severe crowding, but in the few years starting in 2001, even in "nice" hotels and airlines. In North America and Western Europe, strong pesticides, like DDT (now banned) made bed bug infestations rare during the second half of the 20th century.
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Dust Mites
Dust Mites (Bed Mites) are tiny insects of the arachnida class (along with spiders, scorpions, and ticks). They are very small, eight legged creatures that measure about 0.3 millimeters long. You probably won’t see any dust mites with your naked eye, but I assure you, there are plenty of them keeping you company. How do you know there are dust mites living around you? You might experience itchy eyes, runny nose, allergic rhinitis, and other symptoms that seems to get worse during the night while you are in bed
Dust mites cause considerable health problems for us which usually manifest in the form of allergies and asthma. Ironically, it is not the dust mite that most people are allergic to; it is their fecal pellet, also called the frass. The pellet is a tiny, round object that contains proteins that many people are sensitive to, and each mite produces about 20 pellets per day. Once described in the literature as “glassy”, “translucent”, and “lovely,” conversely it’s effect on us is quite the opposite. The bed mite pellet has been responsible for extensive allergy suffering and numerous asthma related deaths! Below we will talk about the variety of allergy symptoms that the frass can cause.
What are Dust Mites?
House dust mites are microscope bugs that primarily live on dead skin cells regularly shed from humans and their animal pets. Dust mites are harmless to most people. They don't carry diseases, but they can cause allergic reactions in asthmatics and others who are allergic to their feces.
Skin cells and scales, commonly called dander, are often concentrated in lounging areas, mattresses, frequently used furniture and associated carpeted areas, often harbor large numbers of these microscopic mites. Since the average human sloughs off 1/3 ounce (10 grams) of dead skin a week. That gives dust mites a lot to eat. Cats and dogs create far more dander for dust mites to eat.
A typical mattress can contain tens of thousands of dust mites. Sick yet? Nearly 100,000 mites can live in one square yard of carpet. Ready to convince your spouse to start bathing regularly? Did you know a single dust mite produces about 20 waste droppings each day, each containing a protein to which many people are allergic. Yuck! The proteins in that combination of feces and shed skin are what cause allergic reactions in humans. Depending on the person and exposure, reactions can range from itchy eyes to asthma attacks. And finally, unlike other types of mites, house dust mites are not parasites, since they only eat dead tissue. Gross, but true.
Where do Dust Mites live?
Did you know that we shed? No, not our pets...I’m talking about people! We shed about an ounce of skin scales every month, and dust mites love us for it. Since our bodies provide excellent sustenance for the mites, you can find them in places in which we spend lots of time, like: our favorite upholstered furniture, in carpeting, inside mattresses, in bed sheets and blankets, on pillows, and on soft toys.
We just cater to dust mites, don’t we? We give them plenty of food and we also provide just the right temperature (and humidity). These ubiquitous little creatures like temperatures between 65 and 80 degrees fahrenheit, the precise range of temperature in our homes. Also, they love high humidity, since these temperatures favor the mold that breaks down the dust mite’s food (human skin). If your home is humid, therefore, this is “icing on the cake” for bed mites! So why do we call the bed mites?
Dust mite allergen is relatively heavy. Compared to things like lint and fungus spores which float around readily in your household air, mite allergen tends to settle into your furniture, fabrics, sheets, pillows, and mattress. Where and when are you most vulnerable to the allergen? At night, in bed. When we sleep we have our faces resting on a pillow, our bodies on a mattress, and we are “immersed” in bed mite territory; we are taking in dust mite allergen with every breath. A typical double bed can contain more than 2 million dust mites; this can actually double the weight of the mattress in ten years!
Dust Mite Control
In the bedroom:
- Encase pillows in zippered allergen impermeable covers or wash every two weeks in hot waters (130 degrees).
- Encase mattress and box spring in zippered allergen-impermeable covers.
- Wash all blankets, sheets, pillowcases, and mattress pads in hot water (about one hundred and thirty degrees) every two weeks.
- Wash comforters every two weeks and encase in allergen-impermeable interliners.
Click here to go to our Waterproof Mattress and Pillow Protector page
Above information courtesy of: Environmental, Health & Safety Online - www.ehso.com
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