Bed Bugs – Are They Coming Back From Holiday With You?

Bed Bugs – Are They Coming Back From Holiday With You? – Arriving at your holiday hotel at 3.0am, tired and frayed after a long and tiring, flight delays, airport security, noisy kids and unfriendly passport control and now all you want

Don't Let The Bed Bug Bite

to do is get fall into bed and look forward to the sunrise and the first day of your vacation.
That could possibly be the most expensive mistake you’ll make this holiday!
The bed bug (Cimex lectularious) is back with a vengeance and its food is you!
Bed bugs are small haematophagic insects about the size of an apple-pip.
They dine on the blood of warm blooded creatures and their favourite meal is human blood.
Having been virtually eradicated in the 20th century they are back and spreading like wildfire,  all over the world reports of massive increases in bed bug infestations are being made.
Some cite increasing economic migration, affordability of cheap travel and resistance to pesticides but whatever the reason, they are thriving and they love holiday makers!
They feed on human blood every 5 -10 days, emerging from their hiding places in the early hours of the morning when the tourist is likely to be in a deep sleep, perhaps aided by large quantities of the local sangria.
They sense the presence of a target initially by sensing the carbon dioxide in exhaled breath but switch to infra-red sensing of body heat when closing in on the target.
They pierce the body of their target with a needle containing two tubes, with one they pump in saliva which contains both an anaesthetic and an anti-coagulant and with the other they suck blood.
In a heavily infested room it is possible to receive up to 500 bites per night.
So how do you check if your room is infested?
Start by stripping the bed down to the mattress, turn the mattress over if possible and concentrate on the end nearest the headboard.
Look for dark coloured smear marks, live or dead bugs and spots of congealed blood.
Look in the stitching around the edges of the mattress, under the edges of the carpet near the bed and pull out and invert any bed-side drawers. Bed bugs are quite easy to see and move very rapidly when exposed. You can see photos of the bugs and their smear marks at http://justbedbugs.com
If you find or suspect bed bugs on no account stay in that room, or even that hotel, not even for a solitary or you will regret it, and certainly don’t unpack your suitcases in that room.
Get hold of your tour company representative immediately and insist on being moved to another hotel.
If you stay in a bed bug infested room you are most likely to them back to your own house as contrary to urban myth they can survive the journey home in your suitcase very indeed.
That concludes this article entitled – Bed Bugs – Are They Coming Back From Holiday With You?