How to Avoid Bed Bugs

How To Avoid Bed Bugs

How To Avoid Bed Bugs – Some Useful Tips To Follow

Over the last many months, the awareness about how to avoid bed bugs when traveling or how to avoid bed bugs in hotels has been increasing. People are recognizing that they can with some effort and patience, avoid chiggers and avoid scabies like conditions on their skin.

This is a far cry from the days not so long ago when many of us were blissfully unaware of the existence of bed bugs and thought that they had been totally exterminated. Most of us did know about fleas, spiders and ticks and even how to avoid spider bites but knowledge about bed bugs and ways to avoid dust mites were something that was not widely shared or known.

There are reasons for this though. It is worthwhile remembering that since the early 1950s and till the beginning of this century, the existence of bed bugs and any problems due to them was hardly documented. These pests had to bear the brunt of rapid industrialization, clearance of shanties and prolonged use of DDT. Consequently, they were driven out of most developed countries. Generations born during this period were thus totally oblivious and unaware that such pests ever existed.

But the turn of this century and the ensuing decade has seen the comeback of these pests. Despite advancements in cleanliness and hygiene in developed countries like the US, bed bugs have made life frustrating for people and for some time, the reasons for their comeback has puzzled the best of research scientists. They could just not figure out the reasons for this comeback.

Extensive studies revealed the causes of this comeback. They were the ban on use of DDT and secondly, the increasing travel of people between countries. DDT had a very potent effect on the survival of bed bugs and its usage ban meant that bed bugs could slowly make a return to countries where the ban was implemented. Bed bugs are survivors and this instinct has helped them capitalize on this ban on DDT as well as tag along with travelers as part of their baggage into countries from where they were as good as exterminated.

Suddenly, people in these developed countries had to contend with a new problem. They knew how to avoid fleas and avoid ticks but were pretty much puzzled initially on how to avoid bed bugs while traveling. Not only that, the increased incidents of bed bugs in hotels meant that people began to feel chary about staying even in the best of hotels as they realized that it was not lack of hygiene but the ability of these bed bugs to travel along with people from place to place that was resulting in this infestation within hotels as well as within their homes.

How do these bed bugs actually operate?

Initially, when it was not known that frequent travel or that hotel rooms were one of the main places from where you could catch bed bugs infestation, people went about their routine happily and did not bother to sanitize their luggage and other personal effects after they came back from a vacation or business tour. Gradually, as they became aware of the existence of these pests and the tremendous difficulties they would have to face to exterminate them; more and more people are taking extreme precautions to ensure that they are able to prevent the entry of these pests into their house.

These bed bugs are quite harmless in the sense that they cannot cause any major disease or illness. They cannot fly and therefore cannot spread dangerous germs or pathogens. Even their bites are not very harmful if treated on time. These bites can only cause tremendous itching and if left unattended, develop into blisters that may leave behind ugly marks on the skin. The fact that bed bugs choose to attack the exposed areas of the skin of the face, arms or neck means that these marks would be visible and can cause a person deep embarrassment. Unlike ticks that attack the lower extremities of a person’s body, bed bugs concentrate on the upper half.

They are by nature nocturnal and cannot be found during day time. Their flat and oval shaped bodies provide them the ideal leverage to hide within very minute gaps in wooden furniture. Wood is one of their favorites apart from soft furnishings. Once they enter the house, they thrive in places that are cluttered and where there is insufficient light. They only come out during the late hours of the night or during twilight. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the air enables them to zero in on hosts whose blood they can suck through the night.

Blood of mammals and particularly human beings is a high source of nutrition for bed bugs. This regular supply of blood off a host enables them to remain healthy and breed. That is how they manage to increase their numbers within a house in a very short period of time and present great inconvenience to the members of the house. Consequently, they also become unmanageable to get rid off totally and you are left with no option but to call upon the services of a professional exterminating agency.

How can you avoid bed bugs then?

Since many cases of bed bugs infestation begin from a stay at a hotel, there are certain precautions you should take when you check into one. They are as under:

First of all, try and find out about any past instances of bed bug problems that the hotel in which you are about to check into has faced. You may not get this information easily but can try to look up internet reviews of the hotel by people who often put down their experiences.
Once you find a hotel to your satisfaction, check into your room and ensure that you do not keep your luggage on the carpet or floor. Find a storage place that is high so that the chances of any insect creeping into your belongings are eliminated.
Try and purchase the latest style of luggage that have collapsible shelves and can be hung conveniently instead of placing it on any surface. Moreover, they have very smooth and rounded surfaces that make it impossible for any insect to get a grip on.
Take along a bed bug spray and ensure that you spray your personal belongings before you leave the hotel room.
Once you are back at your house, play safe by washing your bags with hot water or if they are not washable, steam clean them thoroughly. Store these bags in an airtight container till it is time for your next visit.

The above precautions can help you avoid bed bugs. However, there are things you can do within the house as well to prevent them. Remove clutter of any kind and ensure you regularly steam clean your bed linen, upholstery fabric and fill up any crevices in your wood furniture. Items that cannot be washed can be put out in the sun to dry and get warmth. The sun’s rays are unbearable for bed bugs.

It is not difficult to do, just take these advices to know how to avoid bed bugs if you follow some simple precautions regularly.

Tags: mites, main places, upper half, hotel room, person deep embarrassment, mammal <BR/>

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