Domestic Bugs Found in Bed

Bedbugs

• Bedbugs exist all over the world. Infestations in North America were almost eliminated in the mid-1900s with DDT use. Since the turn of the century, bedbugs are on the rise again. They hitchhike in on luggage and clothing of international travelers and immigrants. Contaminated furniture transfers eggs and insects. There are also less effective insecticides to control bedbugs since the U.S. has banned DDT, according to Harvard School of Public Health. Bedbugs hide in folds and crevices of bedding, mattresses and bed frames. They spread throughout the room over time. They are very difficult to detect and destroy. Some exterminators employ bedbug-sniffing dogs to pinpoint location of insects. Insects take just several minutes to feed. They can go for months between meals. Not everyone develops symptoms from the bites.

Fleas

• Flea infestations come into the house on pets or on wild animals that nest in and around the home like rats and mice. Adult fleas feed on blood. The worm-like larvae feed on detritus found in carpeting, pet bedding and soil. They turn into pupae inside protective spun cocoons. To get rid of flea infestations, treat pets and their environments. It is not enough to just kill adult fleas but also the larvae, eggs and pupae both inside and outside the house. Adult fleas usually enter human beds with the pets that sleep with or near their owners.

Lice

• The kinds of lice usually spread through infested bedding are body lice and pubic lice. Head lice stay attached to shafts of hair on the head. Body lice feed on human blood anywhere on the body. They live in bedding and on clothing when not feeding. Pubic lice usually live in genital hair and also can infest bedding and clothing. Lice bites can be intensely itchy. Washing bedding and clothes in hot soapy water kills lice. Infested persons and their environments need to be treated with pediculicides, which are chemicals specifically for killing lice.

Kissing Bugs

• These blood-sucking true bugs enter houses in the mild-winter south and southwest of the United States. They are flattened, blackish insects about an inch long usually with red or orange markings. Their native hosts are wild rodents, particularly pack rats. The young stages, called nymphs, live in the rodent nests. Adult winged insects fly in search of blood meal hosts, mates and new nest sites. This is when they are likely to enter houses. They feed at night while the person is sleeping. Insects are attracted by higher carbon dioxide concentrations and body warmth. Because carbon dioxide is most concentrated around the victim's mouth and nose, the bug often "kisses" the person on the face with its bite. The bite of this bug is most often blamed on a spider. Usually, a thorough hunt of the bed and bedroom will turn up the real culprit, a blood-engorged kissing bug.