Daily Archives: December 8, 2013

The common bed bug (or "bedbug" -- either is correct), Cimex lectularius, is one of the most challenging pests that Georgia exterminators are called upon to control.

Bed bugs are small, flattened parasitic insects with oval bodies, and they feed on human blood. They average around 1/8" in length, are wingless, and are reddish-brown in color with fine hairs that make them appear as if they are banded.

Bed bugs are most active at night, spending their days hiding in mattresses, bedding, furniture, cracks and crevices around woodwork, and other small, protected gaps. At night, bed bugs emerge from their hiding spaces and walk or drop onto sleeping humans to feed.

For a long time, bed bugs were believed to have been eradicated from the United States. But in the past decade they've returned with a vengeance, and a lot of people are losing sleep over them -- literally. Bed bugs can turn a family's life upside-down. You can read the horror stories of people who have battled, or are battling, bed bug problems in the Bedbugger Blog.

Until recently, bed bugs in the United States were not thought to spread disease. But in June of 2011, a CDC study titled Bedbugs as Vectors for Drug-Resistant Bacteria suggested that bed bugs may be able to transmit MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and VRE (vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium). The published report stated that:

"Bedbugs carrying MRSA and/or VRE may have the potential to act as vectors for transmission. Further studies are needed to characterize the association between S. aureus and bedbugs. Bedbug carriage of MRSA, and the portal of entry provided through feeding, suggests a plausible potential mechanism for passive transmission of bacteria during a blood meal. Because of the insect's ability to compromise the skin integrity of its host, and the propensity for S. aureus to invade damaged skin, bedbugs may serve to amplify MRSA infections in impoverished urban communities."

Disease potential of bed bugs aside, people vary in their degree of sensitivity to bed bug bites. A few individuals have little or no reaction and may not even realize they have a bed bug problem until they notice the stains on the sheets or the unpleasant odor. Most people, however, experience rashes, which can be aggravated by scratching and can become infected.

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