Category Archives: Canada Bed Bugs

Dubliners could see a surge in some pests, including bed bugs, as Covid restrictions ease, experts have warned.

A recent report revealed that infestations were on the rise as the city reopened after lockdown, with a further increase in pests expected leading into the summer.

Furthermore, an increase in travel could see the spread of bed bugs.

Rodents, wasps, and garden ants topped the list of pests that Rentokil pest control was called out to handle last year in Ireland.

Dublin accounted for the majority of pest callouts in 2021, with 42% of the overall calls coming from Dublin followed by Cork (12%), Kildare (6%) Galway (5%) and Limerick (4%).

As normal summer activity resumes, Dubs should expect to see an increase in summer pests such as wasps, warns Rentokil.

Richard Faulkner, Advanced Technical Field Consultant for Rentokil said: "As lockdown measures were eased in the summer and people socialised more, especially outdoors, this saw greater interaction between the public and pests, particularly wasps who would have benefitted greatly from outdoor socialising.

"With the relaxation of public health restrictions, it is expected that an increase in pest activity will occur and as we get back to normal levels of social activity there will be greater opportunities for them."

There were also recent warnings for Dubs to watch out for fleas as the capital accounts for one of the highest level of callouts in Ireland.

The "wingless bloodsucking insects" can attach to pets or people and can lead to bites or skin irritation - or in the worst cases can also cause allergic reactions to sensitive individuals, transmit tapeworm and, in very rare cases, even transmit serious diseases.

They most often bite people around the ankles and legs, and their bites can be are felt immediately and can be sore for as much as a week.

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Warning of surge in bed bugs as Covid restrictions ease - Dublin Live

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Most people who are bitten by bed bugs experience symptoms that include irritation, sores, or itchiness. But how should bed bug bites be treated and can they be prevented?

There are several ways of reducing the chances of getting bites, while the treatment options include good hygiene and antihistamines.

This article explores bed bug bite treatment and prevention methods in detail.

Bed bugs are small parasitic insects that feed on human blood.

While they are a public health concern, bed bugs are not known to transmit disease through their bites.

Bed bugs use a small tube-like structure called a proboscis to pierce the skin and drink a persons blood. The pests are most active when humans are asleep, during the night and early morning.

An estimated one in five Americans have personally dealt with a bed bug infestation or knows someone who has encountered the pests.

Bed bugs can bite anywhere on the body where there is skin. Typically, bites tend to occur on areas exposed during sleeping, such as:

Many people do not feel the bite itself or develop clear symptoms other than the dots where the bug bit and some minor, surrounding inflammation and irritation. Others are considered hypersensitive to bites and develop more severe symptoms.

In most cases symptoms occur more or less immediately after the bite, but they can develop or progress over the following days as well. Without further irritation, symptoms typically resolve after a week or so.

Almost all bed bug bites will produce some degree of discomfort, typically itchiness and inflammation. Other signs and symptoms of bed bug bites include:

Individual characteristics of the bugs bite and the person who is bitten also influence the resulting sore.

While fairly rare, some people have or develop severe reactions and symptoms from bed bug bites. Serious symptoms that require medical attention include:

Living with bed bugs can cause additional health complications:

There are relatively few treatments options when it comes to uncomplicated bed bug bites.

The first recommended line of treatment involves cleaning the wound, ideally with soap and water.

For itchy bites, the following may relieve minor symptoms:

Most wounds heal on their own within a week, sometimes two.

If severe swelling, inflammation, or itchiness occurs or persists, a person should seek medical attention.

A dramatic immune response may be a sign of an allergic reaction. If this is the case, one of the following may need to be administered:

If infection occurs, antibiotics may be prescribed.

Severe itchiness may result in further complications, such as infection or scarring. If severe itching is experienced, people may be prescribed corticosteroid creams and antihistamine pills or liquid.

One way to help prevent exposure and potential infestations by bed bugs is to be able to recognize bed bugs and distinguish them from other pests.

In a 2017 study, some 35 percent of polled American business travellers and 28 percent of leisure travellers were unable to tell a bed bug apart from other household pests.

Common characteristics of nymphs (young bed bugs) include:

The nymphs are easier to see if they have just feed when the blood fills their abdomen, giving it a reddish brown color.

Adult bed bugs are typically far easier to spot than nymphs. Identifiable characteristics of most adult bed bugs include:

Controlling bed bugs needs the identification and complete removal or destruction of the pests eggs.

On average, one female can produce at least 345 eggs over her lifetime. Egg-laying females often increase the volume and frequency of feeding to support their brood.

Common characteristics and signs of bed bug eggs include:

The key to preventing bed bug bites is to stop the insects entering, feeding, and breeding in human environments.

In the daytime, bed bugs often seek refuge in the cracks and crevices of furniture, flooring, walls, and mattresses.

The seams and folds of upholstered furniture can also offer an ideal hiding place. Bed bugs have been known to persist in vacuum canisters or units.

The insects tend to pick hiding spots near human sleeping quarters, including bedrooms. Bed bugs found in other rooms are usually a sign of a severe infestation.

Areas where bed bug infestations commonly occur include:

Items commonly responsible for spreading bed bugs include:

Bed bugs do not have a preference between sanitary, messy, or unsanitary conditions.

They can, however, be found at higher rates in places, such as hotels, if infestations are not properly cleared.

Home tips for preventing, controlling, and clearing bed bug infestations include:

In severe or persistent cases, furniture or infected items may need to be destroyed, ideally by burning.

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Bed bug bites: What you need to know - Medical News Today

From your mattress and box spring to your carpet and baseboards, bed bugs can nest almost anywhere in your home.

In fact, many bed bug infestations occur within a few feet of their food source (humans), like near a bed or other close furniture. And because of their small size, they can hide in crevices as tiny as nail indentations in your wall. As a result, these pests can be very difficult to get rid of.

Successfully getting rid of bed bugs relies on early detection, proper preparedness and correct treatment methods. One such method is heat treatment, which may be appropriate in cases where a home, apartment, or hotel room is heavily infested. Heat treatment much less whole-house heat treatment is typically only used as a last resort when other more appropriate methods may be more suitable.

While a professional will determine the best course of treatment once a bed bug problem has been diagnosed, it can be helpful to better understand what heat treatment may entail, if it is an option that your bed bug professional recommends.

Prices for bed bug heat treatments can vary, depending on factors such as the type of heat treatment used, the size of your home, and the severity of the bed bug infestation. A bed bug control professional will be able to visit your property to provide a customized estimate based on the situation.

Get your free bed bug inspection

Bed bugs die when exposed to high temperatures for an extended period. If performed properly, heat treatment for bed bugs can be a highly effective procedure.

When bed bug control professionals do a full-room heat treatment, the temperature in your home rises to as much as 145 F. Rather than heating the entire house, Terminix professionals use targeted heat in the form of steam in infested areas, alongside other techniques to kill bed bugs.

During a bed bug heat treatment, industrial-sized electric heaters are used to maintain high levels of heat to help ensure all bed bugs are eliminated. The entire process can be completed in about 69 hours. there are, in some instances, cool spots where some bed bugs may look to in order to escape the heat and survive.

While whole room heat treatments can take hours, the temperature isn't high enough to cause permanent damage to the structure of your house.

Although heat treatment can be quite effective when done by a professional and under the right circumstances, it's important that all people, pets, plants, and heat-sensitive items be removed from the treated area for several hours. Your bed bug control professional will advise you when it is safe to return to your home, as well as advise you on safely returning objects that were removed prior to heat treatment.

The majority of items in your home can probably handle the temperature of a bed bug heat treatment. However, some things must be removed, including:

Before heat treatment begins, talk to your bed bug control professional to figure out what items can stay put throughout the process. Vulnerable items can be placed in storage bins and left outside your house for the duration of the treatment. Let your bed bug control professional know about these items, as they may need to inspect and treat them separately to ensure you don't reintroduce bed bugs into your home.

Other steps you can take to help protect items from bed bug heat treatment are:

Another treatment method used to control a bed bug problem is the use of a hot box. A hot box uses sustained heat to get rid of bed bugs on items like shoes, clothing, linen and even luggage.

While you can perform spot-treatments to kill bed bugs on infested items such as clothing and bedding by running them through a 30-minute cycle at the highest heat setting in a clothes dryer, this will only kill bed bugs on infested items. Although this is an important part of a system of bed bug control solutions, it will not control a bed bug issue by itself.

Generally, a dryer is used for clothing and linens while a heat chamber is used for the things that you can't put into a dryer. Lethal temperatures for bed bugs range from 118122F. To help kill bed bugs in all their life cycle stages, hot boxes reach a higher temperature than this lethal range.

When using a hot box, it's important to follow the manufacturer's instructions to the letter, making sure to pay attention to everything from heat sources to proper ventilation. Not doing so could result in fires or damage to your belongings. The same goes for using your dryer to kill bed bugs: Make sure items are dryer safe before attempting this method.

Technically, yes. Steam is another form of heat that can help kill adult bed bugs along with their larvae and eggs. However, the types of steamers that most people have access to (carpet cleaners or clothes steamers) don't reach high enough temperatures to effectively kill bed bugs, which is why it is important to look to a bed bug control expert, as they have access to professional-grade equipment that is more effective.

Bed bugs are notoriously difficult to get rid of. If you think you have bed bugs in your home, don't wait to contact a bed bug control professional. An experienced Terminix technician can evaluate your home and help determine the best course of treatment to help kill bed bugs.

Contact Terminix today for your free bed bug inspection.

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Bed Bug Heat Treatment | Cost, Effectiveness & Preparation ...

Bug bites are common and can come from bedbugs, mosquitoes, ticks, spiders, and other creatures. Many bites require nothing more than wound care at home, but others require medical attention.

Insect bites often cause an inflamed lump or spot on the skin, which may itch or change color. In lighter skin, many bug bites cause redness. In darker skin, they may cause the skin to turn purple or dark brown.

Correctly identifying the type of bug bite someone has is important for knowing how to treat it, particularly if they develop systemic symptoms after receiving the bite. These are symptoms that affect the whole body, such as a fever.

This article discusses how to identify bug bites, including those caused by bedbugs, mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, and spiders. It also explains when to seek medical help for a bite.

The human bedbug is a type of insect that relies entirely on human blood to survive. They are flat, oval-shaped insects around 36 millimeters (mm) long, with a red or brown color. They often live in mattresses but can also live in cushions, bed frames, and crevices in floors and walls.

Bites from bedbugs usually appear on someones face, neck, hands, or arms. The symptoms include small, raised bumps that occur in clusters or straight lines. The bites will be itchy but not painful.

If there are bedbugs in the home, the symptoms of the bites may take as long as 14 days to develop. Other signs of a bedbug population in the home include:

Although bedbugs do not spread disease, there is a risk as an individual may have an allergic reaction to the bites or get a secondary infection.

The treatment for bedbug bites aims to reduce itchiness. A doctor may recommend a topical steroid cream and oral antihistamines. If a secondary infection develops, this may require treatment with antibiotics.

The only way to entirely rid the home of bedbugs is to use insecticides. These chemicals are toxic, and so the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends contacting the propertys landlord or a professional pest control company to ensure safe removal.

Learn more about bedbug bites.

Mosquitoes are small flying insects that feed on blood. They have delicate wings, legs, and special feeding apparatus that allows them to bite into the skin. As a mosquito feeds, its saliva enters the skin. It is this that causes an itchy, swollen bump.

The symptoms of a mosquito bite can vary. The bite may present as:

In people who have more severe reactions to mosquito bites, the symptoms may include:

Treatment for mosquito bites aims to ease symptoms. People may benefit from applying ice packs, topical corticosteroids, and oral antihistamines.

Some mosquitoes can spread serious diseases. The risk for these depends on the species of mosquito and the geographical region where the bite occurs. Mosquitoes can transmit:

If a person develops any symptoms in addition to the bite, such as a fever, chills, headaches, or vomiting, they should speak with a doctor as soon as possible.

Learn about some home remedies to ease the symptoms of mosquito bites.

Ticks are arachnids that have eight legs and a pair of claws. They may have a hard or soft body and are usually flat before they feed, becoming rounder afterward.

Tick bites are often painless and do not always produce any symptoms. However, they can latch onto the skin and stay there for hours or days. As a result, the easiest way to identify a tick bite is to find the tick itself if it is still on the skin.

If the tick is no longer on the skin, there may be no signs of a bite. Some people may experience:

Some ticks can also spread diseases, which may cause symptoms if a person contracts them. Examples of tick-borne diseases include:

If a tick bite transmits Lyme disease or RMSF, a person may develop a distinctive rash. In Lyme disease, the rash can resemble a bullseye with the tick bite at the center. Around 7080% of people who get Lyme disease will have this rash.

In RMSF, the rash resembles pinpoint dots or splotches, but the appearance can vary widely over the course of the disease.

Treatment for tick bites depends on whether the tick is still attached to the skin. If it is, people should carefully remove the tick with tweezers, grasping them as close to the skin as possible and smoothly pulling upwards.

Removing a tick within 24 hours of the bite may reduce the chance of any disease transmission. Usually, it takes 3648 hours before a tick transmits the bacterium that causes Lyme disease.

After the tick is out of the skin, dispose of it by placing it in a sealed bag or container, wrapping securely in sticky tape, or flushing down a toilet. Do not try to squash the tick between the fingers.

An uncomplicated bite only requires routine wound care. Clean the area with rubbing alcohol or soap and water, and monitor for signs of infection. A person may require topical steroids or antihistamines for severe itching.

If someone develops any other symptoms, they should speak with a doctor as soon as possible, mentioning that they recently had a tick bite.

If a person regularly visits areas with a high number of ticks, they should take precautions to prevent bites. Cover exposed skin wherever possible, and check the skin thoroughly for ticks before reentering the home.

Learn more about Lyme disease prevention.

Fleas are tiny insects that measure up to 4 mm long and are reddish in color. They prefer to feed on the blood of mammals and birds but may bite humans too. The bites they cause may appear as several small red bumps or blisters and can be intensely itchy.

In cases of severe itching, scratching can break the skin, allowing a secondary bacterial infection to develop. This may cause swelling, warmth, or pus to leak from the bite.

Rarely, flea bites can transmit serious diseases, including tularemia, endemic typhus, and bubonic plague.

Treatment for flea bites focuses on reducing itching until the bites heal. A doctor may suggest calamine lotion, steroid cream, or oral antihistamines.

Learn more about flea bites.

Spiders are carnivorous arachnids. Unlike ticks, to which they are related, spiders do not feed on the blood of animals or humans. Instead, they eat insects.

Many spider species have a venomous bite or sting that immobilizes their prey. If a spider is threatened or disturbed by a human, it may bite or sting them. The symptoms and severity of the bite vary widely depending on the species of spider.

Potential symptoms of a spider bite include:

In North America, the two spiders with the greatest potential to cause harm are the black widow and brown recluse spiders.

Although brown recluse spider venom is potentially very dangerous, most bites cause minimal symptoms. Some may develop an area of pale or blue discoloration around the bite. A more severe complication is necrosis or tissue death.

Black widow venom does not cause necrosis, and often, the bites cause no severe reactions. If it does, a person may have severe muscle spasms and pain in the chest, lower back, and abdomen. Other symptoms include:

Severe symptoms typically happen up to 6 hours following the bites and may last up to 2 days.

Most spider bites do not cause significant symptoms. Often, people can reduce any pain at home by applying ice to the area and taking acetaminophen. In some cases, people may require a tetanus shot if they have not had one recently.

However, if someone is concerned that the spider that bit them may be dangerous, they may wish to consult a doctor.

The biggest challenge in treating spider bites is identifying the type of spider that caused it. If a person sees the spider, they should try to remember the shape, size, color, and any markings on the spiders body. This may help a doctor diagnose and treat the bite.

People should seek immediate medical attention if they develop severe or systemic symptoms after a spider bite.

Learn more about identifying and treating spider bites.

Most insect bites are minor and do not require medical attention. However, it is important to seek immediate help if the following occur:

These symptoms can indicate anaphylaxis, which is a severe allergic reaction that can be life threatening.

Other symptoms that a person should speak with a doctor about include:

Bug bites may look different depending on the creature that caused them, as well as a persons skin tone, the location of the bite, and other factors.

Bedbugs and fleas typically cause small, itchy bumps to appear on the skin, whereas tick bites sometimes cause no symptoms at all. Mosquito bites tend to look puffy and raised after they first appear, while spider bites may have noticeable puncture marks.

However, it is always best to consult a doctor for a diagnosis if a person has any concerns about a bite, as they can vary in appearance and severity.

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Identifying bug bites: Bed bugs, ticks, and more - Medical News Today

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Bed bugs and rats, oh my.

These are the top pest problems searched online by Toronto residents.

In Canada, in the past 12 months, online searches for pest control were up 200%, according to a Confused.com report.

Torontonians struggle with bed bugs the most and they created 1,300 searches for how to get rid of bed bugs, according to the report

Of all the pest problems analyzed in the country, these bed bugs had 8,100 monthly searches for how to get rid of bed bugs on average.

This is a 49% increase in the last year.

Getting rid of rats is the second leading pest problem invading Canadian homes with 8,100 monthly searches for art traps.

But the search for rat traps only increased by 23% in the last year.

In Toronto, there was an average of 880 online searches per month for rat traps.

People in Toronto have searched for ways to get rid of these pests 720 times a month on average.

Experts say eliminating these pests needs to be done as quickly as possible as an infestation can reduce the value of the home by up to 20%

If an infestation is allowed to grow the home could be worth up to $33,000 less because of pest damage.

Insurance companies dont always cover the cost of all pest removal, or repair any damage.

Homeowners and renters should read the fine print of your policy details as some providers have different definitions as to what a pest is. For example, the removal of a beehive might not be covered whereas a mouse infestation could be more likely to be covered, said Jessica Willock, a home insurance expert at Confused.com.

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Howard Bright, president and founder of Anti-Pesto Bug Killers, said to keep the pests away it is important to keep a clean home as pests are attracted to sources of food like dirty dishes, leftover food, and unsealed containers.

If you dont plan on hiring a professional, experts suggest baits and traps are a good DIY option to get rid of pests.

Liquid concentrates can get rid of pests overnight.

Once diluted in water, liquid concentrates can be sprayed in the cracks and crevices of your home where pests are most to be.

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PEST PROBLEMS: Canadians despise bed bugs, rats most ...