Your Guide to Spotting, Preventing and Getting Rid of Bedbugs
"Night, night and don’t let the bedbugs bite!"
As children, many of us heard this short bed-time rhyme and were mystified by it, because the problem of bedbugs had been virtually eradicated in the developed world by the outbreak of the Second World War.
But global warming, the popularity of international travel, pesticide bans and environmental changes mean that bedbug infestations have been markedly on the rise since the mid-1990s.
Bedbugs on the rise
Many parts of the United States and the United Kingdom have seen a massive increase in the number of bedbug infestations in the last decade, particularly in the larger cities where populations live closer together and bedbugs can spread more easily. In 2010, the scale of the bedbug problem prompted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to issue a joint statement, confirming that the United States is experiencing "an alarming resurgence in the population of bedbugs."
Bedbugs infest domestic houses, hotels, apartments, hospitals and dormitories and, mainly active at night, they have a particular fondness for nesting in beds or around other areas where people sleep.
Research from the University of Kentucky and National Pest Management Association published in October 2011, reveals that bedbug infestations increased by 26 per cent in day care centers and schools in 2010. Bedbug infestations in offices and nursing homes shot up by 21 per cent over the previous year.
Many people won’t even know they have a bedbug infestation as bedbugs can feed on their hosts totally unnoticed.
Bedbug bites
Others will be only too aware of the bedbug infestation as many people have an intolerance to bedbug bites.
These unlucky people may find themselves covered with large, red itchy lumps or flat red welts due to the bites.
Bedbugs are notoriously difficult to get rid of.
However, it can be done and on this site we will tell you how to tell if you’ve got bedbugs; how to prevent bedbugs; how to get rid of bedbugs with both self-help and professional assistance; and also how to treat bedbug bites.
