Bed Bugs
Key Features
Bed Bugs (Cimex lectularius) are small (3 - 5 mm) oval shaped blood sucking insects. They are nocturnal, only emerging from
their harbourages after dark. They feed principally on human blood, but in the absence of a human host, will subsist comfortably
on other mammals. An adult bed bug typically consumes 7 times it's own body weight in blood!
Bed Bugs are remarkably hardy, and can live for over a year without a blood feed. The adult bug resembles a small apple pip,
and is dark reddish brown in colour. It is wingless but the legs are well developed and it can crawl up most vertical surfaces, e.g.
walls and bedsteads. Bed Bugs also produce a characteristic unpleasant smell.
Biology
The females produce 2 to 3 eggs every day throughout their lifespan, which can be several months. The elongated eggs are
cemented in cracks or crevices close to the hosts. There is no larval stage; the young hatch as nymphs, mini versions of the
adults. There are 5 nymphal stages before the bugs reach adulthood and each requires a full meal of blood. Infested rooms may
have bed bugs under wallpaper or in cracks & crevices in the furniture, behind skirting boards, or even in plug sockets. Bedbugs
have well defined resting sites (colonies) in which many individuals from all the different life stages are found.
Distribution
Bedbugs are found all over the world, but most commonly in multi-occupancy buildings. A once common pest of slum dwellings,
the incidence of bed bugs was previously much reduced by improved standards of hygiene, and the development of modern
insecticides. Since the late 1990's, however, they have been resurgent around the world and in the UK now occur with some
regularity, particularly in multi-occupancy buildings with rapid resident turnover, such as hotels, hostels, holiday camps and blocks
of flats.
Significance
Bedbugs are a significant pest to humans because they feed on blood. They emerge to feed mostly at night while their 'hosts' are
sleeping. Their bite can cause severe local irritation and itching; there is a possibility of secondary infection. Where the infestation
is severe there is a slight risk of anaemia for the human hosts, and sleep deprivation (where victims cannot get a good nights
sleep for imagining that bugs are crawling over them) can occur.
Control
A thorough inspection is necessary to determine the source and extent of any bedbug infestation. The inspection must extend to
every room in the premises where people sleep. Once the source of the infestation and any harbourages are located, they should
be treated (according to a strict protocol) with a residual insecticide which incorporates an insect growth regulator. Rooms in
hotels can be treated to prevent infestation by bed bugs.
