Ian
priscilla 1Bedbugs
October 20th 2010 02:43
Largely eradicated as pests in the developed world (largely through the use of DDT) in the early 1940s, bedbugs have been resurgent since about 1995. The old rhyme "Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite" has once again become a frightening reality.
As reported in the Women's Day, with the increase in awareness of Bedbugs has come many rumours, myths and flat-out fallacies.
They went to an expert to separate fact from Fiction. Click here to read the full article: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Bedbugs
The Latin name for bedbugs is Cimex lectularius, which means "bug of the bed." But don't let that fool you—the pesky creatures can be found anywhere. "Bedbugs want to feed on you at night while you're still, so they're commonly found in your bed," says John Furman, president of New York City–based pest management company Boot-A-Pest. "But I always say the bed is 70 percent of the infestation and the rest of the room is the other 30 percent. They can be all over your apartment—in the sofa, behind picture frames or in the crevices of baseboards."
"There's an unnecessary stigma associated with bedbugs," says Susan Jones, PhD, associate professor of entomology at Ohio State University. "Anyone can get them. They're not associated with poor housekeeping or a certain poverty level or anything like that." So if you have them—or know someone who does—remember that it has nothing to do with personal hygiene habits. "Every woman whose home I treat tells me how often they shower, how clean they are, that they get manicures—none of that matters," reports Jeff Eisenberg, founder of Pest Away Exterminating.
Unlike with many other pests and insects, research has not yet proven that bedbugs do anything more harmful than give you the heebie-jeebies. But that doesn't mean people should brush them off as no big deal. Dr. Jones believes the research is "incomplete and inconclusive." And Eisenberg insists they are a mental health risk. "People can become so obsessed with bedbugs they don't sleep for weeks—they miss work, they spend hours Googling the topic. I call it bedbug paranoia." Bedbugs have also been shown to aggravate allergy and asthma symptoms in people who already suffer from them.
A common misconception about bedbugs is that if you have them, you have to trash your mattress and send all your clothing to the dry cleaner’s. Not true: According to Furman, heat is the number-one killer of bedbugs. Exterminators treat rooms and furniture with a combination of dry steam cleaning, deep heat and chemical treatments. If your clothes have been in an infested room, throw them in a hot dryer (at least 120 degrees) for 30 minutes to kill any bugs.
According to Dr. Jones, bedbugs started making a comeback in the late 1990s for a variety of reasons. A spike in international travel combined with a change in the pesticides and insecticides we use as well as lifestyle changes all played a role in their resurgence. "Bedbugs reproduce very quickly and live for a long time, so it was just a matter of time until their populations exploded," she says. So what now? Though the situation is manageable, "there's absolutely no end in sight. This is a pest we'll likely be living with for the rest of our lives."
As reported in the Women's Day, with the increase in awareness of Bedbugs has come many rumours, myths and flat-out fallacies.
They went to an expert to separate fact from Fiction. Click here to read the full article: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Bedbugs
The term bedbug is a misnomer
Bedbugs don't discriminate
Bedbugs haven't been proven to transmit any harmful diseases
You don't have to throw away your belongings if you have bedbugs
Bedbugs aren't going anywhere any time soon
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