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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 ...