Bed Bugs – American Camping Association

Cimex lectularius Updated Summer 2015

Every year, the American Camp Association Camp Crisis Hotline receives calls from camps that have questions about bed bugs. Either they have detected signs of bed bugs or they are preparing for an infestation should it occur and want some advice. Camps are looking for resources, guidelines, and products to help them. ACA shares our lessons learned from years of helping camps:

Bed bugs are reddish-brown, oval, and flat about the size of an apple seed. Bed bugs are insects; more specifically, they are"True Bugs," which have piercing mouthparts that in most species are used for feeding on plants. Unfortunately, there are some species of bugs with mouthparts that have been adapted to feed on human blood while inflicting very little pain (most never feel the bed bug feeding).The eggs are white and about 1 mm long. The nymphs look like adults but are smaller. Complete development from egg to adult takes from four weeks to several months depending on the temperature and amount of feed available.

It can be difficult to distinguish bed bug bites from other insect bites. In general, the sites of bed bug bites are usually:

Some people have no reaction at all to bed bug bites, while others experience an allergic reaction that can include severe itching, blisters, or hives.

If you suspect that someone in your camp has been bitten by bed bugs, thoroughly examine crevices in walls, mattresses, and furniture. You will need to perform your inspection at night when bed bugs are active. Look for these signs:

Since bed bugs can disperse throughout a building, it will be necessary to inspect adjoining rooms and cabins.

Be sure to work with your camp healthcare staff.Generally, the redness and itch associated with bed bug bites usually goes away on its own within a week or two. However, treatments tospeed the recovery might include:

Once individuals affilicted have been treated, you must tackle the underlying infestation. This can be difficult because bed bugs hide so well and can live for months without eating. Experts disagree on whether you can tackle the infestation yourself, or whether you will need to hire a professional exterminator, who may use a combination of pesticides and nonchemical treatments. Experienced pest control firms know where to look for bed bugs and have an assortment of management tools at their disposal. Since bed bugs can disperse throughout a building, it often will be necessary to inspect adjoining rooms and cabins. Consider the options (quickly) before determining if this is something you can take on yourself. Experts suggest the following nonchemical treatments:

Throughout much of the country, heating tends to be a faster, more reliable option than chilling. Studies have shown that attempts to rid an entire dwelling of bed bugs by raising or lowering the thermostat will be unsuccessful, although some companies are having success using supplemental heaters.

Eliminating bed bugs, especially from beds, can be challenging. If there are holes or tears in the fabric, the bugs and eggs may be inside, as well as outside. There also are restrictions on how beds can be treated with pesticides. For these reasons, companies sometimes recommend that beds be discarded, especially when heavily infested or in poor condition. Knowledgeable pest control firms are able to advise clients on what can stay and what should go. When infested items are discarded, bagging or wrapping them prevents dislodgement of bugs en route to the outside trash container.

While the measures above are helpful, sometimes only treatment with insecticides will eliminate your bed bugs. Professionals treat using a variety of low-odor sprays, dusts, and aerosols.Application entails treating all areas where the bugs are discovered or tend to crawl or hide. This may take hours of effort and follow-up visits are usually required.

Some companies treat seams, tufts, and crevices of bed components with insecticides, but they usually will not spray the entire mattress surface. They also should not spray bed sheets, blankets, or clothing, which should be laundered. Vacuuming and steaming further help to eliminate bugs and eggs from beds, but afford no residual protection and may not kill bed bugs hidden inside the box spring or mattress. Fumigation is another way to de-infest beds and hard-to-treat items, but the procedure is not always available. In extreme cases, entire buildings have been fumigated for bed bugs. The service can be quite costly, though, and involves covering the building in a tarp and injecting a lethal gas. Some companies also de-infest such items with specialized heating equipment.

After largely disappearing for nearly 50 years thanks to the development of DDT and other broad-spectrum pesticides, scientists believe that the bed bug has made a comeback due to the evolution of insecticide-resistant genes, and international travel. A University of Kentucky study (Haynes, 2011) proposed that escalating international travel from parts of the world where bed bugs were never under control is what allowed the pests to reestablish themselves in the U.S. about a decade ago. That same study proposes that a shift away from broad-spectrum insecticides such as DDT, to more focused baits and targeted sprays for roaches, ants, and other urban pests could have allowed bed bugs to "slip through the cracks" and to develop a resistance to the insecticides that replaced DDT.

Read more:
Bed Bugs - American Camping Association