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Wakening one morning to find arms and legs and other parts of your body covered in itchy red welts is distressing but then finding that they have been caused by bed bugs can be devastating, making you feel unclean. However, the fact of the matter is that bed bug infestations have risen dramatically since 2007.

The main concern is that if you find you have a problem how do you get rid of bed bugs? You could call in a professional company and leave everything to them but that is very expensive or you could use insecticides or other chemicals in an attempt to deal with the bed bugs by yourself. Whichever you decide on the faster you act the less likely the infestation is to get out of control.

The first step you need to take is to remove bed linen, clothing, soft furnishings, shoes etc. which may be infected - remember bed bugs will hide out in the most obscure places in the day time, only coming out to feed at night. Place all of these items in plastic bags and seal them whilst in the infested room to prevent the transfer of bugs to other areas in the house.

Wash bed linen and other washable items on a hot setting in the washing machine. There may be items which cannot be washed, these can be either put in a hot tumble dryer for about 10 minutes or placed in the sun whilst in the plastic bags - for a couple of days or until the bugs are dead. Bed bugs cannot withstand cold either so if it is cold you could still put these items outside.

Always clean down any work surfaces with which these items have come into contact. Be sure to use disinfectant.

Once everything is washed and dried or decontaminated place them into clean plastic bags and reseal them for protection.

The biggest task of all is completely clearing and cleaning the room from top to bottom. Firstly get rid of any clutter such as news papers, magazine etc. Bag them, seal the bags tightly and dispose of them.

Your first weapon in the battle to get rid of bed bugs is the vacuum cleaner. This is fantastic at lifting bugs, eggs and larvae from carpets, curtains, mattresses and the box spring. Its many attachments allow it to get into cracks and crevices where the bed bugs are likely to hide out in the day time. NB Remove the bag from the vacuum immediately, place it in a sealed bag and dispose of it.

The second weapon you should consider using is a steam cleaner - you can hire these easily or there is a large range available from Amazon - this will get rid of bed bugs missed by the vacuum as they cannot with stand high temperatures.

Finally the whole area must be treated with some kind of solution to ensure that there are no living bugs, eggs etch left.

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Bed Bugs - Answers.com