How to get rid of bed bugs | WUSA9.com – WUSA9.com

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The first thing is: Don't panic. If you have bed bugs in your home and not fleas or ticks or something else, you can treat them. But it can be a real hassle.

Bruce Leshan, WUSA 6:47 PM. EST February 06, 2017

WASHINGTON (WUSA9) - If you have bed bugs in your home, and not fleas or ticks or something else, you can treat them, but it can be a real hassle.

The EPA says bed bugs have developed resistance to a lot of pesticides, so reaching for a spray can may not work. Heat and cold are among the best ways to deal with them. Bed bugs infest things, not people. They're great hitchhikers, and will jump on luggage and backpacks to get around.

Deal with them first by cleaning up the clutter in your home. Encase your mattresses in a special bed bug cover. Regularly wash and dry your clothes, your sheets, your blankets and bedspreads, anything that touches the ground.

Bed bugs die anytime their body temperature gets over 113 degrees, so you need a hot dryer. For book bags and lunch boxes, an expert at Terminix says you can try and freeze the bugs to death, but not every home freezer may get cold enough for long enough to kill them.

Terminix uses a commercial rapid freeze process -- and birth control, if you can believe that. Thorough vacuuming can get rid of some of your bed bugs, but they cement some of their eggs to fabric and the floor... so the vacuum is unlikely to get all of them. If your home or your school is infested, the EPA says you may need to hire a professional to help. The agency again says you don't want one that just sprays a bunch of chemicals around your home. You're looking for something called "integrated pest management" that uses heat and cold and less toxic means to control them.

The experts say if you're throwing out mattresses or furniture to get rid of bed bugs, you need to slash or destroy it in some way -- so someone else doesn't take it home and get infested.

( 2017 WUSA)

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