Bedbugs, oops! those tiny creepy foes for us. They live and thrive on our blood which can leave us diseased. Surprisingly, they can stay without food(blood) for several months. That’s the reason why, it’s difficult to get rid of them. Smart creatures, as they are, they find hiding places too quickly. Their sharp senses enable them to distinguish between light and dark, so they aren’t spotted under light. Once they find a suitable host for feeding, they atleast suck for 5 to 10 times on the victim’s blood before release. These small insects don’t fly around, instead they cling onto hideouts in our floors, walls, ceilings and ofcourse our ‘bed’, where we get to meet them most often. Being nocturnal, they creep out in the darkness of the night and pierce through our flesh, on exposed areas.
The bites are painless at first but slowly they grow into itchy red swells. These bugs transmit disease causing microbes through their saliva, which in turn cause skin infections, infection of the blood, insomnia and anaphylactic shocks. One very important disease caused by the microgens, passed on by bedbugs is ‘Chagas disease’.
Signs of a bug bite
On getting this disease, a person initially, feels feverish and body pain along with the swellings on skin. But, later, slowly the vital organs like heart, liver and intestines are affected. At initial stage, medicines are available, which can be consumed for cure. But, chronic stages usually lead to fatality. One fine morning, when you wake up to see your body full of reddish bulges, instantly It becomes difficult to figure out that the bugs have bitten you.
So for confirming we should look out for dark and rusty spots on our bedsheets, mattresses and adjacent walls around the bed. The spots are nothing but excretion of these creatures. Also, any kind of funny or foul odour and stains of blood on your bedsheet or mattress indicate their presence viably.
How to keep them at bay
- It starts with cleaning up. Cleaning cleaning and cleaning is the catch! Just clean up whatever is around your house. Your stuffed toys, the linen, mattresses, curtains, tables, couches and so on. Anything and everything that you can lay your hands on.
- After washing and cleaning thoroughly, every item should be sun-dried till hot. If your home doesn’t have enough exposure to the mighty sun, then you can use a dryer at optimum speed for disinfecting stuff.
- Opening the windows and doors of your house to sunshine is a natural way of killing germs and insects. Too much exposure to the UV rays is as harmful to us as to these creatures.
- Vacuuming the nook and corners of the house is an absolute necessity during such times as the little monsters need to be sucked out from the clingy areas. All the dirt and filth along with the bugs should be encapsulated in plastic bags for disposal.
- Thereafter, the mattresses should be folded into thick plastic sheets in order to avoid further infestation by these insects.
- Cracks and fissures on the walls and elsewhere should be filled up or covered appropriately, using wallpapers or paints. Certain chemicals are used to kill them but it’s always advisable to hire a pest controller for doing so.
An exterminator can always be contacted. A pest control manager or an exterminator knows exactly where to look for these insects. Once, their harbour is found, operations for getting rid of them comes into play.
