Bed bugs bite back with vengeance

Donal Hickey says the insects are growing in number

THEY are tiny, six-legged insects that hide during the day and feast on your blood at night. Some people may believe that, like the snakes in St Patrick’s time, they were banished years ago through the use of DDT and other chemical solutions, but they never went away. Now they appear to be growing in number.

The thought of something sucking your blood as you sleep gives the creeps, but bed-bug infestations are continually being reported by pest control companies in this country, Britain and the US — definitely not a time to be buying a secondhand mattress.

One of the reasons given for the rise of the bed bug is the increase in world travel, which helps spread bugs from one location to another. Not alone are bugs found in people’s bedrooms, they can turn up in hotels, public transport seating, university residence halls and hospitals.

Recently, the Health Service Executive confirmed that an outbreak in Listowel Hospital, Co Kerry, had been dealt with, following the fumigation of an infected unit.

There was an outbreak in Dublin some years ago that forced a family out of its home for several weeks after the children could no longer bear the intolerable scratching following bites. What’s more, the family had to leave everything behind as they left for several weeks. The fear was that the bugs had invaded their clothes and furniture, even the family’s computer.

Tiny, but visible to the attentive eye, the common bed bug is a reddish-brown insect that doesn’t grow much longer than a quarter of an inch. The insect injects an anticoagulant to keep blood flowing as it sucks, along with a numbing agent to keep the victim from feeling them when it’s at work.

Bed bugs are not known to spread disease to humans, although they may be a host to the organisms that cause hepatitis B and Chagas’ disease, according to the Mayo Clinic in the US. The treatment of bed bug bites usually involves self care, but in more severe cases you may need to see a doctor.

In a recent series of global conferences during International Bed Bugs Week, including one in Dublin, Rentokil reported that the global population of bed bugs is increasing.

The company revealed the number of searches for information regarding bed bugs on its website has gone up 300% in the last four years. Also, the number of callouts it received relating to the bugs in 2006 and 2007 rose substantially across the world compared to the rest of this decade.

As well as world travel, there are other key factors.

Firstly, many effective chemicals are being withdrawn as the costs of keeping them registered continue to rise, leaving a smaller number of very similar insecticides.

Secondly, there are signs that bed bugs are becoming resistant to these remaining preparations. The popularity of secondhand furniture and vintage clothes, in which bedbugs can rest and breed contently, are also likely factors in the insects’ increasing appearance.

Professor Michael Potter, an urban entomologist from Kentucky University, says these insects are now a global concern, based on his study of outbreaks from across the world.

“Bed bugs have been a fact of life for much of human history. However, due to the development of certain chemical treatments, we have experienced a temporary respite from them for the past 50 years,” he says.

“These treatments are now no longer available or are not as effective. If no good, new solutions are found we are likely to become far more exposed to their presence.”

Bed bugs were once common in Ireland, but many people would not recognise one today and might even confuse them with fleas. The fact that they are small and have flat bodies and that they hide away in crevices in mattresses, furniture and flooring means that they can be very difficult to identify.

The most obvious sign of an infestation is the small blood smears that the bugs leave behind on bedclothes after a feeding, but these are often only noticeable once the infestation is established and the numbers of bed bugs has reached epidemic proportions.

It had been believed they were eradicated altogether 50 years ago in the US and elsewhere, with the widespread use of DDT.

In 2004, New York City had 377 bed bug violations. However, in the five-month span from July to November 2005, 449 violations were reported in the city — an alarming increase over a short period of time. Exterminators and insect experts believe this is because so many international travellers visit New York each day.

While no up-to-date statistics are available for infestation in Ireland, our situation may not be that much different to that in Britain. Figures from one London borough show reported bed-bug infestations doubling each year from 1995 to 2001.