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Mind the bed bugs don't bite as critter numbers boom
Last updated at 09:07am on 19.10.06Be warned - next time you return from a foreign jaunt, you might have brought back an very unwelcome souvenir.
Experts say cases of bedbugs have shot up in the past decade, and believe the rise in trips to far-flung countries may be to blame.
They believe the parasites are stowing away in our luggage and then making their home in crevices under our furniture, beneath carpets and even in picture frames.
Once there a single female can lay up to three eggs a day, quickly creating an infestation. Although the bugs weigh about the same as a grain of rice, they can guzzle four times their own body weight in just 15 minutes, leaving their poor victim covered in itchy red blotches.
Expert Elizabeth Kidman from Cambridge University's Medical Entomology Centre said yesterday (wed): 'Following the introduction of DDT as a pest control agent in the late 1940s the bed bug went into steep decline.
'As a result they became virtually unknown in some communities for several decades. Recently, however, bed bug infestations have increased and pest controllers are reporting a big rise on ten years ago.
'We are taking more foreign holidays because the flights are cheaper and foreign travellers are coming here as well.
'People are back-packing around the world and they are bound to bring something back with them.'
She added that the sale of second hand furniture and the boom in car boots may also be fuelling the spread of bed bugs. Her warning follows figures earlier this year that showed cases of bedbug infestations have shot up by 300 per cent in London compared to five years ago.
Other cities are equally affected, and contrary to what many may think experts say it is not just dirty rooms that attract the bugs.
The 5mm creatures hide in the crevices and joins where two pieces of wood come together. They particularly like bedroom furniture because it allows them to come out at dawn and feed on sleeping people, sucking on blood for up to 10 minutes.
Hotels and guesthouses are prime locations for the bugs as are other short term accommodation where people come and go often.
In the 1880s it was estimated that over 75 per cent of Britain's homes were infested. By the outbreak of World War II the level had diminished to around one in four houses, due to a combination of better housekeeping procedures, methods of eradication and an extensive programme of building and housing improvements during the 1930s.
However in the past decade pest control companies have reported a rise in the bugs once more. The have warned of the appearance of new 'super bedbugs' which have grown resistant to the chemicals once used to kill them.
Over the years people have devised all kinds of ingenious ways to rid themselves of bed bugs. In the 18th century a mixture of lamp oil, turpentine and camphire was the advised way of getting rid of them.
During the 19th century, gentlemen going on their Grand Tour would typically take a pig with them while staying at hotels - sending the animal up into the bed so it could be bitten, before getting in themselves.
Nowadays specialist sprays by pest control companies are used to eradicate them. 'People get really worried about this sort of thing but it can be treated easily,' said Ms Kidman.
'There's a stigma attached to it like having lice but there's nothing wrong with it. When you see an infestation it's not very pleasant. There can be an awful lot of them - 100 or more - and they spread through flats quite easily.'
The bites of a bed bug - Cimex lectularius - can be nasty and give people an allergic reaction. However experts say there is no proof that they transmit any diseases.
This year there has been a reported rise in all kinds of biting insects due to the combination of a wet Spring and warm summer which created ideal breeding conditions.
Gardeners in July reported more mosquito bites than normal and a rise in the numbers of ants and horseflies.
Reader views (1)
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In April 1997 we rented a flat at north-west London and my daughter started going to school and we made a lot of investment for her future. After a month of living in this flat we noticed that our skin was itchy and going red. Being so curious one day I decided to turn the mattress over and there I noticed the heavy infestetion of these bugs that later we learned they were called bed bugs. We contacted the landlord and he told us he had the same problem before and he could not do anything about it. The situation was so terrible that we decided to leave and move away from it all. This is a terrible memory that we will never forget.
- Younas, London
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