Bedbugs: Stop The Invasion!
They are tiny but can still turn your nights into a nightmare. Recognizable by their very flat oval shape and their brown color, bed bugs are a real public health problem.
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Bed Bug
These insects, the size of an apple seed and of the Cimicidae family, lodge in the mattresses , cracks and crevices of the interior walls where they come out at night to feed on your blood. In a week, the female can lay 200 to 500 eggs! The bites usually form lines of small red pimples and are very itchy . They also cause panic because once homes have been invaded, it is often difficult to get rid of these little animals which, for twenty years now, have been making a strong comeback on the planet scale. In France, nearly400,000 infested sites were identified in 2018. This is twice as many as in 2016 !!!
Bedbugs: The Nightmare Of City Dwellers
Large agglomerations are on the front line. Paris , of course, but also Marseille : on November 4, 17 associations gathered in front of the Regional Health Agency to ask the State to react and to recognize bedbugs as a public health problem . No building is safe from bed bugs anymore. In early October 2019, it was even the Alcatraz library in Marseille that had to close its doors for a disinfection of more than 10 days. The insects had taken up residence in the seats and in the books. Monday, November 4, the bedbugs intercollectivewhich brings together 17 Marseille associations gathered in front of the Regional Health Agency. Objective: to force the public health authorities to react.
Unlike mosquitoes, bedbugs do not transmit disease. Its bites can cause very different reactions in different people. ” It can go from nothing at all, no reaction, in 35% of cases, to serious pimples sometimes very serious due to the allergy that we develop or not, to the saliva of these bugs”, explains Dr Arezki Izri , parasitologist at Avicennes hospital (93). “ But the psychological reactions on the other hand are very important. We have seen people cry to save their children who are eaten every night by these critters. ”
Being in contact with these parasites can also cause a feeling of discomfort and encourage victims to isolate themselves for fear of infecting their loved ones. “We especially think that we are going to infect the entire environment, that’s what we fear, while being a victim, we have a feeling of guilt,” testifies a victim.
It is of course possible to get rid of it but above all: avoid insecticides! Dr Arezki Izri insists: “ If we apply these products which are dangerous for humans, it irritates the bedbugs. They have become resistant to insecticides . It spreads them all over the house, so when you put these products on you make the problem worse. ”
Bedbugs: An Invaded Student Residence
University residences are the ideal playground for bed bugs. Students are very mobile, and can easily carry these insects in their suitcases. And if one room is infested, the entire residence is threatened. The Versailles Academy Crous, which manages more than 9,000 student accommodation, therefore takes the problem very seriously because bedbugs reproduce very quickly and the risk of spread is therefore extremely high. At the slightest alert, even if the accommodation does not show any apparent trace of a bed chip, a preventive disinsectionis applied. Walls, floors, baseboards and bedding are treated with a very powerful product that attacks the nervous system of bed fleas and remains active three days after application. The treatment is repeated 15 days later to eliminate any persistent larvae. Thanks to these precautions, in 2019, only around 40 CROUS housing units were infected by these insects within the Versailles academy.
Bedbugs: Dogs To Spot Insects
There are many ways to get rid of bed bugs. An original solution has developed in recent years: training dogs to spot insects for us. This is the case of Rocky, accompanied by his trainer, who spots bedbugs by smell. The dog searches in all risky places, which humans do not always easily reach. And as soon as he spots the smell of bedbugs, he sits down to point out the infested area. Quick locating work, which allows occupants to effectively deal with areas where bedbugs are hiding.
Bedbugs: How To Get Rid Of Them?
Have bed bugs invaded your apartment? The invasion raises many practical questions, which the Internet does not necessarily answer. How to recognize them? And above all, how to eradicate them? Answers with a specialist in bedbugs, Damien Eymon, biologist technician.
How To Suspect Bed Bugs?
You have to think of bed bugs in front of bites that are grouped together, in tender parts (hips, forearms, neck, calf, etc.). Another clue: traces of blood on the sheets, because the bug bites with a rostrum, so the bite is violent and makes the blood flow a little. At the very beginning of an infestation, it is very rare to see bedbugs, people notice it after two or three months when they see the insects which have re-produced and are more numerous. At that time, they get bitten every day.
How To Recognize Them?
The eggs are shaped like grains of rice (2 mm, white, in a cluster of four or five eggs), which can be found at the seams, the bed base, … and protected from light.
As for the droppings, they form small black spots on the mattresses and box springs. We sometimes see insects or more often shells, because they moult several times before they are adults. We can find these empty shells on the ground.
How Are Bedbugs Transported From One Place To Another?
They are mainly carried by man: by his belongings (suitcases, exceptionally clothing) or in the event of removal by furniture. In an infested hotel room, the suitcase is often next to the bed or under the bed, the bedbugs settle there and we bring them home.
Can You Have Bedbugs On You And Contaminate Other Apartments Or People?
No, because the bug does not stay on its prey, it is not a parasite and it is impossible to carry it on you. However, there is one caveat, in certain specific cases, such as for example a small over-infested studio: if you leave your coat lying around at the level of the infestation, the bugs can take refuge in a pocket. But this is really not the main vector. They do not get on stationary and exposed surfaces such as computer bags.
Can Bedbugs Infect An Animal?
This is possible because the insect feeds on blood, so warm-blooded mammals bite. If a dog is infected, disinfect his basket or the place where he sleeps. Cats are rarely infected because they move around more and do not sleep in the same place.
How To Choose The Decontamination Company?
How Is The Decontamination Going?
The product administered is permethrin generally, in the form of a liquid concentrate, or synthetic pyrethroids. It acts instantly with a persistence of one week maxiumum. You should plan not to be in the apartment for 4 hours and the animals can return to the habitat 24 hours later.
What Precautions Should Be Taken ?
The apartment must be prepared before the technician’s passage: nothing must hang on the ground to facilitate his passage; the mattress and the box spring are placed vertically; the sofa bed is open; after each disinfection, the bedding (duvet, pillows, sheets) must be washed at 60 ° C or put in the dryer, with a classic cycle of 30 or 45 minutes (the bugs die after 5 minutes at more than 50 ° VS).
If the wardrobes are near the bed, it is essential to wash everything at 60 ° C. When this is not possible, fragile laundry such as silk or wool is put in the freezer for 48 hours: at – 7 ° C, they can withstand five days and two days – at 18 ° C, which is the recommended temperature for ‘a freezer. Laundry that is not washed or frozen immediately should be placed in large, closed garbage bags (when placed in garbage bags, bedbugs are locked inside while waiting for passage through the machine).
What To Do With Storage Under A Bed, If It Cannot Be Washed Or Frozen?
They will be treated like bedding. There is never any point in throwing away a storage under the pretext that it is infected. Bedbugs prefer to get on bedding, baseboards, hinges or even the ceiling, … and in any case, they stay close to their prey!
If after a month after the second disinfection, there are no new bites, you can breathe: the bugs are definitely out of your bed!
* Damien Eymon is a biologist technician at Hygiene Services et Solution
In some people, the bites are barely visible and they tolerate them very well. In others, the allergic reaction is not long in coming: red blisters itch terribly.
At this time, a corticosteroid-based cream ( betamethasone , two to three times a day, for five days) helps to relieve them, sometimes with an antihistamine supplement for a few days.
“They are mainly conveyed by men”: oh well, so they are not conveyed by women?
“If we apply these products which are dangerous for humans …”: idem; would they not be dangerous for the woman?
Doctor ( Arezki Izri ) or biologist ( Damien Eymon) are however supposed to know the human race.
