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How do Bed Bugs get into bed? Bed bugs are transported with luggage, clothing and other articles, but not on the person. It is not possible to know if someone is a ‘bed bug carrier’.
Bed Bugs do bite, at night. In the morning upon waking up, you may see dots of blood in a line on bed linen. The blood has a sickly sweet odour. Also look for dried blood deposits around cracks in the bed, bed-head, flooring, bedside furniture and mattress.
Bed bugs life cycle: From the egg, the bed bug has five nymphal stages before becoming an adult. The adults and nymphs leave their harbourage area to feed every 2 to 3 days. They feed for 3 to 5 minutes at night, in the early morning hours, before returning to their harbourage area, usually located within a few metres from their feeding area. Bed bugs can survive for long periods without a blood meal.
Adverse skin reactions: Some people have an adverse skin reaction to the bite of bed bugs. The bed bug injects an anti-coagulant chemical into the bloodstream of it's host which prevents the blood from clotting. This allows the bed bug to suck out the blood until it is fully engourged.
Infection of bite area: The resulting irritancy of the anti-coagulent chemical around the bite site can be severe, particularly to people with soft sensitive skin. Scratching is difficult to resist but this can cause infection of the bite area. If this is a likely problem, you should consult a Doctor or Chemist to obtain appropriate medication.
