Eeeewh! Bedbugs

bedbugs.jpg

What’s the first thing you should do when you check into a hotel? Look for bedbugs.

To be honest, I didn’t know that bedbugs really existed until my dermatology residency (they’re on our board exam). I always thought that they were the fictional creatures of a nursery rhyme: Good night, sleep tight, and don’t let the bed bugs bite.

Well they are real. Believed to have been brought here by original colonists, bedbugs were nearly extinct a few years ago when DDT was in widespread use. They have since made a significant comeback, increasing by 500% over the last few years. They are known to infest hotels and apartment buildings and can come home with you by hitching a ride in your luggage.

Bedbugs (also spelled bed bugs, or Cimex lectularius) are small brown flat wingless insects about the size of an apple seed. They live in crevices in walls, furniture, baseboards, mattresses, comforters, and even drapes. They can live for months without a meal. In heavily infested rooms they can give off a coriander-like odor.

They come out just before dawn to grab a snack on your skin and secrete a numbing substance that prevents you from waking and discovering them biting you.

bedbugbite.jpgIf you had been bit, you would develop itchy bumps or welts, often in a straight line, on exposed areas of your skin. The bites are often in 3’s; in dermatology we call it the “breakfast, lunch, and dinner” sign.

Fortunately the bugs aren’t known to carry disease; it is possible they can carry the virus for hepatitis, but there have been no instances of the bugs transmitting that disease. The main problem is the psychological impact they can have on you. Just the idea that there might be bugs living in your mattress that come out to bite can give you plenty of sleepless nights.

Treatment is usually with a topical steroid cream or oral antihistamine for the itching (like for mosquito bites).

How can you prevent getting bed bugs the next time you travel?

So if you suspect your home might be infected what can you do?

Here is an excellent algorithm from the Harvard School of Public Health.

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March 25, 2008 | Filed Under Mini Med School: Derm 101 

Comments

5 Responses to “Eeeewh! Bedbugs”

  1. Dr. Val on March 25th, 2008 10:18 am

    Ewww… is right! I wonder WHY they’re on the increase? And am I right that NYC is a hotbed of the little guys? I think I heard that somewhere… so attention travelers!

  2. SeaSpray on March 25th, 2008 6:06 pm

    This totally freaks me out! How prevalent is this????

  3. Trusted.MD Network on March 26th, 2008 5:48 am

    Bedbugs…

    Nasty….

  4. Ami on March 26th, 2008 7:38 am

    There is another place you can get them: moving trucks. When we moved across several states once, our truck took several days to get there. We were in our apartment in Utah (where it gets very hot and very cold) for a couple of days before our furniture arrived.

    We’d never had bed bugs before. The apartment didn’t have bed bugs. But when our furniture got there, suddenly we were getting these wierd bites. Found an odd little bug in the crevices of our couch, called the county extension and learned it was a bed bug!

    Ewwww!

    We took all those steps and used a bug bomb and never saw them again.

  5. DJ on June 7th, 2008 4:45 am

    OMFG !!! IM GETTING BIT TOO BUT NOT AS BAD AS THE GUY IN THE PICTURE…..I VISIT MY MOMS HOUSE EVERY WEEKEND AND MY GRANDMA LIVES HERE TOO !!! MY GRANDMA IS THE ONE THAT BROUGHT THESE NASTY BED BUGS TO THE HOUSE BY BUYING OLD CLOTHES FROM THE SWAP MEET N’ STUFF THEN NOT WASHING THEM !!! SHE BROUGHT THEM ALL OVER AND AROUND MY MAMAS HOUSE BUT NOW WE MOVED AND THEY FOLLOWED US
    SO WE STILL HAVING THE SAME DAM PROBLEM !!!
    PS:NO OFFENSE BUT GRANDMA DONT TAKE SHOWERS DAILY N’ SHE AINT VERY CLEANLY !!! DAz SOM NASTII SHEIITTT !!! LOLz

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