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| What causes bed bug infestation? |
Bed bugs what causes infection?
Travel is widely recognized as the most common cause of bed bug infestations. Often unbeknownst to the traveler, bed bugs wander onto people, clothing, luggage, or other personal belongings and are mistakenly transported to other property.
Bed bugs can easily go undetected by humans. As small, wingless insects with flattened bodies, they can hide in small, isolated spaces that are often out of sight, such as behind headboards or under upholstered furniture. Their flat bodies also help protect them from being crushed if one of their hosts lights them up in the middle of the night.
Although bed bugs prefer to remain hidden, they will emerge from their hiding places to feed when the host is nearby. But until then, bed bugs are very careful about their actions. To avoid detection, the reddish-brown insects usually wait until midnight before moving to a host for a blood meal. When they bite, they inject their victim with a mild anesthetic to help them remain undetected while they feed.
It is important to note that, unlike flies, bed bugs are not attracted to decay or the accumulation of organic matter found in soiled areas. They are found wherever their food source, human blood, is available. Therefore, the association of bed bugs with messy, dirty spaces is a myth. Learn more about this age-old misconception here.
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for travel
Besides food poisoning and lost luggage, bed bugs are a major concern for travelers. Lack of awareness and an "it will never happen to me" attitude has contributed significantly to the spread of bed bugs - or "travel bugs" as they may be called in the future. The increase in global travel is often cited as one of the main factors contributing to the increase in bed bug infestations in the United States, following their reappearance around the world in the last decade.
Bed bugs are a major source of stress for businesses and private residences. It used to be a problem for hotels, and now many types of businesses face bed bug problems, including colleges, universities, hospitals, retail shops, movie theatres, libraries, etc.
Get the 5-step housekeeping and maintenance guide to looking for bed bugs in hotels.
second-hand furniture
Another common cause of bed bugs is the popularity of used furniture. Bed bugs can often be introduced into a property when infested furniture is brought into a business.
Similarly, rental furniture can also be blamed if it has been rented in a property where bed bugs are present and then inadequately inspected on return before being re-rented. Bed bugs can live for months without a blood meal, so simply isolating an infested piece of furniture will not kill them.
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