Most individuals under seventy years of age in the West will not have seen bed bugs. This is mainly due to enhanced living conditions, DDT and better public education. The DDT was used in the thirties and forties and eradicated the problem in the more wealthy countries.

Bed bugs are a part of the arachnid or spider family, although bed bugs are parasites that suck blood, not all bodily fluids. They will feed on most warm-blooded animals and there is some proof that humans are not their first preference of victim.

The most common form of bed bugs are known as Cimex lectularius by their Latin name. They are quite small but very fast moving insects and they are members of the spider family, although many of them do not look like spiders at all. Rather, most of them look like little beetles, until they have satiated themselves, after which they can hardly move and are at their most vulnerable.

Bed bugs feed in a similar way to mosquitoes. They insert a tube into the skin of its prey and suck blood out. It is not much to you, about a quarter of a millilitre, but is a lot to them. It permits them to live and reproduce.

Bed bugs, unlike their relatives the ticks, are not known to convey any diseases. In fact, they are one of the few insects that do not transmit a disease.

A bedbug bite is similar to an ant bite in appearance, but it will itch similar a mosquito bite. You will probably experience a slight swelling with a red dot in the centre and an itch. Little more.

You can check for bed bugs quite easily by soaking a bar of soap in a little water for half an hour while you lie on your bed reading a book. Then get up and fetch the soap, wet-side down and throw back the bed clothes. Pat up the bed bugs, if there are any with the soft soap. This is a speedy method of getting rid of a small number of bed bugs, but cannot be seen as a solution.

With regards to the eradication of an infestation of bed bugs, it depends where you live. If you are in a hotel, the bar of soap will be evidence enough of a problem and it is the hotel manager’s duty to provide a solution. If they do nothing, report the hotel to the neighbourhood tourist bureau.

If you live in rented accommodation, it is your landlord’s responsibility to solve the predicament. If he or she is disinclined, then go to the council hall and seek advice.

If the issue is in your own house, then take the skirting boards and architraves off. Spray or paint very powerful insecticide onto the wall and refix the woodwork. If you are still concerned, seal the woodwork off on all sides with mastic or silicone.

These measures will ensure that your house will be free of bed bugs.

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