What causes bed bug infestations?

Bed bugs continue to remain the number one pest in the United States and 68% of pest control professionals agree that bed bugs are the hardest pest to control. So what is the main cause of bed bugs? Travel is widely recognized as the most common source of bed bug infestations. Often unbeknownst to the traveler, bed bugs will hitchhike on people, clothing, luggage, or other personal belongings and be accidentally transported to other properties.

Bed bugs can easily go unnoticed by humans. As small, wingless insects with flattened bodies, they can hide in tight, secluded spaces that are often out of sight, such as behind headboards or deep in upholstered furniture. Their flat bodies also help to protect them from being smashed if one of their hosts rolls over onto them in the middle of the night. 

Although bed bugs prefer to remain hidden, they will move out of their hiding spaces to feed when a host is nearby. But even then, bed bugs are cautious about their actions. To avoid detection, the reddish-brown insects typically wait until the middle of the night before moving toward a host for a blood meal. When they bite, they inject their victim with a mild anesthetic to help them remain unnoticed while they feed.

Travel

Increased global travel is often cited as one of the biggest contributing factors to the increase in bed bug infestations in the U.S., with the pests making a resurgence around the world in the last decade. Lack of awareness and the “it will never happen to me” attitude have greatly contributed to the spread of bed bugs.

Arriving on the luggage of travelers from all over the country, these tiny pests can make their way into the cracks and crevices of hotel furniture and underneath mattresses, bedding, and pillows unnoticed. In fact, research has revealed that hotels and motels are among the top three areas where you will most likely run into bed bugs. Surveys have shown that up to 74% of all pest control cases have to do with the bed bugs found in hotels.

Since bed bugs are a frequent and costly issue for hotels, housekeeping staff needs to remain vigilant and follow the proper protocols when cleaning rooms to identify an infestation early on.

Bed bugs in healthcare facilities

There is constant traffic in healthcare facilities as patients are received and discharged every day, so this industry is certainly not exempt from the epidemic. Often brought in on patient or visitor belongings, bed bugs are usually found in patient rooms on furniture such as beds, couches, and curtains.

It’s essential for healthcare management to carry out regular detection and monitoring protocols in areas that are most prone to bed bugs. Such areas include lounges, patient and family waiting areas, storage areas for housekeeping and laundry areas.

Bed bugs in colleges and universities

Bed bugs on college campuses can be a real issue due to the transient nature of universities. With students coming and going for spring, winter, and summer break, bed bugs are often transported via luggage and furniture moving in and out of dorm rooms. Once brought into a dormitory, bed bugs can then easily travel from room to room and then eventually to the common areas on campus. Holiday and summer breaks at universities are a great time for college campuses to hire a pest control company to perform bed bug inspections of school grounds.

Second-hand furniture

Another common cause of bed bugs is the popularity of second-hand furniture. Bed bugs can often be introduced to a property when an infested piece of furniture is brought into a business.

Likewise, rental furniture can also be to blame if it is rented to a property where bed bugs are present and then inadequately inspected upon its return before being rented out again. Bed bugs can survive for many months without a blood meal, so simply isolating an infested piece of furniture will not get rid of bed bugs.

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