Bed Bugs 101

2. Show of Hands
Who has….
• Kids at college?
• Visited a relative in a nursing home?
• Tenants?
• Stayed in a hotel in the last year?
• Purchased furniture from a garage sale?

3. Bed Bugs Are on the Rise
The National Pest Management
Association, National
Geographic News and many
other sources are reporting a
500% increase in reported bed
bug cases since 2000.

4. What Are Bed Bugs?

5. • Little, crawling insects that look like an
apple seed.
• They are nocturnal and feed off the blood
of humans.

6. Fact vs. Fiction
• Fact
• These insects have piercing sucking mouth
parts and consume red blood.
• They prefer human blood, but will feed on the
blood of other animals –mainly birds and
mice.
• They are real and are becoming a serious
problem.

7. Fact vs. Fiction
• Fiction
– Are known to transmit diseases
– Can kill you
– Carry the HIV/aids virus
– They are so tiny, you can’t see them
– Are not real
– Are not found in Omaha
– Should be ignored

8. How Do You
Get Bed Bugs?

9. Bed Bugs Are Not a Sanitation Issue

10. • Bed bugs are excellent travelers and are
often referred to as “hitchhikers”

11. • Travel
– Staying in hotels
– Overseas travel – third world countries
– Tropical destinations

12. • Purchasing used furniture and appliances

13. Where Do
Bed Bugs Live?

14. • Bed bugs generally like to live “out-of-site”
– Behind baseboards
– Behind wallpaper
– In furniture crevices
– Behind light switches and electrical outlets
– In door and window frames
– In upholstered furniture

15. Where Did Bed Bugs
Come From?

16. • The human bed bug is an evolution of the
bat bug, commonly associated with bat
colonies.
• Early man often took shelter in cave
dwellings, where bats lived.

17. • When man left the cave, he carried some
of these insects with him.
• They have adapted to feeding on mankind
almost solely, but will feed on bats, some
birds and a few other animals.

18. • Bed bugs mostly troubled
“rich” people in medieval
times, because they had
the warmest homes.
• As the quality of homes
improved, bed bugs
become a problem for all
economic classes.

19. • Before WWII, they were a common pest in
the U.S.

20. Historical Control Methods
• Historically, folk methods and herbs were
used, but with little real relief.
– Scattering the bugbane plant
around beds as a repellant.
– Placing the feet of a dead stag
at the foot of the bed as a
“decoy”.
– Inserting the legs of bed frames
into pans of water or kerosene.

21. Where Did The
Bed Bugs Go?

22. • Populations declined dramatically after WWII
with the development and use of pesticides
such as DDT.
• Arsenic, strychnine, mercury, benzene, and
even hydrocyanic acid were all used to
control bed bugs.

23. • For the last 50 years, these insects were
off the radar, having virtually no impact on
our day-to-day life.
• The environment had a background level
of pesticides that kept bed bugs from
making a reappearance.

24. What Does
All This Mean?

25. Top 15 Most Infested Cities
1. New York 8. Dayton, Ohio
2. Philadelphia 9. Washington, D.C.
3. Detroit 10. Los Angeles
4. Cincinnati 11. Boston
5. Chicago 12. Indianapolis
6. Denver 13. Louisville, Ky.
7. Columbus, Ohio 14. Cleveland
15. Minneapolis

26. Bed Bugs in Omaha
• Pest Solutions 365 has
seen a 600% increase in
bed bug jobs over last year.

27. Most Common Places Treated For Bed Bugs
National Pest Management Association Survey of Pest Management Professionals

28. Bed Bugs in Omaha
• Pest Solutions 365 has already serviced:
– Apartment communities
– Hospitals
– Hotels
– Shelters
– Activity centers
– Assisted living centers
– Housing commission properties
– Residential homes

29. • Bed bugs have become such an issue, the
Environmental Protection Agency held it’s
first ever National Bed Bug Summit in
Washington D.C. in April 2009.

30. How Do I Know If I
Have Bed Bugs?

31. • A physical sample is required to be 100%
certain.
• You may see evidence of a bed infestation
without actually seeing any bed bugs

32. • Bite symptoms are a good
indicator but can’t be
diagnosed with 100%
certainty.
• More than half of all people
don’t show any symptoms
when first bitten.

33. • The most effective inspections are
conducted by a qualified pest
management professional.

34. The Ewwwww Factor

35. Bed bugs….
• Can lay 1-5 eggs per day.
• Have been reported to live up to 12
months without a blood meal.
• Will seek out a shallow vein to draw blood,
and will follow along the vein. Thus bites
tend to be in a row.

36. • Can grow up to 6 times their normal size
when fully fed.
• Leave blood stains on sheets and
mattresses as a result of the bleeding that
sometimes occurs after the bed bug is
finished feeding.

37. Questions?