How Do Bed Bugs Spread?
Contrary to its name, you can find bed bugs in many places besides beds. Usually thriving in spaces like the bed, bedding, carpets, couches and other cosy areas like the back of the headboard, tiny cracks on doors and walls, behind wallpaper stickers, or even electrical outlets.
It doesn’t matter if the place is clean or messy; as long as these little bugs have access to a food source, i.e., human blood, they can survive in almost any environment.
However, in most cases, you’ll find that bed bugs are more likely to form their breeding habitat quickly in filthy and messy places. They like being in warm, cosy spaces like underneath furniture or carpets and mattresses in cluttered rooms.
How Do They Get Into Your Home In The First Place?
Like other parasites, bed bugs live in many places with plenty of food sources. And since humans are their primary host, bed bugs are found in areas where people reside. Especially in public places like hotels, public libraries and public transport, bed bugs are more likely to be found.
Hence, when you travel to new or foreign places, there is a high chance that you might bring back this bug with you via your clothing and bedding. This is why you must always check for bed bugs wherever you go.
Even after getting home from a trip, make sure that you wash all your clothes and heat-treat them at a high setting on the dryer. You can also take the trouble of vacuuming your suitcases and trolleys in case of any suspicion of bed bugs in your hotel or the public transport you took.
How Can They Spread?
Once they successfully travel through your clothes, suitcases, shoes and other travel items, the bed bug infestation starts easily. Getting settled into your home won’t take these bugs too much time as they can adapt to almost any kind of environment.
When bed bugs enter your home, it is almost guaranteed that they will start breeding and spreading throughout your home, making their hideout spot in places like the back of the headboard, under carpets, between the seams of curtains and couches, and under your mattresses. Anywhere that is warm and cosy.
Can Bed Bugs Spread From Person To Person?
Despite popular belief that bed bugs can transmit from one person to another, humans are not carriers of these bugs. Unlike their parasite counterparts, like ticks and fleas, bed bugs cannot latch on to their human hosts.
Instead, they only bite you when they are feeding. After that, they quickly detach from the humans and retreat to their hideouts.
Instead, bed bugs travel through the personal belongings of humans, like their suitcases, shoes, boxes and even furniture. Typically, if you find that your home has a bed bug infestation, you can trace it back to either a traveller who has been to your home or to some furniture and other items that have come from another place and into your home.
How To Manage The Spread Of Bed Bugs
You should know how to inspect your home for a bed bug infestation to prevent the spread of this pest when you start noticing the first signs of a bed bug invasion. Some other ways include:
- Inspecting and cleaning old furniture before getting it inside your home
- Steam cleaning all your clothes and luggage after coming back from travel
- Avoiding shared laundry facilities
- Vacuuming your home often
- Maintaining a clean, debris-free house
- Using protective covers on your beds and mattresses.