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Pest Management Priducts Division of CSPA
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Detection
The first step is to have a thorough inspection of the infested premises by a pest management professional (PMP). The inspection, if done correctly, will take a lot of time as the PMP will be looking for an insect that is adept at hiding. The treatment should be tailored to the specific infestation, whether it is in the home, a rental apartment or an entire hotel or college dorm. Specially-trained dogs are now available for detecting hidden bed bugs, which allows the PMP to target the infested areas and avoid unnecessary treatment.
Physical Control
Eliminate Hiding Places
Clutter should be eliminated as this reduces places where bed bugs can hide and shelter from any insecticidal or heat treatments. Heavily infested items should be sealed in a plastic trash bag to prevent escape and disposed of appropriately.
Removal
Vacuuming will remove some exposed bed bugs, such as when a mattress is lifted to reveal a mass of scurrying bugs. But vacuuming is of little use for bed bugs in hiding or for their eggs, which will be stuck to the substrate. Bed bugs will cling to rough surfaces, making vacuuming more difficult. The contents of the vacuum must be promptly placed in plastic bag and sealed, otherwise the bugs will escape.
Heat Treatment
Bed bugs and their eggs are killed when exposed to temperatures of 1130 F for at least one hour. Heat treatment is odorless and involves no chemicals. Entire buildings, room, beds, mattresses and infested furniture can be treated with specially-designed equipment that uses dry heat. Heating can damage some items. Some pest management companies use steam treatment to control bed bugs. The steam should be as dry as possible so that drying time is minimized and the risk of mold is reduced in treated fabrics.
Bedding and should be laundered with hot water and then put in a clothes drier at a temperature of at least 1790F for 5 minutes.
Chemical Control
There are a limited number of insecticidal products approved for control of bed bugs. Many of the older insecticides, which could formerly be used indoors for control of bed bugs, are no longer approved for use. Recently, university and USDA researchers have documented that many bed bug populations in the US (and elsewhere in the world) have developed resistance to certain insecticides. This is to be expected whenever a population of an insect species is repeatedly treated to one insecticide, or to a group of chemically-related ones. Survival of the insecticidally-resistant individuals is greatly enhanced and subsequent generations become increasingly resistant to the insecticide until it is no longer effective.
Once the nymph finds a host, usually a sleeping person, it unfolds its proboscis and pushes it into the skin until it reaches a capillary. It then begins to pump blood into its gut. Feeding takes about 3 minutes.