Bed bug treatment
This page is about bed bug treatment.
Treatment by a competent professional pest control company is recommended. This is one pest where amateur treatment is unlikely to be successful.
Treatment requires spraying with an insecticide, a type of pesticide. It is important that the treatment is sufficient to kill off all the bed bugs otherwise pesticide-resistant strains may develop.
Bed bug treatment is not cheap and only reputable pest control companies should be employed.
Bed bugs are not all killed off immediately after treatment. Successful treatment requires bed bugs to emerge and to come into contact with the pesticide which is likely to have a residual effect providing a longer-term poison to the bed bugs. Numbers of bed bugs decrease with time.
A second visit is usually carried out to survey for surviving bed bugs and often to re-spray with a different pesticide.
You can help eradicate them
The householder can assist with eradication by taking a number of measures.
Pre-treatment
Reputable pest control companies offer pre-treatment advice to help ensure the effectiveness of the treatment.
Spray bed before disposing
Many people want a new bed after finding their bed to be infested. It is always best to have had the mattress, frame, headboard and inside the divan, sprayed with a selective pesticide before disposing of the bed.
Use a sprayed bed
Once a bed has been sprayed it should continue to be slept in to encourage the bed bugs to emerge from the crevices around the bed when they will come into contact with the pesticide spray.
Freezing
It has been shown that bed bugs are killed by freezing and this can be useful for bedding and some household items although care is needed to avoid damage to some items. Freeze for more than 10 hours.
Hot washes
When bedding and clothing is removed from bed bug infested rooms it is best to bag them up within the room before removal. In addition to freezing, hot washes (above 65°C), tumble drying (above 45°) for more than 30 minutes or dry cleaning (using perchloroethylene) are believed to be effective at killing bed bugs eggs, nymphs and the adults.
Vacuuming
Vacuuming and the use of steam cleaning are alternative treatments to pesticides but require trained operators and specialist equipment. There is no long-term residual effect with these methods and any eggs or nymphs or adults not killed or removed will re-infest the bedroom.
Monitoring tapes
Finally, there are monitoring tapes available that can be fixed to the top edge of the bed, out of sight and will allow a regular, visual check to be easily carried out.
Similarly there are specialist mattress protectors that are smooth and provide less harbourage for bed bugs and make spotting them easier. Both the tapes and the mattress protectors are particularly useful for hotels and other businesses providing sleeping facilities.
Last updated : 22/01/2010
