- With the rise of international travel, bed bugs are travelling all over the world. Bed bugs, or Cimex lectarius, usually get into homes because they have hidden in the suitcases, bedrolls or sleeping bags of travellers. Since they are so small and flat, they can easily wedge themselves into incredibly narrow places. The National Pest Management Association urges travellers to vacuum their luggage as soon as they return home. It also recommends keeping luggage or sleeping bags wrapped up tightly in a plastic garbage bag to prevent the beg bugs from getting into the luggage. Bed bugs can live up to one year in between blood feedings. Bedbugs can also hop onto dogs, so keep them away from old furniture or mattresses left out on curbs.
- According to Dr. Harold Harlan in an interview with MSNBC, bed bugs are so common that one should assume that they are everywhere. He recommends that no one buy used furniture or pick up items left on curbs, including picture frames or electronics, as bed bugs can fit into these. New furniture or beds should be checked carefully for dead bed bugs, small red spots that are bed bug droppings or very pale bed bugs, which are actually shed skins. Vacuum the items before bringing them into the home. He also advises against buying upholstered furniture because there are just too many places for a bed bug to hide in.
- Since bed bugs are so small and flat, they can easily move in between connected houses or from one apartment to another through air vents, floor cracks, window frames or through the tiny space between a door and the doorframe. If bed bugs are found in one apartment or house in a row of houses, then when that apartment or house is fumigated, the bed bugs simply crawl next door away from the fumigation. If you move from a bed bug-infested home to another and bring your furniture and electronics with you, bed bugs can still live in those items.
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