Why are people freaking out about bedbugs?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I mean, as far as I can tell from internet research, they don’t transmit disease to humans. They may bite, but many people don’t even react to their saliva and never know they have bedbugs. I suppose those who are allergic to them must truly suffer, but the same goes for dustmites and mosquitoes (from which far more people suffer welts and itching.)

Is it just the squick factor of having bugs in your bed? Boring news cycle? Why then not more uproar over dust mites, which pretty much everyone has?

Good night,
sleep tight
don’t let the bedbugs bite
But if they do
Squeeze them tight
and they won’t bite another night!

2

Plenty of people do react to their bites, and the little bastards are hard to eradicate without calling in the pros and possibly even getting rid of your current furniture. Not to mention their ability to go without meals for months or longer, and to near-invisibly hunt you down in your house if you switch rooms to escape an infestation. And you can actually bring them home in your luggage, unlike lots of insect pests of this nature.

Dust mites - you can’t ever rid yourself of those. You can’t see them without a microscope. No specks of blood on your sheets or anything. Take an antihistamine.

Mosquitoes: fly swatter (in the house) or Off (outside). Problem solved. And they don’t lurk in your bed and couch to drive you crazy and make you have to ditch your nice furniture.

It’s like termites, but less destructive and more physically annoying.

3

I don’t get the uproar, either.

I was in a situation where I had bedbugs and had no way to get rid of them. Sure, it sucked to wake up itching now and then. But it wasn’t that bad. They don’t bite every night. Anyway, that’s how bad it is with no way to get rid of them. Despite the “OMG super bugs” hysteria, you actually can get rid of them in modern America.

I think the uproar is partially a class issue (rich New Yorkers getting infestations that should really be reserved for poor immigrants! Oh heavens!) and news hysteria. We are an extremely bored country with few real problems to worry about, it seems.

4

I’m parnoid as they’re hard to get rid of.

I live in a building where tenants come and go. They buy stuff at thrift stores and such. I’m sure these people don’t realize bed bugs can live there.

Every so often we’ll get a new neighbor and they’re unclean and bring in roaches. OK it’s a mess for a week, but boric acid will take care of it, at least in my flat. The thing about roaches is, if there is no food or it’s packed away, you don’t see them.

I had a mice problem in my flat last year. It took me EIGHT MONTHS to get rid of them. I found the hole and plugged it up and they’d chew another one. I haven’t seen any since April so I’m hoping they’re all gone.

And once the mouse is in your flat, try getting him out. I had to use glue traps. Yeah they’re cruel but nothing else worked. Electronic zappers, they don’t go in them. Mouse traps, they will simply not go near them. Even if there is food there, they just ignore it.

Even glue traps they jumped over. I had to put the traps in weird places and scare the mice into hitting the traps. It’s a bad way to go, but I couldn’t have mice running around.

Bed bugs are problematic as they bite YOU. So it doesn’t matter how clean you are. It can cost thousands of dollars to get rid of them. And once you do, you can simply ride on the subway and bring them back home and your re-infected again.

Ask any parent who has a kid that had lice. They can keep get re-infested.

The real thing is when poor people get bugs they can’t afford treatment. It’s costly to treat for bed bugs, so people just suck it up and live with it.

OK so while you’re living with it, you’re neighbors are getting infested too.

That was the nice things about DDT, it was not only effective, it was CHEAP. Anyone could afford to use it. This is why it worked, at least for awhile. Because even poor people could take control.

I imagine it was like when I lived in Naples, Florida. OH my GOD, you go out at night and get bit up by mosquitos. It was not annoying it could be debilitating, if you didn’t cover up properly.

5

I keep three cats constantly on the prowl 'round these parts. Any mouse that makes it into our humble abode has a life span on the order of minutes.

It was quite a bit of fun a couple of months back when I was trying to participate on an important teleconference while the cats were milling about on high alert. I then watched as they cornered and dispatched their quarry. It was much more interesting than the meeting.

6

Because deep down, a lot of people like freaking out about things and were getting bored in the absence of a swine flu pandemic? Other than that, I got nothing.

7

FP’s got it, but e doesn’t go far enough. We need to be given things to freak out about, lest we freak about something truly important (say, unemployment) and start rioting in the streets.

8

You also got to remember how it disrupts your life. Suppose you do have bed bugs. You can’t invite people over without informing them, that before they return back to their own homes they need to decontaminate their clothes. And let’s hope that none of the bed bugs jump into the car upholstery and set up shop there.

If you go to work the eggs could be on your clothes, so your transfering them to people there. You’re going to have to have one set of bagged clothes that have been decontaminated and one set that have been worn. You can’t hang your clothes up or put them in drawers, 'cause the bed bugs will re-contaminate them.

But once you have issues with vermin, roaches, mice, bed bugs, fleas, lice, whatever, you don’t know how it can take over your life.

Not to mention cost. In NYC a large theatre chain had to shut down their theatres and decontaminate, and once again the bed bugs showed back, so they did it again. How much business was lost?

I know I sound awfully panicky here but the fact is, it’s going to be a problem in the future, a big problem. And it would be nice if simple steps were taken.

The only plus side is they don’t spead disease, which if they did, you can bet their would be action now.

Don’t buy used furniture, wash used clothes, don’t sit in upholstered furniture in public places, buy metal frames for beds and desks etc. If people KNEW bed bugs are real than they would say “OK, I’ll take a few common sense steps.”

9

Ever seen a photo of a contaminated mattress? Or had bugs crawling all over you at any and every hour?

I have seen the former and not experienced the latter, but it makes me shudder just thinking about it.

10

I think it’s a symptom of the germophobic society. People in western countries, and particularly the USA, seem to believe it is both possible and desirable to live a sterile existence. So the thought of parasites in civilised people’s homes and not in the ghetto where they belong is simply too much to bear.

11

seriously. unless fear is not a factor for you, having huge, fat, yet nigh invisible bugs feasting on you all day… i’m getting phantom itches just thinking about it.

that’s not a plus for me. to not even know, to be left wondering… /scratch

12

scratch scratch scratch

Damn I hate threads like this one

scritch scritch, is that a bedbug?

13

I’ve got red dots all over my left leg.

They suck.

14

Excellent username/subject combo.

15

Eggs that are produced via the male essentially raping the female. Not exactly endearing behavior.

16

Bedbugs aren’t invisible, the adults are bigger than fleas, it’s just that they are masters at hiding. I have a suspicion there are bedbugs present in my bedroom, I’ll be damned I can’t find a single one, nor have I found evidence of them (blood feces spots, molted skins). So if I have them, there aren’t many right now. I have been getting bitten by something that I’m very allergic to, as in welts on my legs 6 inches long and 4 inches wide. There have been weeks between bites, so I don’t know how much evidence that is of bedbugs, or if those house centipedes are biting me. All I have been able to do is spread diatomaceous earth all around the bedroom and I’ve covered the mattresses with bedbug-certified covers. No more problems so far, so I can only conclude one thing.

If I have further problems, I’ll have to hire a professional, and see if I can get a sniffing dog in here to find them. The allergic welts I have gotten CANNOT CONTNUE. They look terrible, have left scars, and I work with the public and in close quarters with coworkers, people don’t want to get near someone with big red welts on them.

So yeah, based on the reaction I’m having to suspected bites from those bloodsuckers, it freaks me out a little.

17

I don’t know about that. I’m happy with little spiders that creep out of the window panes and I know full well that bacteria live happily on my bathroom sink. I don’t think there is anything unusual or extreme not wanting tiny little parasites crawling on me in my sleep. I don’t want crabs or lice either. Doesn’t make me a classist germaphobe. Frankly, I bet the people in the ghetto would rather not have it either.

18

I can see why they wouldn’t be something people would want, sure, but I guess I just don’t get the level of hysteria I’m seeing. I wondered if there was some medical malady transmitted by them I was unaware of or something. Then again, I’m used to Chicago apartments and the nearly inevitable roach issues, and the only thing to really do is sigh and call the exterminator or put down Borax again. Now centipedes, *those *I can see freaking out about! :smiley:

Sorry about those welts, though. That does sound truly uncomfortable.

19

I don’t have an issue with people not overly caring about bedbugs. I don’t assume they’re uncouth slobs. I would hope that people who do care don’t get labeled as classist germaphobes on the brink of hysteria because it really squicks us out.

20

You care that the bloodsucking parasites that hide under your bed might not be considerate lovers?