• Wash, vacuum or clean all surfaces and bedding thoroughly.
  Wash bedding and affected clothing with hot water. Dry the wet clothes in a clothes drier on a hot setting.
• Vacuum the mattresses, seal the mattresses in dark plastic and leave it outside in the hot sun for as long as possible.
  Steam clean the carpets.
• Spray common hiding spots with a bedbug spray registered to control bedbugs. Follow the label directions carefully.
• Do not treat bedding with bedbugs insecticide.
• Your local council can offer information and advice on dealing with a bedbug infestation.

Bedbugs - Bedbug Bites

Hiring a professional pest control operator
A qualified pest control operator can determine the extent of the bedbug infestation, then use registered bedbug spray to kill the bedbugs. Repeat visits may be necessary to ensure all bedbugs at various stages of the lifecycle have been eradicated. Good hygiene practices, such as frequent house cleaning, should help to prevent any further infestations. However, vacuuming immediately after treatment should be avoided to ensure that the residual insecticide is not removed. For further information, you should consult your pest control operator.

Where can you get help
Your doctor
Licensed pest control operators
Your local council

Things to remember
Bedbugs are commonly found on beds or mattresses, and they feed on human blood.  Bedbug bites typically causes a large, reddened and itchy wheal that fades to a red spot.

Bedbugs are not believed to transmit diseases to humans.

• Wingless
• Half a centimetre long
• Flat, oval-shaped body
• Six legs
• Light brown in colour, changing to rust–red after a meal of blood
• Squat head
• Large antennae
• Large mouth parts (mandibles)
• Complex life-cycle involving many stages of development
• Ability to survive without feeding for months at a time
• Susceptible to extremes of temperature.

These are the living areas favoured by bedbugs:

Bedbugs - Pictures Of Bedbugs

• Mattresses, particularly along the seams
• Bedding such as sheets and blankets
• Beneath loosened edges of wallpaper
• Between the cracks of wooden floors
• In wall cracks or crevices
• Carpet
• Furniture, particularly in seams and cracks.

Bedbugs - Bedbug Bites

You can avoid a bedbug infestation and kill the bedbug.  In general, bedbugs enter your home in luggage or on secondhand items such as bedding and furniture. Taking care with these old items, in addition to high standards of hygiene and housekeeping, should help to minimise the chance of a bedbug infestation right inside your home.

Controlling a bedbug infestation through high standards of hygiene and housekeeping alone are unlikely to control a bedbug infestation. However, keeping a house clean will reveal the presence of bedbugs at an early stage, making the control easier and reducing the chance of widespread infestation of the bedbug.

These are the symptoms of a bedbug bite:

• Large wheals which reduce to a red mark then gradually fade over a few days
• Made in orderly rows
• Itchiness
• Reddening of the skin
• Localised swelling
• Formation of blisters
• Small loss of skin tissue in some cases.

Treating Bedbug Bites
Bedbugs are not known to transmit any blood-borne diseases. However, bedbug bites can be very itchy and distressing.

Bedbugs - Bedbug Bites

Bedbug bites treatment include:

• Resist the urge to scratch.
• Use calamine lotion or anaesthetic creams to treat the itching.
• Wash the bites areas with antiseptic soap to reduce the risk of infection.
• Apply an icepack frequently to help relieve the swelling.
• Take pain-killing medication if the bedbug bites symptoms are severe.
• See your doctor if the bite develops into an infection.

Causes of Bedbug Infestation
Bedbugs often hide itself in the luggage, clothing, bedding and furniture. The bedbugs are most often found in dwellings with a high rate of occupant turnover such as hotels, motels, hostels, shelters and apartment complexes.

Any household can be invaded by bedbugs, but a high standard of hygiene can help discourage bedbugs from spreading widely throughout one's home.

Recognising a bedbug infestation
The first indication of a bedbug infestation could be the presence of bedbug bites on family members. A thorough inspection of your home, especially the common hiding spots, may also reveal the bedbugs themselves.  However, due to the size of bedbugs, they are often hard to see

Bedbugs - Pictures of Bedbugs

Some of the bedbugs symptoms are:

• Small bloodstains from crushed bugs on sheets or mattresses
• Rusty or dark spots of bug excrement on mattresses, bedding and walls
• An offensive, sweet, musty odour from their scent glands, which may be detected when infestations are severe.

Bedbugs have highly developed mouth parts that can pierce through skin easily. Though their bite is painless, it does however becomes itchy and swells into a reddened wheal. Unlike the random pattern of bites made by mosquitoes, bedbugs tend to leave orderly rows of patterns.

Bedbug Bites - What Are Bedbugs

Although bedbugs can harbour diseases in their bodies, transmission to humans is considered highly unlikely. Therefore, for this reason they are not considered dangerous, unless a person is allergic to them. However, their presence can be distressing and their bites can be highly irritating at times.

Humans are the preferred host for these bedbugs.  Bedbugs live exclusively on blood. They prefer human blood but will feed on other mammals if necessary too.

Bedbugs find their host through body heat and the carbon dioxide in the air.  Bedbugs commonly target the shoulders and the arms.

During feeding, the bedbug’s proboscis (feeding organ) swings forward and downward to pierce the skin of the victim. Saliva (containing an anticoagulant) is then injected into the skin, which is the cause of an allergic reaction in some people. Bedbugs take around five to 10 minutes to feed. As the bedbug engorges with blood, its colouring changes from light brown to rust–red.