I used to think that vampires are only those blood sucking humans we see on television with their sharp long teeth, well I guess I was wrong. Sometime ago last month, I went to visit a friend of mine Benedict. Benedict used to be a former class mate of mine back then in secondary school. She would always remind me to come and visit her in the house of which I would tell her that I will make out time to visit her in the house one day.
Image source Wikimedia. Creative commons license
So finally, I then decided to visit her in the house. I put a call through to her and told her I would be coming over by weekend and she agreed. The D-day finally came, and 'Bene', as we fondly call her was very happy to see me in her house that day. I got a warm welcome from her mother and siblings who had not seen me for a long time. wow, it feels so good to be treated like a celebrity lol.
So we got talking, "gisting" (like we say it in Nigeria) and laughing so loud and all of a sudden I felt a tiny pinch under my clothing. At first I just scratched the area with my fingers because I taught it could be the cloth I was wearing or probably mosquitoes you know. I overlooked it and continued with our gist again, I felt the same thing again under my clothing but this time around, on a different spot.
I scratched again and ignored and continued to gist. I noticed I was the only one scratching but Bene was not scratching as the case may be. The itchiness was becoming too much that I had to speak out. Then I called Bene’s attention to what was itching me then she replied, sorry dear it may be mosquitoes don’t mind them. Immediately she said that, I got up in anger to see what type of mosquito bites one during the day because mosquitoes I know are more active during the night.
As I stood up from the seat, to my greatest surprise it was bedbugs. I saw two of them running back into the sofa of which they were looking so red and so fat. The way I shouted at the site of them made goose bumps to come out of my body. Oh my God, they have sucked my blood.
What are bedbugs?
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Scanning electron micrograph showing the insect’s skin piercing mouthparts it uses to obtain its blood meal, as well as a number of its six jointed legs. Image source Wikimedia. Creative Commons license.
Bedbugs (cimex lectularius) are a particular type of insect (I call them vampires) that feed mainly on blood. They are very small in size and swift in the sense that you can hardly see them laying around and also because bedbugs are very fast insects, they sense movement faster which makes them run into their hiding place before you catch them.
Bedbugs are mainly brown in color although their color may change when they eventually feed on blood.
Usually after feeding their color changes from brown to a little bit of brownish-red. Bedbugs are flat and oval in shape in their natural state (that’s when they have not feed) but when they feed on blood they become a bit bloated or swollen as the case may be and this indicates that they have sucked enough blood from their host.
Just like we eat what we like and want as human beings that’s the way bedbugs eat blood too as their own particular type of food. They also feed on animal blood too but the most appetizing to them is the human blood and this is because human habitat has a lot of places which they can hide out comfortably without us being aware of their presence. Baby bedbugs are usually harder to spot and this is because they are very tiny and that makes it more difficult to spot them.
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Bedbugs and their tiny white colored eggs (open link for a bigger sized image). Image source Wikimedia. Creative Commons license.
A matured female bed bug can lay about 100 to over 400 eggs all through her life time which is usually between 6-15 months life cycle before they eventually die out.
This case is mainly because a typical matured bedbug can hibernate for a long period of time when there is scarcity of food for them (no blood to feed on) and as such they tend to stay longer in their hiding places which can be sofa, bedding, furniture, cloths etc. lying in wait for the day a miracle food comes around for them.
Why are they creepy vampires?
I call bedbugs creepy vampires because they are usually very active at night. You probably will not see a bedbug during the day or get a bite from them during the day unless you sleep or seat directly on a highly infested place where they live in but at night you can even see them running around. Bedbugs attack humans especially when they are asleep thereby causing a discomfort in their sleep.
Bedbugs can live in any type of place provided the place is dark enough for them to hide in but the thing is that they would prefer to live in a place where humans live so as they can have access to the humans for food and survival. The fact that bedbugs reproduce largely makes it difficult to eradicate them in places where they have infested and this is the reason why it is very difficult to get rid of them immediately and totally.
Bedbugs and human health
Although Bedbugs are not known to cause any particular type of illness or sickness when they bite humans but there is a phenomenon called cutaneous lesions which is mainly caused by their bite on human skin. The appearance of this lesions are usually visible when we the individual that was bitten by the bedbug begin to see a kind of reddish or probably pinkish bumps on the affected area of the skin.
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Skin lesions caused by bedbug bite. Image source Wikimedia. Image by BruceBlaus. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
This color of lesion is mostly dependent on skin color because it will not be obvious on a dark colored skin type whereas it will be very obvious on a fair skin type.
As these bedbugs pierce the skin of their victims in the course of feeding, they secrete a kind of saliva on the skin which serves as an analgesic that makes their bite painless without the initial knowledge of their victims and makes it easy for them to draw blood without the blood congealing as it comes out the skin of their victims.
Usually the itchy sensation one feels after a bedbug bite does not just stop at once and this is because it might take some days for it to stop and when we scratch the skin so much we tend to have blisters on the skin that will also take some time to heal too and may cause cellulitis.
Bedbug bites also has a way of affecting the psychology of the victim in the area of sleep because it can cause sleep disorder and this is because the victim might be forced to wake up at intervals at night because of the discomfort caused by these bedbugs.
In the case of those reddish or pinkish bumps on the skin of the victim as the case maybe will make the victim not to wear exposed clothing that may cause questioning by neighbors about what happened to him/her
So how can we get rid of these vampires from us?
Bedbugs are usually not easy to get rid of owing to the fact that they reproduce and multiply very fast within a short period of time .one of the most effective way to get rid of them is the use of insecticide. By using this insecticide, make sure you follow their trail (their trail is usually their poop which is usually black dotted stains on the infested area/areas).wherever you see that black stain it indicates their presence.
Bright colored beddings are not good for their camouflage and can help detect their presence easily. Image source Smartertravel. Creative commons license.
Always make sure you use bright colored bedding, this is because bedbugs usually like to inhabit dark colored materials or surfaces where they cannot be easily spotted. Inspect all furniture coming into your home especially used ones.
Washing of bedding regularly can also get rid of them. One can fumigate the house totally with the help of a professional fumigator. We can use hot air to dry out the affected area or we use a vacuum cleaner. We can also use permanent bed covers because it is very effective.by using this permanent bed covers you lock them away inside their hiding place therefore they cannot come out to bite you anymore and this reduce their growth which eventually leads to their death.
conclusion
As we all know that it is very necessary to ensure and keep adequate and proper hygiene especially in the house because this goes a long way to get rid of these insects. Keeping a good environmental hygiene by using manual sprayers, powder applicators, aerosol cans etc. to fumigate the home environment is very necessary to eradicate these pests and other pests as well in the house.
There is always a chance for re-infestation of bedbugs due to the fact that they can hibernate for a long period of time without food to sustain them and because of this reason we need to ensure we monitor previously infested areas regularly to fumigate when necessary. We should also try to avoid using dark colour of beddings since these bedbugs breed in dark environment.