Mattress – Bed Bugs Bite Back
Night, night, don't let the bed bugs bite! But bed bugs are back with a vengeance – nobody's mattress is safe.
The idea of monsters under the bed maybe a common childhood fear, but for some, the fear is real – mini-monsters are infecting more mattresses across the UK as the bed bug is back. It was thought the pest was wiped out in the eighties, but now bed bugs are well and truly back. A report in the Guardian newspaper by Michael Hann graphically illustrated how bed bugs in the mattress can cause havoc in a household, Hann told the story of his own battle with bedbugs as his mattress, and those of his kids became infected.
Bed bugs hit London's Middle Classes
Many people have experienced bed bugs on a mattress abroad – countries such as Africa are known as hot-spots for the pests. But not since the eighties have bed bugs been a worry for the UK. Hann described how the bed bugs infested his daughter's mattress causing sleep disruption for the whole family. Because his daughter was too scared to sleep in her own bed after waking up to see a pair of bedbugs on her mattress and pillow, she insisted on sleeping in her parents' bed.
Mattress Misery – Bedbugs are Back
Somewhat horrifically, Hann describes how he took apart his daughter's bunk bed, shaking the bedbugs onto a white sheet to see the damage, “...the sheets were streaked red with blood from the 40 or so live and well-fed bugs I had squashed. My daughter marvelled at how much blood came out of each bug. I didn't have the heart to tell her where the blood had come from.”
If you have a bedbug infestation, it isn't a reflection on your home – in fact the middle class homes and those of the well off are more likely to be victimised. That's because bedbugs are often picked up by travellers abroad and brought back on their clothes. There is something of a stigma associated with having bedbugs in your mattress, but cleanliness doesn't come into it. There's been an estimated threefold increase in bed bugs on London mattresses alone. Bedbugs hitch onto clothes and luggage, making themselves at home in your mattress when you get home from a trip abroad. They only appear in the early hours, vampire-like, to suck blood.
Hann discovered the bugs in the mattress after his children came out in rashes and bites. The exterminator pointed out the bedbug faeces. Deep cleans and chemical treatments on your mattress and beds is the only way to eradicate bedbugs.
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