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Road Tripping Bed Bugs Won't Let Go
Bed bugs are nasty little parasites that live on human blood. Typically feeding late at night, then hiding during the day, bed bugs' nocturnal behavior makes them difficult to see and even harder to get rid of. Approaching a near pandemic state this year, bedbug encounters have become much more common in public places. Still, resources available now can help travelers avoid bug-ridden places, deal with the pests while traveling and help keep them from hitching a ride back home with you or your luggage.
Before travel
The Bedbug Registry is an easy way to see if there are bed bug problems at travel destinations we may visit. A free, public database of bedbug sightings with about 20,000 bedbug reports, the Bedbug Registry helps check whether other travelers have encountered bedbugs at a hotel so we can avoid them when traveling.
The new Bedbug Registry app ($2.99) lets us search for bedbug reports by location when planning travel in the U.S. and Canada. Users can also submit their own report.
Another source, BedBugReports, was created specifically to warn travelers about hotels that have had bed bug reports.
At the destination
Harder to do but more important is a hotel inspection. When entering a hotel room for the first time, check all bedding – the sheets, comforter and the seams of the mattress and box spring. Lift up the mattress and look underneath, where bedbugs like to hide and examine the headboard.
"Avoid putting your suitcase on the floor, bed or chairs," said Genevieve Shaw Brown, senior editor at Travelocity in an ABCNews report. "In case there is a problem, you don't want to transport the bedbugs to your next location or back home. Keep the suitcase elevated until you've had a chance to inspect the room, maybe on a dresser or on a shelf in the closet."
When returning home from a trip, immediately wash all clothing from your travels. Bedbugs can't survive in temperatures above 122 degrees Fahrenheit. Washing clothing, even clothing that was not worn, will assure that bed bugs don't take up residence in your drawers and closets.
Bed bugs are at their peak during summer months, making summer road trip destinations especially vulnerable to infestation. Of the many souvenirs you want to bring home from your travels, bedbugs are not one of them.
[Flickr photo by louento.pix]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jay Jul 21st 2012 8:37AM
A bed bug app?.......God that sounds about as bad as the bed bug itself. Maybe we should demand more of the hotels we stay at rather than the reliance of some electrical device to tell us something might be in your bed. But like anything American avoiding responsibility seems to rule the day and as long as that keeps happening we will get bitten.
Katie Jul 27th 2012 4:09PM
Do people read these articles just to make ridiculous and miserable comments?
Larry Jul 21st 2012 9:39AM
I had problems with Bed Bugs at a Sleep Inn, in Peoria IL. I stayed a week and noticed I had some bites on my arms. Thought they were Mosquito bites. Was at another hotel in the area for another week and bites bgan to heal. Moved back to the Sleep Inn and on the 2nd night there I found the bugs in my bed and more bites on me. They didn't charge me for 2 nights and switched to another room. Same problem and I checked out of the dump. Took me almost two weeks to get rid of all the bites I had on me.
scooby Jul 22nd 2012 11:46AM
i had nephew who went on buisness trip, he could afford the best hotels,he stayed in 5 star hotel, little did he know he got bedbugs at this hotel,carried them home with him, he had sores on him, went to Dr. after many visits to Dr. it was confirmed he had begbugs. it cost a fortune to get rid of them, he became very sick, Dr. did test,scans etc. and found that they had gone inside his body ending up in his brain, he took chemo treatments. went to specialist in another state. he got better. then a couple months later. he had massive heart attack his gardner found him dead. treatments had damaged his heart. the begbugs were dermined they came from india, they will go inside your body etc.so even the best doesn't give you any grantee you will be safe from bedbugs.this is a true story. i wish it weren't. he was a good person and would help anyone who needed it. so just be carefull when you travel.
viclas696 Jul 21st 2012 12:33PM
"How to Fend Off Bedbugs on the Road" Why fend them off, just run over them with your car.
em Jul 21st 2012 6:36PM
Keep your suitcase in the bathroom
jaba Jul 21st 2012 2:34PM
I don't know what is more disgusting. The fact that the bit "victim" bites his nails or the imagery of his being bitten by the bed bug!
donotwantitknown Jul 21st 2012 4:55PM
I don't need to watch the video. I lived through the horror. We visited an America's Best Value Inn in Cambridge, MD. last summer and noticed we kept getting bitten. Thought it was mosquitos because of the time of year. We stayed there for a week, came home and thought nothing of it until about a month or so later. Everyone was waking up with bite marks on them. Mostly their arms and torso. At first we thought it was fleas (we have pets), but after treating the house and the pets for fleas we were still getting bit. One night I happened to go to bed really late and I saw about three little bloated bugs making their way from my husbands side of the bed. I killed one and left a bloody smear on the sheet. I woke my husband and he killed the others. We checked the bed and the whole underside was almost completely black with either marks or bugs. The next morning we checked the kids' rooms and their beds were also infested. We did the home treatments with the sprays and the bombs, but nothing really worked. We got rid of all of our beds, couches and chairs, shampooed the rugs, washed all of our clothes and then donated most of them to charity (after letting them stay in the sun for a few days). We retreated the house and have not noticed any activity for a few months. This has been ongoing for a year now. It was and still is a very traumatic time, both emotionally, phychologically and financially. Even though we haven't seen any bugs lately, we are still wary.