Bed bugs have become a growing problem in the United States in the last few years for many reasons, such as an increase in the country’s population as well as the free exchange of tainted or compromised goods through social networking sites or sites that enable you to swap objects with other users, such as the KSL classifieds.
Also, due to the recent economic slowdown, people are looking to save money on items like furniture and mattresses, so they turn to the Internet to find these items at a discounted price or possibly for free.
Are you waking up itchy? Here are four signs that bed bugs have adopted your bed as their new home.
How to Identify Bed Bugs
Identifying bed bugs can be an extremely difficult task, as they are very small and tend to only come out during the night. What you should be looking for are black spots on your bedding, mattress, or other soft furniture. Also be sure to look at your baseboards, outlets, or along the edges of your carpet.
How to Identify Bed Bug Bites
Unfortunately, you probably won’t be able to tell you have bed bugs until they’ve taken up residence in your home. When bed bugs bite you, they inject the bite area with saliva. This causes your skin to become inflamed and irritated. Therefore, it’s likely that you will only know you have bed bugs by identifying these inflamed marks on your skin. It’s important to keep in mind that individual reactions to bed bug bites do vary.
The lesions you can receive from bed bug bites might be mistaken for mosquito or flea bites, or other skin conditions. Because of this, you will want to be sure you actually have bed bugs before throwing out what might be a perfectly good mattress. In Utah especially, if you live near a body of water, it’s important to be sure as there will be many mosquitos in those areas. A bed bug bite will most likely occur on parts of your body that are exposed: hands, face, neck, arms, and lower legs.
Four Types of Skin Rashes to Watch Out For When Identifying Bug Bites
Of the four types of rashes to watch out for, the most common is composed of localized itchy and red flat lesions that could show up on your body in a group of three. Another common effect of bug bites are small and red lesions that are raised on your skin, though this type of rash of occurrence could easily be misinterpreted to be a mosquito bite, for instance.
You might also develop raised and usually itchy red welts that can make sleeping more uncomfortable than if you were simply bitten by a flea or mosquito. Also, if you have a high sensitivity to bed bug saliva, you might find that you have developed a lump filled with blood or fluid, and if so you should get checked out by a doctor immediately in order to make sure that you are not in any danger of having an even more elevated reaction.
Bed bugs are a serious health issue, and should be dealt with immediately. If you think you might have bed bugs, consult a Utah pest control expert in your community.
