Bed Bug Management - Urban Insect Pests: Sustainable Management Strategies - page 9

(Reinhardt and Siva-Jothy, 2007; Doggett
and Russell, 2009). As with any open skin
lesion, there is the potential for bed bug
bites to provide a route for environmental
pathogens to enter the body, resulting in
secondary infections such as methicillin-
resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
(Lowe and Romney, 2011).
For many sufferers, the psychological
impact of a bed bug infestation can be much
more severe than the physical symptoms.
Anxiety, stress, sleep deprivation and
depression are widely reported, and in
many cases these symptoms persist long
after the infestation has been eliminated.
In a minority of cases an infestation can
be the trigger for a psychological condition
known as delusional parasitosis, where the
sufferer believes that they and/or their
surroundings are covered with parasites, or
specifi cally bed bugs. Sufferers become
obsessed by minute fragments of debris or
marks on or around the bed, believing them
to be associated with an infestation. In
extreme cases sufferers can have hallucin-
ations of insects crawling over or burrowing
into their skin (Hinkle, 2000).

never be allowed to happen. By taking some
simple precautions, such as avoiding sofas
and armchairs and keeping bags and coats
off the fl oor, the risk of accidentally taking
bed bugs away from an infestation can be
minimized.

Economic

The costs associated with a bed bug
infestation can vary considerably depending
on the location, severity and control options
employed. For a domestic premises with a
minor infestation, the treatment cost could
be in the region of one to a few hundred
pounds. Further costs may result from
additional services such as canine scent
detection and/or monitoring systems to
confi rm that the treatment has been
successful. There may also be costs associ-
ated with replacing furniture and furnish-
ings that are deemed too heavily infested or
diffi cult to treat to be saved.
The fi nancial impact of a bed bug infest-
ation in a hotel can be considerably higher
and harder to calculate. Costs can arise from
the following:
• treatment and monitoring;
• room closures;
• replacement of room décor;
• customer compensation;
• legal costs if a customer sues; and
• negative publicity.

Social

The social impact of a bed bug infestation
can be severe. The false belief that bed bugs
are only associated with dirty environments
generates a stigma, which in many cases
works in the bed bug's favour because
people are reluctant to approach neighbours
or seek help for risk of reprisal.
It is common for people living with a bed
bug infestation to become isolated. Friends
and family refuse to visit for fear of taking
bed bugs home and may also be reluctant to
let the bed bug sufferer visit them for the
same reason. This in turn can exacerbate the
symptoms of anxiety and depression that
the sufferer may already be feeling (Doggett
et al., 2012).
The authors are aware of one scenario
where nursing care was withdrawn from an
elderly and infi rm lady whose home became
infested with bed bugs. Care was not
reinstated until after the bed bugs had been
eradicated. Needless to say, this should

In an age where almost everybody has
access to the internet through their phones,
laptops and other mobile devices, the threat
of negative publicity has never been more
real. Websites such as tripadvisor.co.uk and
bedbugregistry.com give the disgruntled
guest the power to blacklist an infested
hotel even before the guest leaves the room.

Basic Bed Bug Biology

Life cycle

Bed bugs have incomplete metamorphosis,
meaning that they progress through a series
of nymphal stages (instars) that broadly
resemble the adult (Fig. 2.1).