While bed bugs are not the most dangerous pest, they are the grossest. According to the EPA, they are a public health threat that disproportionately affects lower-income people. Once apartment complexes become infested, it’s very difficult to get rid of them. Even those who live in relatively better economic situations can easily track them from work, public transportation, or just about anywhere else.
If you need help fighting pests, we can help; our skilled technicians can identify bed bug infestations and explain how Amco Ranger manages bed bug problems.
Why Bed Bugs Are A Public Health Menace
While bed bugs cannot transmit diseases, they do create a number of other serious problems. Some individuals are allergic to bed bug bites. In severe (but rare) cases, they can go into anaphylactic shock. Bites can also become infected causing impetigo, ecthyma, and lymphangitis.
They cause mental health problems to those who have to live with the bed bug problem. The constant anxiety can make it more difficult to sleep and this causes other issues such as a compromised immune system that makes an infection more likely.
How Are Bed Bugs Controlled
Bed bugs are notoriously difficult to get rid of. However, there are a number of methods that are highly successful. It’s largely because the methods of extermination that work on the bugs themselves don’t work on the eggs.
There are two main ways of managing this kind of infestation. The first involves employing two different types of pesticide. The first type kills the bed bugs on contact while the second leaves a residual layer of pesticide behind that will take out the eggs as they hatch.
The second method involves using heat treatments. The temperature is raised to 135℉ for a period of 90 minutes or more. Bed bugs die off at a certain temperature. The room is heated to above that temperature and this kills off both the adult bugs and their eggs.
Both of these treatments have strengths and weaknesses. The strength of using two pesticides is that it does kill off the adults, but you have to wait for the eggs to hatch before the infestation is completely eradicated. During that time there can be gaps left behind and some small number of bed bugs may survive. In that case, you will need multiple treatments.
Full-room heat treatments can be highly effective, but various types of building materials, as well as stored items and clutter, can make it difficult to uniformly heat some areas to a temperature lethal to bed bugs and their eggs.
Alternative Bed Bug Control Methods
The two methods mentioned above are generally the best, but there are other means that may be cheaper under specific circumstances. These include:
- HEPA filter vacuums – This method is generally used to augment other more thorough methods. A vacuum with a HEPA-certified filter can remove eggs and adult bugs from the surface of mattresses. This can reduce the population thoroughly, but probably not completely. This is especially true when the bed bugs have made a home inside the mattress or are holding up in other areas of the room.
Laundering clothing and curtains – By the time the bed bugs have infested clothing and curtains you’ve got it pretty bad. All that stuff will need to be washed at as high a temperature as possible. If you have carpeting, that’s an extra problem. Steam cleaning can work since it’s a high-temperature treatment. In other cases, multi-room heat treatments, chemical treatments, and other methods can be employed to manage the problem.
Amco Ranger Can Help You Manage A Serious Bed Bug Infestation
Bed bugs should be removed as quickly as possible or as soon as you notice them. They feed on you and your family and major infestations that leak out of individual rooms can be much more difficult to control (and more costly). Acting fast prevents extensive multi-room treatments.
Amco Ranger provides a number of proven treatments that effectively eliminate the bed bug problem. We will continue to work with you until the problem has been completely eradicated. Talk to us today for a free inspection. We can help!
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