What bedbugs look like and how to get rid of them

What do house or bed bugs look like?

Household bed bugs are somewhat different from bed bugs in general. If ordinary bedbugs are more similar in structure to soldier bugs, with which everyone is familiar from childhood: dense wings, a head with a peculiarly pointed nose, then bedbugs or housebugs are characterized by the absence of wings and patterns on the body. Domestic bugs have a clearly segmented abdomen, a brown color and an absolutely flat body, which increases in size when the parasites are well-fed.

This is what a house bug looks like

Getting rid of lice

The most common remedy for lice are various shampoos, lotions and aerosols that must be applied to the hair and the entire human body.

If the location of lice is the head, then special combs can be used as a method of combating them. As a rule, they have a very small distance between the teeth, which makes it possible to remove parasites from the hair. But this method is less effective, so it is used extremely rarely.

In order to get rid of lice that are on bed linen, you just need to wash it at a temperature above 60 degrees. In such conditions, the parasites die.

You can also simply hang your laundry outside or on the balcony. In this case, the bed lice will die on their own, since they will have nothing to eat.

Sofa bugs

Sofa bugs are not a special type of domestic bugs, but rather a tradition of naming them based on the type of habitat - in the sofa. They also belong to the order Hemiptera; they are also difficult to destroy with bare hands if the parasites are not hungry: their absolutely flat but wide body makes them practically invulnerable. However, when saturated with blood, they “puff up” and lose their benefits. A person can not only squash well-fed parasites, but even crush them by turning over on the bed. Brown spots that remain on the sheet serve as indirect confirmation of the presence of bedbugs in the apartment.

What do couch bugs look like?

How to get rid of bedbugs, lice and fleas

Do bloodsuckers pose a health risk? Can they carry different infections? What precautions should you take when planning a trip?

How to treat bedbug bites

In a two-star hotel in Paris we were bitten by bedbugs! What infections can they transmit?

Bedbugs themselves do not spread infections, unlike, for example, malaria mosquitoes.

We recently lived in a hotel in Paris that had bedbugs. Now we are afraid that we brought them home. All things, of course, were checked, but what if? How tenacious are these insects?

Bedbugs are quite tenacious. However, in hotels they live in their secluded corners and go out at night in search of food. It hardly makes sense for them to crawl into luggage, unless by accident. Unlike cockroaches, which can go for crumbs. Bedbugs are carried on furniture, usually in sofas. The sofa can be treated, but often you just have to throw it away.

How to treat bedbug bites? All the skin is covered in red spots and itches.

There is no need to treat the skin against a bug bite; you need to take desensitizing drugs and antihistamines if the itching is uncontrollable. This is especially true for children who often scratch their bites, which can lead to infection. If you can be patient, the itching will go away on its own. This is just a reaction to the bite.

Products for getting rid of lice

My daughter was diagnosed with lice after a trip to summer camp; we have long hair. Do I have to cut them?

No, not necessarily. If your child has head lice and has long hair, there are many treatments available. For example, insecticidal agents that have a detrimental effect on lice, but are nevertheless safe for humans. Treatment is carried out with shampoos and sprays, after which it is imperative to comb out the dead lice and their eggs (nits) with a special small comb. If the procedure does not lead to the desired result the first time, it must be repeated. Of course, the easiest way is to cut your hair and wash your hair with soap, but it’s still a pity for your hair and doing this in modern conditions is not necessary.

What infections do lice transmit?

Lice are not only head lice, but also body lice and pubic lice. During the Great Patriotic War, there were a lot of body lice, which actively spread in poor sanitary conditions - people did not have the opportunity to wash themselves or change clothes. These types of lice can carry relapsing and typhus - there were many of these diseases in those years. Now typhus also occurs, but extremely rarely. In Moscow, at least. patients with such diseases are not admitted.

For the New Year holidays we are planning a trip to Denmark. I heard that in the country they even organize “lousy subbotniks”, how well these insects have taken root there. How to protect yourself from misfortune?

There is no specific prevention. The only way is to practice good hygiene.

I advise you to plan your travel itinerary so that you have the opportunity to observe hygiene measures. There must be a clean bed and the opportunity to take a shower. Avoid hotels that have shared baths or shared rooms. Of course, the more stars the better. Do not lie on a bed that has not been remade, and if you suspect that someone has used it, contact management.

Lice, especially body lice, survive well in linen and can be transmitted to humans. All types of lice are dangerous because they cause lice, inflammation of the skin, and itching. And don't forget that they transmit infections. Homeless people, nomadic gypsies - in general, people who do not observe hygiene measures are one hundred percent affected by both body lice and head lice. On public transport during rush hours, lice can crawl from clothing to clothing. Avoid such places and such people.

Are fleas dangerous for humans?

I heard that fleas do not bite people - dogs and cats have a different body temperature, so they are more willing to live with them. This is true?

This is partly true; animals have fur and a higher body temperature than humans. However, in some cases, fleas willingly bite people. They attack humans if their main feeders, on whom they parasitized, left home for one reason or another. Fleas live behind baseboards, in cracks, and in secluded corners. Having lost their pet, they crawl out of their hiding places and begin to attack people. Fleas have no organs of vision and react to the approach of a person or animal by sound, and are capable of jumping up to one and a half meters in height.

Fleas also transmit various diseases, such as plague, through camels, small rodents and wild animals. Outbreaks of plague occur periodically around the world. Several outbreaks were recorded in the New World last year. There are repellents against fleas - you can spray them on and safely walk in places where there is a risk of meeting them.

Photos of bedbugs

Linen bugs are another name for house or bed bugs. Each parasite is equipped with an elongated proboscis, which was formed during the process of evolution. Previously, these were the lower and upper jaws. The proboscis has two channels designed for sucking blood and introducing saliva into the body of the victim. The bug chooses a place closer to the capillary and pierces the skin with its proboscis, sucks blood, then moves a few centimeters and repeats its actions. In 8–12 minutes, the insect is completely saturated and hides in a shelter, where it digests food for several days.

This is what bed bugs look like

Bed bugs can be 0.5–8 mm in size. In a hungry state, adult individuals are approximately 4 mm in size; after saturation with blood, the body of the parasite approximately doubles in size, reaching a size of 8 mm. It is more difficult to see and recognize the larvae of bedbugs; the youngest ones may be invisible at first glance.

What do bed bug larvae and eggs look like?

Bed bug eggs are whitish-transparent, about 0.5 mm in size. However, they can be noticed due to the fact that the female lays 3-4 of them.

This is what bedbug eggs look like

Bedbug eggs are usually found in a shelter, where they can be easily found among adult insects, larvae, remains of chitinous membranes after molting, and excrement.

What do bedbug larvae look like?

At the beginning of life, bedbug larvae have almost no color, they are transparent. A light stripe along the edges of the body (digestive tract) and a dark dot in the center of the abdomen (stomach with blood after feeding) are distinctive features of the larvae. If an insect has not fed for several days, its body remains uniformly yellowish in color.

Over time, after several molts, they darken and are easy to distinguish from other insects.

Stages of bedbug development from larva to adult

What is the difference between bed bugs and other parasites?

The differences between bed bugs are as follows:

From cockroaches:

A bug cannot run fast like a cockroach.
The bug has a wider and rounder body.
The bug has no wings.
The color of bedbugs is lighter than the color of the larvae of black cockroaches, and they do not have a red spot on the upper part of the body, like the wingless larvae of red cockroaches.

For lice:

Adult bedbugs differ from lice in size and color.
Small larvae of bedbugs can be confused with lice, but lice live in the scalp, on the head, and are difficult to separate from the hair. Bedbugs prefer exposed areas of the body.

From ticks:

The main difference is the number of legs: house bugs have 6, like all insects, while ticks have 8 (ticks belong to the class of arachnids).
Ticks have larger legs relative to their body size than bedbugs.

Fighting bed mites

One of the most common ways to combat bed mites is to simply ventilate the room or take all laundry out to the balcony.