Comments on: teaching doctors to diagnose bed bug bites

By: nobugsonme

nobugsonme — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 05:54:11 +0000

Did they have bed bugs on them, that you saw? Or did they simply have bites (obtained at home, etc.) with no evidence of bed bugs?

In any case, by the time you read this, if there were actual bugs sighted, it could be quite bad. They may have moved around. I’d get a pest control professional in to inspect right away, perhaps with a reputable bed bug sniffing k9 to determine the locations of harborages. Steam can be used if pesticides are an issue, or (more effectively thermal heat) but you should act quickly.

Please come to the forums if you want to discuss this further, and please call a pest control pro who KNOWS bed bugs right away. Not only can they help you deal with this instance, but a good one (with consulting entomologist) can help you make a plan to prevent and monitor for future problems.

By: Sara

Sara — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:30:10 +0000

Is anyone aware of guidelines for physicians’ offices on how to properly sanitize after a patient has come in with bed bugs?
thanks

By: nobugsonme

nobugsonme — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 22:38:42 +0000

Jennifer,

Has the doctor ruled out other problems (folliculitis? scabies?)

You need to positively determine whether bed bugs are the problem. Doug is in the k9 bed bug detection business, and he is right that a bed bug k9 is an option.

Another option is trying to find an experienced, knowledgeable PCO to inspect. Users in our forums might have suggestions.

Talk to your landlord/attached neighbors. Keep in mind experts say as many as 70% of people may not react to bed bug bites. Neighbors may not see bugs either. I would not discount the possibility of bed bugs coming from next door, or biting you at work, friends’ homes, or other places you frequent.

If you want to discuss this further, please come to the forums:

http://bedbugger.com/forum/

By: Doug Summers MS

Doug Summers MS — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 22:21:51 +0000

Jennifer
You might want to consider hiring an experienced K9 team to screen for bed bugs to confirm or rule them out.

The key is to identify the pest directly, it is very hard to determine the source of the bite from the appearance of the wound in many cases.

By: Jennifer Riggin

Jennifer Riggin — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 05:57:23 +0000

I have been to something like 5 or 6 doctors, from gynecologists to dermatologists, hospitals and regular doctors in New York city and it is horrible. Because of my work, it is important that these bites get dealt with. Instead I am treated like I am the problem and I have been prescribed everything from penicillin to antibiotics. Nothing which has helped. I am at my wits end cause I want to work, but my butt is permanently scarred it may seem at this point. So frustrating.

By: nobugsonme

nobugsonme — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:33:35 +0000

Megs,

Sadly, your story is not uncommon. Bed bug bites look different on different people (or even on the same people), so it is understandable that doctors can’t identify them on sight. Sadly, many of them do not know this, and it’s amazing how they will hand out diagnoses of other conditions, even apparently extremely unlikely ones as in your case.

However, there is a need for doctors to be educated about bed bug bites, the range of appearances they may have, and their prevalence today.

By: Megs

Megs — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:40:45 +0000

When I went to the emergency room a few weeks back, I was misdiagnosed with Chicken Pox, even though I explained to the doctor that I’d had chicken pox when I was young. I’d told him my bed bug theory, and he just kept insisting “those are not insect bites! THIS is an insect bite!” and pointing to a mosquito bite on my leg, no matter how I insisted that mosquitos were a totally different insect.

By: nichole

nichole — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 22:15:42 +0000

exactly how long do bed bug bites last on the skin

By: Company reports Bed bug bite photos their most searched-for medical image in 2007

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 15:04:33 +0000

[...] The popularity of such searches is not surprising, since bed bug bites are increasingly common, and impossible for visually diagnose (because these allergic reactions take such a wide range of forms–our bed bug bite photos page shows just some of them). The difficulties of doctors identifying bed bug bites from visual evidence are discussed in this post. [...]

By: Bed bugs also causing havoc in England & Northern Ireland: university residence, hospital staff residence, possibly a school, infested | bedbugger

Wed, 20 Jun 2007 03:50:02 +0000

[...] On Sunday August 17th, the BBC reported that a residence for doctors and nurses in a hospital in Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, was infested with bed bugs. The unit was not attached to the hospital, so patients and visitors, the article said, were not at risk. (However, you do have to consider where doctors and nurses might have picked up bed bugs. A hospital, perhaps? They had to catch them somewhere. But we shouldn’t jump to conclusions–perhaps someone moved in and brought them.) Anyway, I’d bet there are currently a number of doctors in Fermanagh who just discovered the hard way that bed bug bites don’t all look the same. [...]