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What percentage of people react to bed bug bites?

nobugsonme — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 05:14:52 +0000

Often on the Bedbugger forums, we hear statements like, “I see dark spots and saw a bug in my bed that looked like a bed bug, but I do not have any bites.”

In response, I used to say, “many people do not react to bed bug bites.”

I first formulated this response based on anecdotal evidence: people coming to our forums who knew they had bed bugs and did not react. And PCOs who feed bed bug colonies and do not react.

Then, after hearing Jerome Goddard put the percentage of those who do not react to bed bug bites at 70%, I cited him on that for a while.

Having heard other statistics ranging from 50-60% recently asserted by other entomologists in the media, I have recently been saying that “entomologists tell us 50-70% of people may not react to bed bug bites.”

And now, thanks to Renee’s well-researched post, which shows some studies suggest a small minority do not react, and in the absence of a more definitive answer, I am going to go back to the only answer I know to be true: “many people do not react to bed bug bites.”

I know you’ll want all the information on this from Renee, so check out her post here.Similar Posts:

Bed Bugs and Public Health

nobugsonme — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 05:07:07 +0000

The news was abuzz today with reports about a new report in the Journal of the American Medical Association, from Jerome Goddard and Richard DeShazo. It’s a review of past research on the question of whether bed bugs transmit disease.

. . . in the April 1 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers reviewed all of the studies done on the pesky critters to date and found no evidence of disease transmission.They did find that some people have reactions to the bites, but these reactions are usually short-lived.

“While there is a nuisance effect from bed bug bites, the public health significance is minimal,” said study author Jerome Goddard, an associate professor of entomology at Mississippi State University in Jackson. “It’s not good. Nobody wants to have blood sucked out of them, but in the scheme of things, they’re not carrying malaria or anything like that.”

Goddard and his colleague, Dr. Richard deShazo from the University of Mississippi Medical Center, reviewed 53 studies on bed bugs published over the past 50 years.

Interestingly, they found that only about half of the people who are bitten show signs of a bite. And, for those who do react, the reaction can vary from a slight red spot that’s intensely itchy like a mosquito bite to anaphylactic shock (a life-threatening allergic reaction), according to Goddard. But, he noted, anaphylactic shock is very rare.

via Yahoo’s Bed Bugs Bring No Disease Danger.

7ONLINE.COM in New York also picked up this story.

I do appreciate what the study is doing to bring together knowledge from prior studies done on this question. Bed bugs are not now known to be transmitting a disease like malaria, and believe me, I am glad. It’s important to note, however, that we don’t know whether this will always be the case.

Even if it were, I feel strongly that if itchy skin reactions, sleeplessness, and stress were the only health effects caused by bed bugs, that these — in many cases — can be seen as significant health problems for sufferers.

But those are not the only health effects caused by bed bugs.

We have heard from readers of this website who went to the ER with anaphylactic shock because of bed bug bites, and those who have been diagnosed as having an Acute Traumatic Stress Disorder arising from the anxiety of living with a chronic bed bug infestation.

While such reactions are rare, many people do not sleep properly, often while battling bed bugs for many months (or longer).

There are also people on low incomes who have to decide between spending precious funds on nourishing foods, medicines, and other necessities, or on bed bug sprays, plastic bags, and endless loads of laundry. In this economic climate, surely bed bugs are affecting the health of children and elderly people in these situations?

And what about people who — in acts of desperation and in the absence of good, affordable, professional help — attempt to self-treat their bed bug problems, harming themselves by inhaling pool-grade diatomaceous earth, or over- and mis-applying pesticide sprays?

As the Yahoo article notes, bed bugs can be extremely hard to treat, especially in multi-unit dwellings. More people than you think are living with chronic, ongoing bed bug infestations.

The media keeps telling us that stress or a chronic lack of sleep in and of themselves may contribute to serious health problems and even to the onset of disease.

The World Health Organization thought enough of the public health significance of bed bugs to put them on the cover of their 2008 report entitled The Public Health Significance of Urban Pests, which you can download here.

The WHO said in this report last year,

Besides the effects of direct bites, airborne common bedbug allergens that are always released during infestations may produce bronchial asthma. Within a group of 54 asthmatic Egyptian patients, 37.1% reacted positively to a common bedbug head and thorax extract, and 50.1% reacted positively to an abdominal common bedbug extract (Abou Gamra et al., 1991). Numerous routine bedbug bites can contribute to anaemia and may even make a person more susceptible to common diseases (Usinger, 1966; Snetsinger, 1997). Some people can develop a general malaise from numerous bedbug bites; that, along with the loss of sleep and extreme itching of bug bites, can lower a person’s vitality and make individuals listless and almost constantly uncomfortable (2008: 138-139).

And, the WHO recommended that

Research should be encouraged and carried out to determine whether or not bedbugs can successfully transmit human pathogens, especially those that cause new or emerging diseases (2008: 149).

And that

Research should be encouraged and carried out to further characterize the nature and effective treatment of the effects on people of unusual, extreme or very persistent bedbug bites (2008: 149).

Let’s definitely be grateful bed bugs have not yet been shown to transmit disease, but let’s also hope entomologists continue to study this question — and other questions about bed bugs’ effect on our health — with continuing research.Similar Posts:

Farmington Days Inn treats for bed bugs; New Mexico’s laws still need attention

nobugsonme — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:12:20 +0000

Farmington, New Mexico paper The Daily Times reports that the Days Inn which was recently in the news and where travelers claim to have been finding bed bugs at least since the summer of 2007 is now getting professional treatment.

The problem of bed bugs in New Mexico lodging, however, is not as easy to treat. According to the Daily Times:

Besides distress and disgust on the part of bite victims, it’s maddening because no regulations exist in New Mexico to ensure lodging establishments deal with the problem correctly.

The Department of Health has no bedbug-related regulations.

Because the biting insects don’t spread disease, New Mexico Environment Department is not involved, either.

Unless the business at which a customer was bitten is a member of New Mexico Lodging Association or Convention and Visitors Bureau in Farmington, the onus is on the bite victim to seek redress from hotel management.

The treatment by Albuquerque’s Ecolab is going floor by floor, since guests are still staying in the hotel. The hotel also replaced all the bedding and carpeting. And the hotel manager.

But make no mistake: bed bugs don’t come to hotels with bad managers. Bed bug infestations can happen in any hotel at any time, and so hotels need to have a plan for detecting bed bugs and treating them, before they get out of hand. They should not be waiting for guests to point the bed bugs out to them, since bed bugs are notoriously difficult to detect.

Similarly, the owners of hotels should not be assuming employees know about the problem: managers, cleaning and maintenance staff and others who work in hotels need to be trained on how to prevent and detect bed bugs, and on what is needed to treat them properly. They need ongoing professional advice from people who know bed bugs.

And, in addition, we should not assume all hotel owners know enough about the bed bug problem, or give a hoot about it. Government regulation serves the purpose of setting standards and enforcing them. I don’t want to get all big government on you, but personally, I don’t want to leave it up to chance as to whether my hotel management gives a darn about bed bugs or not.

People who suggest that the hotel industry will lose money and begin to regulate itself do not understand how long bed bugs can breed and bite people and continue to spread before even being seen by a hotel guest. In the case of this hotel, we have a pair of police officers this month, and a pair of couples who filed suit after being bitten by bed bugs in different rooms on different floors in the same Days Inn in summer 2007 according to another Daily Times article that has now gone offline.

How many people do you think were bitten by bed bugs in that hotel, and potentially brought them home, in the space of more than a year? I would guess many, but I would also suspect most of them did not see the bed bugs or complain about them.

The story of the Days Inn came to light two weeks ago when some local police officers found bed bugs in their hotel room and discovered there was no public body or official they could complain to. There was only the hotel manager.

Note to travelers: check whether your hotel is a member of the New Mexico Lodging Association, so you at least have someone to complain to about your hotel room’s bed bugs, until the laws in this state get better.

People of New Mexico, you might want to tell the Department of Health that infectious diseases aren’t the only health problems that can plague people; bed bugs cause plenty, from psychological distress and anxiety, bed bug bites and related skin problems, and other allergic reactions, to a lack of sleep, which researchers tell us may bring on a whole host of illnesses.

The use of money to pay for everything from extra laundry and plastic bags to pest control treatment which may get into the high thousands can also have implications for a person’s health, when someone on a budget has to choose between paying for medication and healthy food, or dealing with the extra costs related to bed bugs. People also sometimes resort to extreme and potentially dangerous measures to get rid of bed bugs, which can cause definite health problems too.

So, yes, bed bugs are a health problem. Even though they are not known to spread infectious diseases at this time.

I’d really like public officials who deny that bed bugs are a health problem to move into a hotel room infested with bed bugs, and determine first-hand whether they’re just a “nuisance,” as we’re so often told. I have a hunch they’d discover a list of negative health effects pretty quickly.Similar Posts:

Police officers get a bed bug rude awakening in New Mexico

KRDO in Colorado Springs: some misleading advice regarding bed bugs

nobugsonme — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 01:31:56 +0000

The KRDO article posted at this link is innocuous enough, but do click and watch the video. There is some misleading information there.

First, Colorado Springs Code Enforcement Officer Ken Lewis tells KRDO viewers that

“If you sleep in a bed that had bed bugs, you probably won’t see the bed bugs, or feel the bed bugs, but you’ll wake up with the little red bites all over you in the morning.”

This is rather misleading, since we know that many (and some would say most) people do not have any reaction to bed bug bites and so would have no idea they were bitten by bed bugs.

In the Pest Control Presents #23 podcast linked below, Jerome Goddard tells us that 70% of people do not have a skin reaction to bed bug bites (no mark, no itching, nothing). The other 30% have varying reactions to a bed bug bite (from small bumps to large inflamed welts).

With this in mind, city officials should not be implying that members of the public will know they slept in a bed with bed bugs, because they will get a reaction to bed bug bites.

But that’s not the only misleading statement in this newscast.

Reporter Tak Landrock ends the report by saying that,

“You will have to get rid of your bedsheets, your pillows, even your mattress, in order to get rid of them.”

This is not so.

Most entomolgists tell us that discarding mattresses is usually not necessary, and in fact, can help spread bed bugs around buildings, neighborhoods, and cities. Mattresses and box springs can be carefully encased in encasements carefully desgined and tested to keep bed bugs in, or out.

Moreover, bedsheets need never be discarded, since a hot wash and dry (or even a hot dry alone, on clean dry items) will serve to kill all bed bugs and bed bug eggs present.

If the Code Enforcement Department and the news media in Colorado Springs want to help halt the spread of bed bugs in that city, they would do well to give news audiences the most accurate advice about avoiding, detecting, and getting rid of bed bugs.

Update: the journalist who wrote this article updated it on Friday to correct the information about discarding mattresses and sheets. Please see the first comment below for details.

—————————————–

This is the source of the statistic that 70% of people do not react to bed bug bites:

Gabcast! Pest Control Presents #23 – 10 Questions With Jerome Goddard, state medical entomologist for Mississippi

Dr. Jerome Goddard, the state medical entomologist with the Mississippi Department of Health in Jackson, Mississippi discusses the potential for bed bugs to spread diseases.

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Newark tenants suffer health problems — possibly related to bed bugs, fleas, mice, or pest control treatment

nobugsonme — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:32:42 +0000

Thirty-eight residents of a Newark apartment building were hospitalized and all residents were evacuated from their 3-story, 6-family apartment building, after suffering from “light-headedness, sore throats, itchy, watery eyes and irritated skin,” according to this article from the Star-Ledger (via nj.com).

The building has problems with bed bugs, mice, and fleas, and has been treated for pests recently, and somewhere in there may lie the cause of this outbreak:

No one yet knows what caused residents of 521 S. 17th St. to break out with skin rashes, swollen eyes and sore throats, but officials believe it is somehow related to the infestation or the effort to exterminate the pests. City officials could not immediately say when the building had been last exterminated.

Whether the problems were caused by an allergic reaction to the bed bugs, mice, or fleas present, by a reaction to the pesticides used in the treatment for those pests, or by another cause as yet unknown, this is a very troubling story.

Residents were not allowed to go home tonight, and Mayor Cory Booker is determined to find the cause of this problem. Natural gas, water, and sewage issues have all been ruled out as possible causes.Similar Posts:

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Bed bugs in another women’s shelter in Charlotte, North Carolina

nobugsonme — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 16:41:27 +0000

A Charlotte, North Carolina shelter that houses women who have suffered domestic violence has evacuated residents for several weeks while bed bugs are removed, according to the Charlotte Observer:

The Charlotte-area United Family Services domestic violence shelter has evacuated its residents to “a safe place” in order to battle a recent infestation of bedbugs, said Libby McLaughlin, vice president of development and communication. The staff anticipates reopening the shelter in two to three weeks.

But the move has added to the difficulties the women face, which include other time constraints. Shelter rules dictate that, upon arrival, residents have 30 days to find a job and another place to stay.

The bites and rashes from the bedbugs have made it hard for some women to find a job. And the medicine given to fight the itching, such as steroids or Benadryl, has triggered the addictions of some women with substance abuse problems.

“People are saying to go back home,” said one anonymous shelter resident. “I don’t have that option, because I’m not going back home.”

One would hope that the normal rules of the shelter would be adapted during such a crisis.

While removed from much more dangerous situations in their homes, these women have still been suffering from a lesser kind of “domestic crisis.” It’s a lot to expect for women who may be losing a lot of sleep and suffering from stress, visible bed bug bites, and itching (which can be quite uncomfortable) to find new jobs and a new home within thirty days.

We’ve previously reported on another Charlotte shelter, the Salvation Army women’s shelter, which houses homeless women, and which has been battling bed bugs off and on for nearly a year. The Salvation Army has apparently spent $50,000 in the last few weeks on renovations aimed at eliminating their bed bug problems.

Meanwhile, the United Family Services shelter has invested in new flooring, mattresses and bedding. It has also purchased a new dryer and new metal frame beds. (It is not mentioned in the article, but I hope they are getting good, aggressive pest control treatment as well.)

Local public health officials stress bed bugs are not a health problem,

“This is not a public health pest,” said Lynn Lathan, environmental health supervisor for the Mecklenburg County Health Department. “They’re annoying, but not transmitting disease.”

However, I personally think that a condition which can cause serious skin irritation, visible welts all over your face and body, other allergic reactions, anxiety and loss of sleep is a health concern.

Nevertheless, the women at United Family Services have worse threats to worry about:

For women in the United Family Services shelter, there’s a choice: Face the bugs in the shelter, or face abuse at home.

“I have a choice of going back to my husband and getting punched in the eye or getting eaten by bugs,” said one anonymous shelter resident.

We can only hope things are better for these women soon.

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Comment from APilot about bed bugs

nobugsonme — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 09:02:22 +0000

(Editor’s Note: APilot wrote on the “Where do I start?” page, and I am reposting it here so it will get more readers.)

APilot writes:

This is from a letter I’m writing for my union publication. Any feedback?

What do wheals and papules have to do with my career in Aviation? “Nothing,” I thought until I came for from a trip with an overnight in my “home away from home” layover hotel in Orlando with three strange red spots on my body. The next day I went to the doctor. My computer savvy husband headed off to the Internet.

My doctor (in Colorado) identified them a “some kind of insect” bites. Puzzled as to why I was bitten more than once, he subscribed an antibiotic and wished me luck. My husband had a more successful afternoon. He discovered that there is a pandemic of bed bugs in hotels in NY and most Border States. My marks resembled the bites and later two of those became aggravated into very worse form- an infected papule.
A wheal is simply a term for a raised up mark on the sick, a papule is described as “a small inflamed elevation of skin that is nonsuppurative as in chicken pox.” Nonsuppurative means not filled with fluid (i.e. pus). This development occurs to those who are allergic-, allergies that can develop if a person is bitten on a regular basis.

One of the first sets of bites, which were treated with only antibiotics, grew to the size of a half dollar and was about a half an inch thick. The center turned dark black and grew to the size of a match head; finally it oozed a little clear pus before starting to heal. It was three full weeks before the swelling was gone and a large scar remains.

One month later I was back in the Orlando hotel (management had “assured” me the problem was handled and my room was clean). Unfortunately I had not really searched a hotel room thoroughly before. Unsure whither the 12 or so specks of black and brown stuff I picked out of the mattress pad and box spring were normal, I slept there again. This time I wore full pajamas, tucked in at my socks and waist. I was rewarded for my experimentation with a bite just under my armpit that showed up the very next day. (The bugs probably crawled in through the neck hole.)

For those who are squeamish- skip on ahead, because the following paragraph may contain more than you really want to read. Over the next two weeks, ten much smaller bites could be identified. The prominent bite swelled up painfully. In spite of treatment with ice and over the counter pain medicine, it grew to the point were I couldn’t sleep and needed to call off a trip to see the doctor. This time I took with me an Internet recommended treatment- the steroid cream Mizaondoec, which purportedly helps by constricting capillaries and reducing the spreading of the toxins. The cream on the papule caused it to flow about teaspoons of yellow puss, beginning its recovery. However its effect on the lesser bites was to seal off the bites from the surface of the skin. A week later, two of these had swollen to a very painful half dollar size. Ultimately they had to be treated with both antibiotics and lancing. Surgical scissors were needed to break up the congealed areas for drainage. Then they were packed with sterile tape to keep them from closing off before the infection could be healed.

But my nightmare didn’t end there. A ten-day stretch of time off confirmed my worse fears. I was now getting bitten on a regular basis in my own bed. These bites were small and not very numerous but consistent, leading me to suspect may a lone hitch hiking egg had hatched. The eggs of a bed bug are the size of a dust mote, white and sticky, and the female lays about three a night. Although it would be possible to inadvertently trap a beg in some early show predawn packing, it is more likely end up carrying an egg

To get rid of our new houseguest we laundered all the bedding in hot water. We sealed the box spring and mattress in covers. And purchased a new comforter and pillows. We put bed bug powder poison on the frame and around the foot of the bed. This took two tries but finally the nibbling stopped.

During this time my husband never noticed any bites. Although the Internet said that bed bugs are equal opportunity bitters, our personal experience didn’t reflex this. Even if you believe you are not allergic or at risk there are few simple things you can do to protect your family. I now shut my suitcase at night never put any of my things between the hotel walls and the beds. Also I wash my layover clothing separately, and store my flight bag in the laundry when not in use.

On the road I check the bed by lifting up the bottom sheet and any box spring cover. I collect any black specks found on white paper. Thanks to another bed bug experience in the Tampa, if there are more than four specks, a new room is requested. The majority of the beds will not have a single speck. Lately, if there are more than two specks I use Off insecticide on my clothes and exposed skin, which seems to be working.

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