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How did YOU get bed bugs?
(8 posts)-
twitchyscratchy
newbite
Joined: Oct '09
Posts: 34
Posted 3 weeks ago
Fri Oct 30 2009 2:28:37
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My apologies if this has been covered already, but I thought it would be really interesting to hear some brief accounts of how members here think or suspect they got BBs.
Cheers!
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cilecto
senior member
Joined: Aug '08
Posts: 522
Posted 3 weeks ago
Fri Oct 30 2009 5:40:41
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A year ago, I caught a suspicious bug at my mom and dad's, where I was camped out caring for them after several health episodes each had gone through. I sent it to a lab who ID-ed it as BB. A few nights later, I noticed bites down my arm, with dot-for-dot matching spots on my pillow where my arm had been. It was summer and these could also have come from ants or mosquitoes, both of which we also had in the house.
The BB could have come from...
- neighboring apartments
- visiting neighbors
- mom and dad from visiting neighbors
- any of the dozen nurses, aides, volunteers and visitors who come in on any given week
- the meals-on-wheels delivery
- a contaminated piece of mail
- dad from the community center where he exercises
- any of the synagogues where dad worships daily
- any of the vehicles where mom and dad travel to appointments
- the guy who comes to keep my dad busy who loves to scavenge for old books
- me from work
- me from the bus
- me from the subway
- my bag from a recent trip (from the bus or from the stay)
- the packaging of a laptop i'd just bought
- the printer i'd picked up in a thrift shop
- the keyboard and mouse i'd borrowed from storage at work
- the computer accessory i'd scavenged from outside a neighboring building (which turned out to be in bedbugregistry)
- the envelope i was handling, which came from my office
- other family members recently visiting
- via mom from a recent doctor visit
- via dad from a recent doctor visit
- via mom or dad from one of their hospitalizations
- via one of the boxes of supplies that the nursing agency had sent over
- via the used piece of equipment that the physical therapist had provided
- via the cardboard packaging of the baked goods mom likes, from a bakery whose building is in bedbugregistry
- via the laundry room (dryers were busted a week earlier and I had to lay stuff out to dry all over the house)
...I'm just getting started, but I hope you get the point. It's hard to pin down exactly how one got BB. -
hathead
junior member
Joined: Jun '09
Posts: 46
Posted 3 weeks ago
Fri Oct 30 2009 7:16:16
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new roomate
now ex-roomate -
tinyvampire
newbite
Joined: Oct '09
Posts: 25
Posted 3 weeks ago
Fri Oct 30 2009 9:06:38
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all of these possible scenarios happened within months of each other, which seems to fit the time frame in which it would take the infestation to reach a noticeable point:
-an old couch that a friend gave my husband (which he brought to where we live now from his old place -- although the PCO told us it was clear)
-a friend (who had them in his SRO in SF) who comes over regularly, who gave us his cats, and who slept in our bed for two weeks while we were honeymooning in paris 6 months ago (this is the most likely source)
-a rug he gave us 8 months ago
-any of the three places we stayed in france: a hostel and a cheap hotel in paris, and a pricier hotel in marseilles
-clothing i bought from a flea market in paris
-the airplanes we flew on to or from paris
-a dresser we bought from a junk store 8 months ago
-a couple of oriental area rugs a neighbor left in the back of our building (what was i thinking?) that i brought in 8 months ago
-a movie theater seat (i got a few of my worst bites *evar*, and the only instance of the "three bites in a row" pattern, during the duration of the movie that afternoon...but i didn't know what it was then) i sat in a month after we got back
-a rental car i felt itchy in a few months ago
thank you,
-tinyv -
My next door neighbor who kept her secret for at least 5 months.
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ThisBItes
newbite
Joined: Oct '09
Posts: 15
Posted 3 weeks ago
Fri Oct 30 2009 22:57:41
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A sectional couch that I thought was a very nice gift at the time.
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twitchyscratchy
newbite
Joined: Oct '09
Posts: 34
Posted 3 weeks ago
Sat Oct 31 2009 2:17:34
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wow, so i see there is no easy answer.
i have not yet confirmed whether or not i brought them home with me (please no!), but i sat on a chair that was apparently teeming with BBs after i left. i have bites (which i am praying are only from my exposure on the chair, but have been obsessively checking everything for signs (including turning the flashlight on at random times very late at night (since i'm not sleeping) and micro, micro inspecting the bed frame, mattress, everything.
also in the process of laundering and ziplocking all clothing (except silk ties) and will steam clean mattress tomorrow.
i'm so sorry to everyone who is dealing/has dealt with this. it's utter, paranoid hell. thanks for the answers.
i am however, so discouraged, since i know i sat on a bed bug infested chair.
i wither.
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wchicago
newbite
Joined: Oct '09
Posts: 29
Posted 3 weeks ago
Sat Oct 31 2009 16:23:03
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my NEW sleeper sofa.
either from the warehouse or maybe the delivery truck. got bitten first time i sat on it but never thought of bedbugs (did stop sitting on it), so now (2 months later, and after i called a PCO to come out for possible fleas -who told me the ugly ugly truth that it was bedbugs not fleas that were giving me problems) they are in *at least* 3 rooms of my apartment.
*sigh*
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