Seriously -- how easily is it to spread them to others?

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Seriously -- how easily is it to spread them to others?

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Absurdity101

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Posted 4 years ago
Wed Jul 9 2008 11:38:34
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I can't seem to get a good answer from anyone about how easily it is for me to spread bedbugs to other people.

Exterminator 1: They hide out in the day, it's going to be very unlikely for them to travel on clothes or your person. Be on the lookout, but basically live your life as you normally would.

VS.

Exterminator 2: They're pretty easy to spread. Inspect yourself every time before going out. Only wear freshly laundered clothes. Shower every time before you leave. Carry things only in ziploc plastic baggies.

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Since discovering my infestation, I have been overly cautious about spending time with other people. But even so, I have reason to believe right now that I've spread the bugs to my parents just through my clothes.

Can someone give me a straight answer here? I don't want to be the person who spreads these things to everyone I know and creates havoc for everyone. But what I am supposed to do, just spend the rest of my days locked inside my infested house?
embugs

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Posted 4 years ago
Wed Jul 9 2008 11:44:14
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I'm wondering the same exact thing. I feel like a walking disease, and I don't know if that's justified, or just crazy. I'm sitting here at work feeling sick, imagining spreading this problem to my whole office.
BD

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Posted 4 years ago
Wed Jul 9 2008 13:34:05
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I wonder too. I have 4 kids who are really bummed it looks like the rest of their summer is gong to spent in lockdown. In addition, they are supposed to have visitation with their other parents.
prayforamiracle

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Posted 4 years ago
Wed Jul 9 2008 14:53:37
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NYC
All it takes is one and they can be tiny.
Take a shower, put on fresh clean clothes and shoes that have been sealed up and inspected or new, washed and dryed.
We all know how hellist this is to go throught and who would want this to be inflicted on someone else or have someone who has them come to your house because they don't want to deal. Its is horrible. I have been free for longer than 2 months now , after moving. I wash my clothes as soon as i get home from the public. I do lots of other measures to asssit my mind that i am free. I still fall asleep thinking of bugs.
I got bit like 5 times today and I hope they are misquistos. I serouisly don't think i can not handle going throught that again. I have friends in town and i have had to tell them they can not spend the night at my new place unless they put all there belongings in plastic at my house. They probably think i am crazy andi will lose some friends, but i will not let someone stay and bring one from the subway for me to deal with after they are long gone. I don't invite anyone over anymore. My friends had not even heard of these and who wants to talk about it. It's creepy and hell. It's going to be a new way of living , until we can find a way to kill these. Would not want to bring them to work and then you get them back again. It's a hassle but , it must be done.
My old roommates just did not care and they stayed at friends and did nothing to sanatize there clothese to work. I suspect there friends who all thought i was crazy are about to go throught the same. People just don't know til its there turn
Absurdity101

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Posted 4 years ago
Wed Jul 9 2008 15:03:21
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Hmm. Prayforamiracle, it sounds like these things have really gotten to you and affected your mindset permanently. Please join my other thread, that I just started, "Do forums like these just breed paranoia?" I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts.
BBcoukHome

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Posted 4 years ago
Wed Jul 9 2008 15:47:13
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Hi,

This one tracks back to a post I made a few months ago about possibilities and probabilities.

The simple answer is that they can easily spread through a property and also to other areas that you have contact with work/friends houses/hotel rooms etc. Let’s face it they don’t get into hotel rooms via lastminute.com (for s start many don't have credit cards due to poor credit ratings) they hitchhike with people, often the ones who do not respond to infestations and may not be aware of what they are doing.

The fact is however that the extent of an infestation can influence this very heavily. If you have more bed bugs and they are dispersed through the property then you are more likely to spread them around as you travel.

If caught early the probability of spreading is lower and they can be contained, I regularly only treat 1 or 2 rooms of a 4/5/6 bedroom property but I do inspect all rooms to make sure.

The best advice will always be to take the highest level of precaution possible to ensure that the problem does not get any worse and follow the advice of someone who has actually inspected your property and illustrated their competency in carrying out such work. After all the advice they give you is based on the facts of your infestation and not what they have heard or read.

The steps you need to take to eradicate 5 or 6 bed bugs from a property are very different to situations where they have been allowed to bread undetected for 3 or 4 years and have spread through all parts of the property. I treat both end of the spectrum on a weekly basis and am a lot more rigorous with instructions for those I feel might be sources for others to try and stem that quickly.

David
Absurdity101

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Posted 4 years ago
Wed Jul 9 2008 16:02:33
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Thanks, David, that sounds like reasonable advice.

But when you say to "to take the highest level of precaution possible to ensure that the problem does not get any worse" -- can you be more specific? As in, what specific steps do I need to take before I leave the house to spend time with others?

(If it helps for your answer, my infestation -- at this point at least -- is pretty mild. I've discovered a few bugs in my bedroom, and the typical signs like some feces/shells, but exterminators didn't find signs of them elsewhere in the apartment. I'm receiving a three-part treatment starting tomorrow).
fightorflight

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Posted 4 years ago
Wed Jul 9 2008 18:29:36
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READ THE FAQs, Please!

SOP - Launder & quarantine your clothes and items that leave & enter your home. Do not rely on odds. As they say, if you are the one in one hundred, that sucks for you. Yes, if your infestation is lighter, the bugs will probably remain inactive in your home during the day. The heavier your infestation gets, the more likely they will start appearing on items you take out of your home. They will probably stay on those items. But some are going to crawl off, looking probably for a more stationary, safer environment. How do you think workplaces get infested? Cars?

If bedbugs are confirmed in your home, the responsible thing to do is take precautions to quarantine and/or decontaminate clothing and items that leave your home. Period. Too many people have reported taking precautions and still seeing bedbugs on their belongings in public.

It is in the FAQs. Have you read them thoroughly? Under "not spreading" maybe?
fightorflight

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Posted 4 years ago
Wed Jul 9 2008 18:39:28
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For random example, read this unfortunate comment posted 6 hours ago:
http://bedbugger.com/forum/topic/infestation-at-work-and-car
bugration

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Posted 4 years ago
Wed Jul 9 2008 20:23:52
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I would agree that there are many many ways to inadvertently spread them, especially if you have had them for a long time and they have spread out over much of your possessions/home.

However, I guess that in for example hotel exposures of a few days, more often than not even a person who has no knowledge of their presence will probably not spread them. I believe I read elsewhere on this forum that about 0.6% of hotel rooms were infested. Now if the transmission rate to another home (at least of a female capable of laying eggs) was really very high (say 30% or more) then the spread of BBs would already have reached a geometric rate and most everyone would already have heard of them. As it is I would still say that the vast majority of people don't view them as a realistic threat.
fightorflight

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Posted 4 years ago
Wed Jul 9 2008 20:58:44
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The bugs spread. Pretty easily. If they didn't spread, we wouldn't have this forum and this website. We would not have reports of people picking them up in hospitals and rampant in dormitories.

If your bedbugs are confirmed, it is your responsibility to take measures not to carry your bedbugs around to other locations.

Remember that guy in 2007 who was vilified for traveling to another country after he was diagnosed with contagious tuberculosis?

Tuberculosis, bedbugs. Diseases of the past recurring now. Feel a little like we are returning to the Dark Ages? Now we have plastic. Use it.
buggyinsocal

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Posted 4 years ago
Wed Jul 9 2008 22:43:16
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I understand the frustration that you have about not getting a clear answer. That was one of the most frustrating aspects for me of the whole process.

Keep in mind, however, that for decades the assumption was that bedbugs were no longer a threat. During those decades, nobody really did much research that would give us clear, quantifiable, absolute guidelines on these things. Unfortunately, that means that a lot of what people are learning about BB is having to be learned on the fly. esp. since it's unclear whether these new surges of BB activity include BBs that are resistant to pesticides.

I think what people are advocating is that it's entirely possible that a particular infestation might fall into category #1. However, that's a specific infestation in a specific property at a specific time. If you make changes, the particular situation--or even if you don't make changes and the bugs do--you can go from option #1 to oiption #2 very quickly.

Given that eggs and young nymphs can be so hard to find, it's best to assume #2 so as to avoid inflicting pain and suffering on others.
Nobugsonme

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Posted 4 years ago
Sat Jul 12 2008 13:51:56
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We have a FAQ about not spreading bed bugs here:
http://bedbugger.com/faqs/travel

You're getting mixed messages because everyone has different levels of knowledge and different perspectives on this.

The Bedbugger perspective is that we meet people here all the time who spread bed bugs. Sometimes this has meant they've felt the need to spend lots of money remediating someone else's problem. Other times it's meant they were caught in a reinfestation cycle they could not break. Other times, it meant someone they loved was pissed off at them, sometimes to the point of a break-up or family rift.

David's answer is -- I think -- as close as you can get to clear. The changes of spreading bed bugs depend on the size of infestation, and where the bed bugs are. And luck.

Take precautions so you don't end up one of those people who can't get rid of bed bugs because they took them to work, their car, or mom's, and keep reinfesting themselves (often having NO idea where the reinfestation is coming from).

If you're careful, you probably won't spread them, and you'll have peace of mind. I would personally recommend changing into bagged clean clothes and inspecting yourself before going somewhere (car, work, etc.) unless you're going for a walk.

I would also not pick up things which had been lying around the house and take them out. Inspect carefully, and also store things carefully if you regularly take them in and out of an infested home.

And I personally think having guests over during an infestation is a bad move.