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Banishing bed bugs

However, they could not have been more wrong. The bed bug blitz of last century may have lessened their numbers, but it did not wipe them out indefinitely and in the last 10 years, the last six months even, there has been an exponential increase in bed bug infestations.

Bed bugs are attracted to human skin by the body heat and carbon dioxide they sense; once they have crawled onto exposed flesh, they pierce the outer layer of skin and feed off of the blood. Some people tend not to notice a skin reaction to bed bugs but others will develop itchy red marks similar to mosquito bites, although where mosquito bites appear randomly on the skin, bed bugs bite in straight lines.

Bed bugs are now also known to carry a variety of drug-resistant bacteria, one of which is referred to as the 'flesh-eating bacteria', or MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus), the 'superbug'. A particularly well-documented crisis in hospitals, this infection causes death if it enters the bloodstream and it is incredibly contagious, transmitting from one organism to the next through casual contact. With hospitals and hotels famed as hot-beds for bed bugs, the urgency with which this problem of infestation needs to be dealt with is undeniable and deadly illness is not the only repercussion bed bugs can have.

A recent bed bug infestation all but ruined the life of a Brisbane girl when her housemate came into contact with bed bugs during her holiday at a three-star hotel in Cairns. The girl claims, "We fumigated the whole house and threw out anything we weren't attached to plus we fumigated our cars. At this point we were also getting changed in the garage downstairs before going inside." The four-month ordeal was financially crippling for the duo, who tried to explain that "it's a really expensive exercise that costs thousands of dollars each time. We were up to the $10,000 mark the third time around and still they came back again. We had to put the remains of our stuff in storage for a year-and-a-half. That was everything - furniture, clothes, books - we were made to just start again from scratch."

The bugs travel internationally the same way humans do - on planes, buses, cars and any other transport system that involves luggage and/or people. As the rate of tourists increases, something the industry is consistently encouraging, so the prevalence of bed bugs will also increase and it is therefore more vital than ever to make sure accommodation providers insist on keeping themselves and their guests as safe as possible by carrying out regular checks and implementing a plan of action.

Bed bugs can live for up to three months without a host, giving them plenty of opportunity to multiply and spread. They seek out cracks and crevices in rooms, small spaces behind power-points, mattresses, mattress buttons, headboards; anywhere that appeals as a good place to hide, because they like to live in darkness and warmth.

According to Sydney pest controller Rita Kokontis, "usually one treatment won't be enough, a lot of the time the mattresses will need to be discarded and you will still need more treatments". Exterminating these pests is not a simple task. In fact, finding them can be a difficult task in and of itself.

The fastest, most accurate, most effective means of detecting bed bugs today, are thought to be specially trained dogs. "They really are the most accurate tool the industry has for detecting low-level infestations," supports Bell Environmental Services's bed bug division. Although false alerts do happen with canine detection because sometimes the dogs can be too eager to please their human handler, resulting in a 'false positive', they do have a 98% accuracy rate, an unparalleled figure. As long as the handler gets visual confirmation of each 'positive'detection, which should be a priority due to the expense of extermination, there's no problem with this method. Dogs are particularly useful for accommodation providers as they can check a room in two minutes where two pest professionals might take two hours.

The best way to treat a bed bug infestation, is with heat, usually steam. Steam works well in combatting bed bugs because high heat kills them much faster than freezing and steam will not leave any harmful chemicals, has no off-putting odour and is relatively inexpensive.

There is a chance it can cause mould in some conditions, however, and experts recommend that it be used in conjunction with an approved chemical insecticide that has some residual activity because some bed bugs may survive the initial blast. Infested laundry can also be washed in boiling water and dried in a tumble drier.

Synthetic pyrethroids are usually the key chemicals used when treating bed bug infestations, however these are not always completely effective and can occasionally repel the bugs. The usual alternatives are carbamates and organophosphates that have proven much more effective but check the labels before using on mattresses.

There is almost no bigger blow than having your hotel reviewed on TripAdvisor for a bed bug problem. The main thing is to keep on top of the issue; check all rooms in your property each year even if you don't receive complaints and if you do find an infestation, close down the affected rooms, and get the best treatment possible; follow up the initial treatment with check-ups for at least 28 days afterwards to take care of any surviving bugs.