Bugs, a bother

Through childhood kids are often tucked into bed with a gentle admonition: “Good night, sleep tight. Don’t let the bedbugs bite.” Not that there were bugs around.

But these days this old saying has resonance for many more people than in years past, including those who sleep in expensive homes and four-star hotels.

Last month, a family living in a $3 million private house in Brooklyn, New York, discarded rooms’ worth of furniture, the cushions carefully slashed and notes attacked saying the pieces had bedbugs and were not safe to take.

But the bedbug problem has become so widespread in 21st-Century America that The Journal of the American Medical Association published a clinical review. If bites become infected, a topical or oral antibiotic may be needed.

Prevention is better

There is no effective repellent against bedbugs, so avoidance is the best protection. Resist the temptation to pick up discarded mattresses, sofas, cushioned chairs and similar furnishings that could harbour the bugs.

If you can’t pass up clothes left out for the taking. Carry them away in a plastic bag and then either wash them as soon as possible in very hot water, place them in a hot dryer or have them dry-cleaned.

The journal authors’ advice: “Items purchased at garage sales and resale shops, especially mattresses, box springs and bedding, be carefully inspected for bed bugs before they are brought into homes.” It also helps to rid the house of clutter that can provide hiding places for the bugs. When traveling, check the bed for evidence of bugs before you get in. And when you return home, check your luggage for bugs that may have come along.

Home remedies are usually ineffective.

One family tried standing the legs of their beds in dishes of mineral oil, which stained the floor but did not deter the bugs.

Hiring a professional exterminator, which is often a more cost-effective strategy than do-it-yourself methods, is a good option.

Pesticide sprays are not recommended for use on bedding. More effective, though no bargain is to encase the mattress and box spring in covers like those used against dust mite allergy.

Heat treatment

Other remedies include high-suction vacuuming or heat or steam treatments of infested furniture, also best done by professionals.

If space and time are available, furniture suspected to harbour bedbugs can be placed in the sun for several days or out in the winter cold for about two weeks.

The bugs can survive indoors for a long time without feeding, but when they are exposed to temperature extremes outside and have no food source, they die off or disappear.

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