When On Vacation, Don’t Let The Bed Bugs Bite!

Exotic Animal Newsflash:

Yikes…How gross is that? Right?

Well, I was on a friend’s blog today, SunEGrl Loves To Shop, and she was talking about a rise of incidents in Hotels and on Cruise Ships since 2004.

I guess, it doesn’t matter if you’re staying at a 2-star hotel or a 5-star hotel, it is just as likely that you could be staying in an infested place!

Yuk! I bet you thought that Bed Bugs feed off filthy, dead skin or human waste, right? Wrong!

Oh, No!!! What attracts them then?

Well, they like exhaled carbon dioxide…And as we all know, we can’t change what we exhale. So, they like where we, humans, are!

Is that it? What do they eat then? Well, contrary to popular belief, they feed on our blood, not on waste, dead skin cells, or dirt.

Scientific Classification:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Suborder: Heteroptera
Family: Cimicidae

Now, bed bugs are a nocturnal insect, meaning they come “out” at night, or are more active at night-time.

Do They Carry Disease?
Although bed bugs bite, they are not known to pass the 27 known pathogens that they can carry to their hosts. That’s good news!

Not so fast! They may, however, under the right circumstances, be able to pass along Hepatitis B or Chagas disease (trypanosomiasis).

How Do I Know If I’ve Been Bitten?
Well, you’ll usually get a white welt, surrounded by a raised reddened area at the site of each bite. They will each be itchy from several hours up to several days.

What Do I Do If I’ve Been Bitten?
Try not to scratch so you don’t leave yourself scars from the bite sites, plus you don’t want them to get infected!

To treat them, you may want to start on antihistamines and corticosteroids, like hydrocortisone, topically to reduce the itching and swelling.

***

I hope you found this post on Insects interesting from Exotic Animal Lover! Until next time…

Live Exotically,

Kimberly Edwards

P.S. If you are a frequent traveler, you may want to invest in some Bed Bug Spray that will prevent bed bugs from sticking around! This one is all-natural and non-toxic…Check it out:

Resources: If you travel you should know this…

Technorati Tags: bed bugs, insects, bed bug bites, bed bug infestation, bed bug remedy, nocturnal animal, animals, bed bug spray

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