Bed bugs, bed-bugs, or bedbugs are parasitic insects of the cimicid family that feed exclusively on blood. Cimex lectularius, the common bed bug, is the best known as it prefers to feed on human blood. Other Cimex species specialize in other animals, e.g., bat bugs, such as Cimex pipistrelli (Europe), Cimex pilosellus (western US), and Cimex adjunctus (entire eastern US).
The name "bed bug" derives from the preferred habitat of Cimex lectularius: warm houses and especially near or inside beds and bedding or other sleep areas. Bed bugs are mainly active at night, but are not exclusively nocturnal. They usually feed on their hosts without being noticed.
A number of adverse health effects may result from bed bug bites, including skin rashes, psychological effects, and allergic symptoms.Bed bugs are not known to transmit any pathogens as disease vectors. Certain signs and symptoms suggest the presence of bed bugs; finding the adult insects confirms the diagnosis.
Bed bugs have been known as human parasites for thousands of years. At a point in the early 1940s, they were mostly eradicated in the developed world, but have increased in prevalence since 1995, likely due to pesticide resistance, governmental bans on effective pesticides, and international travel. Because infestation of human habitats has begun to increase, bed bug bites and related conditions have been on the rise as well.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Suborder: Heteroptera
Infraorder: Cimicomorpha
Superfamily: Cimicoidea
Family: Cimicidae
Infestation
Diagnosis of an infestation involves both finding bed bugs and the occurrence of compatible symptoms. Treatment involves the elimination of the insect (including its eggs) and taking measures to treat symptoms until they resolve.
Bed bug bites or cimicosis may lead to a range of skin manifestations from no visible effects to prominent blisters.Effects include skin rashes, psychological effects, and allergic symptoms.
Although bed bugs can be infected with at least 28 human pathogens, no studies have found that the insects are capable of transmitting any of these to humans. They have been found with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and with vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE), but the significance of this is still unknown.
Investigations into potential transmission of HIV, MRSA, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and hepatitis E have not shown that bed bugs can spread these diseases. However, arboviruses may be transmissible.
Description
Adult bed bugs are light brown to reddish-brown, flattened, oval-shaped, and have no hind wings. The front wings are vestigial and reduced to pad-like structures. Bed bugs have segmented abdomens with microscopic hairs that give them a banded appearance. Adults grow to 4–5 mm (0.16–0.20 in) long and 1.5–3 mm (0.059–0.118 in) wide.
Newly hatched nymphs are translucent, lighter in color, and become browner as they moult and reach maturity. A bed bug nymph of any age that has just consumed a blood meal has a bright red, translucent abdomen, fading to brown over the next several hours, and to opaque black within two days as the insect digests its meal. Bed bugs may be mistaken for other insects, such as booklice, small cockroaches, or carpet beetles; however, when warm and active, their movements are more ant-like and, like most other true bugs, they emit a characteristic disagreeable odor when crushed.
Reproduction
All bed bugs mate by traumatic insemination. Female bed bugs possess a reproductive tract that functions during oviposition, but the male does not use this tract for sperm insemination. Instead, the male pierces the female's abdomen with his hypodermic penis and ejaculates into the body cavity. In all bed bug species except Primicimex cavernis, sperm are injected into the mesospermalege, a component of the spermalege,a secondary genital structure that reduces the wounding and immunological costs of traumatic insemination.Injected sperm travel via the haemolymph (blood) to sperm storage structures called seminal conceptacles, with fertilisation eventually taking place at the ovaries.
How Does Cryonite Kill Bed Bugs?
Cryonite kills bed bugs by freezing. The freezing process is rapid and reaches a very low temperature. The speed is essential for effectiveness. The cooling medium is carbon dioxide snow, which is sprayed from the specially designed and patented nozzle.
DRY: Frozen carbon dioxide is also referred to as “dry ice”, as it sublimates, is converts from ice/snow directly to gas with no liquid phase in between. This enables treatment in areas such as electrical sockets, motors, pipes, cabinets and more. For example, when used in the food processing facility, flour will not turn into gooey dough! SWIFT: Through an optimal combination of snow particle size and speed, the cooling is quick enough to ensure that bugs, including eggs and larvae, will not survive.
