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Bed Bug Dilemma
Bed bugs are flat, oval in shape and brown in color. They
are found in many environments including: Senior Care
Communities, In-Patient Medical Facilities & Hospitals,
Clinics & Dental Offices, Dormitories, Motels, and even
Cruise Ship Lines. As they feed, the bed bugs flat body
expands and turns reddish in color. The adult is
approximately the size of an apple seed and can live for
more than a year without feeding. During the day, they hide
behind baseboards and pictures, in bed frames, furniture,
wallpaper, mattresses, blankets, pillows and sheets. Bed
bugs tend to settle in close proximity to their food source
- humans! They come out at night, attracted by the breath
and body heat of their food source. Bed bugs can spread from
room to room, using clothing, and other personal belongings
to make their way. Bed bugs often leave itchy, bloody welts
on the skin.
Bed bug infestations are on the rise across country and in
particular the Washington, DC area. Factors like the
proximity to other metropolitan cities like New York,
occupational travel, and our growing transient population,
have more than doubled reported cases in our area in the
last year. Experts are predicting the number of occurrences
will continue to increase in the coming years.
Bed Bug Infestation Solution
If you suspect you have a bed bug infestation we recommend
immediately taking action by laundering all bedding,
vacuuming the suspected area, and contact our Equipment
Rental Division for a Low Temp Freezer to be delivered for
Bed Bug remediation.
Bedbugs can survive a wide range of temperatures and
atmospheric compositions. Below 16.1 °C (61.0 °F), adults
enter semi-hibernation and can survive longer.[1]
Bedbugs can survive for at least five days at −10 °C
(14.0 °F) but will die after 15 minutes of exposure to
−32 °C (−26 °F).[2]
They show high
desiccation tolerance, surviving low humidity and a
35–40 °C range even with loss of one-third of body weight;
earlier life stages are more susceptible to drying out than
later ones.[3]
The thermal death point for C. lectularius is high:
45 °C (113 °F), and all stages of life are killed by 7
minutes of exposure to 46 °C (115 °F).[2]
Bedbugs apparently cannot survive high concentrations of
carbon dioxide for very long; exposure to nearly-pure
nitrogen atmospheres, however, appears to have relatively
little effect even after 72 hours.[4]
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References from Wikipedia:
1.
^
"Augustine Exterminators". Augustine
Exterminators.
http://www.augustineexterminators.com/galleryDetail.asp?gallery_id=26.
Retrieved 2010-09-01.
2.
^
a
b
c
d IPM
Practitioner, XXIX(3/4), March/April 2007
http://www.birc.org/MarApril2007.pdf
3.
^
Benoit, J. B.; del Grosso, N.; Yoder, J. A.;
Denlinger, D. L. (2007).
"Resistance to dehydration between bouts of
blood feeding in the bedbug, Cimex lectularius,
is enhanced by water conservation, aggregation,
and quiescence".
American Journal of Tropical Medicine and
Hygiene 76 (5): 987–993.
ISSN 0002-9637.
PMID 17488928.
http://www.ajtmh.org/cgi/content/full/76/5/987.
Retrieved 27 May 2010.
4.
^
Herrmann, J.; Adler, C.; Hoffmann, G.; Reichmuth,
C. (1999).
"Efficacy of controlled atmospheres on Cimex
lectularius (L.) (Heteroptera: Cimicidae) and
Argas reflexus Fab. (Acari: Argasidae)".
in Robinson, Wm H.; Rettich, F.; Rambo, G.W..
Proceedings of the 3rd International
Conference on Urban Pests. Hronov,
Czech Republic: Grafické Závody. p. 637.
http://www.icup.org.uk/reports/ICUP511.pdf.
Retrieved 31 May 2010.
(abstracted from a poster presentation in
Prague, Jul 19-22)
5. Bed
bug infestations are on the rise across country
and in particular the Washington, DC area.
Factors like the proximity to other metropolitan
cities like New York, occupational travel, and
our growing transient population, have more than
doubled reported cases in our area in the last
year. Experts are predicting the number of
occurrences will continue to increase in the
coming years.
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