Bed bugs are most irritating pest.  They are wingless parasitic nature organisms and have flat, small and oval-shaped bodies. Adult bedbugs have the vestiges of wings known as wing pads, but they do not fully grow into functional wings. Adult bedbugs have brown color however, their bodies redden after feeding. A full-grown bedbug move comparatively slowly and its size is about 4 to 5 mm. Adult bedbugs are visible with the naked eye (size and shape of an apple seed) but the nymphs may be small and difficult to detect with naked eye.

Bed bug bites their human hosts and suck blood for their survival. It is a burning question in many infested countries that do bed bug cause diseases? Well, there are different schools of thoughts in this respect. Some says that “Bedbugs can carry different diseases, but they are not known to transmit them to humans” while some sources like pennmedicine.org shows “bed bugs can transmit parasite that causes Chagas disease”. You may visit the link I placed above to know about Penn Study Results.  Some also blame bed bugs for the spread of leprosy, oriental sores, Q-fever and brucellosis, but these cases are poorly documented. It requires more researches on this issue to reveal the authenticity of the fact.

The greatest risk posed by bed bugs bites are the irritation and the psychological concerns resulting in lack of sleep and stress. Reactions against bed bug bites vary person to person. In sensitive people bed bug bites become visible in 1-2 hour right after the insect’s feeding, and some people never react to being bitten. Large wheals can appear in extreme reactions and these wheals reduce in size with the passage of time, becoming small, red marks. Bug’s bites may cause severe itching and result in blister or swelling (like skin inflammations).

Bed bug bites are very dangerous for children especially infants who spend most of time while sleeping. Their bites results in many secondary skin infections as children have weak immunity and parasites can easily enter in their body after contacting with bitten skin.  If you, your children or any of your family members are experiencing bites or other skin reactions, contact to a physician ASAP.

Either bed bugs cause diseases or not, you should eradicate them completely from your home in order to be secure and healthy. If your home is bed bug infested contact a reputed pest control firm in your local region and eliminate them from your home.