What do these three places have in common? The Elle magazine offices, filled with racks of expensive designer clothes ready to grace celebrities and models on red carpets and runways. Hollister, a popular and accessible shopping destination often frequented for casual outfits for class or just hanging out on the weekends. Your dorm room or apartment, in all its cramped and cozy glory.

Give up?

As ridiculous as it may sound, all of these places have hosted bed bug infestations within the past few months, complete with evacuations and temporary closings. Popping up in a huge array of schools, homes, and public places all over the country, bed bugs do actually exist and have become a real issue in recent years.

The Elle editors were told to work from home while a trained beagle was sent in to find the bugs, Hollister in New York was forced to close and post a vague sign reading “We will reopen soon” on its doors, and students at Cornell University were kicked out of their infested dorms a few years ago and relocated to any available space in other buildings, some resorting to crashing in dorm lounges for the night.

These are all real cases that, though they sound a bit dramatic, are becoming more and more frequent. It’s clear that bed bugs are quietly emerging all over the place, but should you really be on the lookout? Here’s what’s been going on with these pests and what you need to know in order to sleep soundly tonight.

Signs and Symptoms

Do a Google Image search of “bed bugs” and you’ll find photos of the classic sign of bed bugs: small red bite marks. According to the Mayo Clinic staff, bed bug bites are red and often darker in the center, ranging in size from a typical mosquito bite to a larger welt. They’re often itchy with several found together in a line or cluster, and you’ll get them mainly on your face and parts of your upper body that are exposed, such as your hands, neck, and arms.

However, different individuals may present drastically different symptoms. “I was the only one in the apartment that got such intense bites, probably because I had a major allergic reaction,” recalls Sarah, an undergraduate at a school in New York who found bed bugs in her apartment this past summer. “My friend who had bed bugs recently only had a few bites. I had them all over my body and I scarred as well.” There are no universally standard symptoms, as some people who are bit may not even realize it while others simply show no reactions at all, so it’s important to be able to recognize other signs of these unwelcome pests.

Other red flags include “live bugs, if you look on the Internet you can see the different stages, blood smears, and egg casings,” according to Peter Castronovo, Senior Sanitarian of Environmental Health & Safety at the University of Rochester. These are the some of the clues Rob of Brooklyn College noticed when he first discovered bed bugs in his brother’s basement apartment last November. While he initially thought nothing of a dead bug he found on a pillow, he later noticed “all these brown bloody spots on the sheets, so I Googled brown spots and linked the initial bug experience and realized my brother had bed bugs.” Being aware of environmental cues early on can help you halt the problem before it gets worse.

What To Do if You Find Bed Bugs

The most important thing is actually knowing what NOT to do. Don’t try to take care of the situation yourself. Don’t assume that just because you washed everything – your sheets, clothes, mattress, etc. – that those little beasts are gone. Don’t mix your own cocktail of disinfectants and pesticides, scrub down your room, and call it a day.

The best thing to do is to leave it to the professionals. Rob recalls his long ordeal of self-treatment involving washing sheets, buying bed bug powder and spraying it everywhere, and mopping the floor with Clorox, only to find even more bed bugs in a few weeks. “We had to take even more drastic action and hired an exterminator. It took 3 exterminator sprays to get rid of them, as after every spray my brother would see some crawling on the walls in his room or on his table.”

The lesson? Save yourself the trouble and get a professional to take care of it from the start to determine if you indeed have bed bugs and to take the correct measures toward extermination. Contact the Sanitation Department or Pest Control at your school, which will determine the appropriate course of action and also have access to outside companies. You will need to take all of your clothing and bedding out of the room to wash and hot dry it on high, as Vicky and her roommate did when their room was infested during their freshmen year at the University of Rochester, but the real solution to the problem is a much more involved process that doesn’t happen overnight.

Castronovo emphasized that it takes time, effort, and planning, but also cooperation by the occupant. Recently, it has become increasingly difficult to eradicate bed bugs with normal pesticides, so many companies now turn to thermal methods using high heat to kill the insects. Others employ bed bug sniffing dogs to pinpoint exactly where the bed bugs are, which has proved to be a successful method for Castronovo and his team. “The dog is key. The guy we use trains the dog constantly and raises bed bugs himself, and lets them feed on him to keep testing the dog. We have been very fortunate with the use of this outside company and have a good program with the problem well under control.”

Bed Bug Myths

Bed Bugs Only Live in Beds

Sure, they’re called bed bugs, but that doesn’t mean that they won’t find their way into other spaces too. While carefully examining your bed, from the springboard to the mattress to the sheets, is a crucial starting point, other pieces of furniture and/or clothing are all fair game. Robert found them in a laptop table and couch, whereas the tightly packed clothing racks at the Elle offices provided an equally suitable breeding ground. Whether you’re in your dorm or traveling somewhere on break, be sure to check any and all types of furnishings as thoroughly as possible.

My Room’s Clean So I’ve Got Nothing to Worry About

The biggest misconception about bed bugs may be that they are only found in dirty places and dusty corners where people haven’t cleaned in ages. While doing your laundry each week and consistently vacuuming your room are good habits to practice, they won’t make you immune to bed bugs.

The truth is that bed bugs “don’t have anything to do with filth and uncleanliness. They have to do with transient movement of people. Wherever you have a transient population, such as hotels and college dormitories, and especially when that transient population comes from all over the world, these living centers are prime locations for where bed bugs will end up,” according to Castronovo. With students constantly shuttling in and out of campus, bed bugs are receiving plenty of opportunities to hitch rides into colleges to find new homes in unsuspecting students’ dorm rooms and apartments. They don’t discriminate and are happy to settle in at any geographic location, even in rooms that are clean and spotless.

“I Can Take Care of Them”

It really can’t be stressed enough that you should not try to fix the problem yourself. Bed bugs are stubborn, hearty little creatures and can live without eating for several months at a time, so while you think you may have gotten rid of them, they are more than likely just hiding out, waiting for the next opportunity to reemerge. Save your own time and effort, and let trained professionals handle the situation.

Castronovo recalls a situation in a graduate housing center when the occupants had an infestation in their room and “dragged the bedding out into the hallway of their high rise.” Bed bugs travel both horizontally and vertically, and aiding them in their voyage by carrying them out into a crowded hallway certainly didn’t help your situation. The solution may seem simple, but always seek professional help in both confirming the presence of bed bugs and in extermination.

Whatever, It’s No Big Deal

Though bed bugs are small in size and haven’t been shown to spread disease, which is a definite plus, they still have the potential to cause major problems and have proven that in several recent cases. You probably think that it could never happen to you, but Castronovo notes that the problem is on the rise so awareness is key. People who have dealt with bed bugs firsthand know that while they aren’t extremely rampant, at least not yet, it’s better to be aware and take preventative measures now.

Sarah acknowledges, “I know that the RAs had a talk about bed bugs during their training. That’s good. The thing that concerns me is that when I told my friends and roommates about having bed bugs, they were not that concerned. I don’t think they understand how bed bugs are serious issues.” Rob also stresses, “You don’t have to live in a dirty house to get them. My mom cleans our house 24/7 and it was a huge shocker that we got bed bugs. The problem is on the rise and people should at least hold some precautions, such as checking mattresses when you travel or changing bed sheets frequently.”

With our busy college schedules packed with cram sessions for exams, papers to write, and club meetings, bed bugs are the last things we need to worry about. Having a basic knowledge of these pests and how to deal with them will help save you time, effort, and, most importantly, a good night’s sleep.

Sources

Amy Odell, Elle Has Bedbugs! [http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2010/08/elle_has_bedbugs_1.html]