ON your way back from a recent summer holiday in warmer climes, you may have shared your journey with some unwelcome hitchhikers

who now call your bed home. Like creatures from a horror movie, record numbers of bed bugs are feasting on hapless Hampshire holidaymakers’ flesh as they sleep.

The county’s biggest pest exterminators have warned that after more than 50 years the wingless insects are back with a vengeance and infestations in Hampshire are increasing at an alarming rate year on year.

“I’m getting phone calls all the time from people who wake to find themselves covered in bites,” reveals Sean Whelan, the boss of Whelan Pest Prevention in Southampton.

“We’ll go around to their home on the same day and nine times out of ten it will be bed bugs that they have brought back with them from their summer holidays.”

Mr Whelan, who spends much of his time eliminating the pests, added: “It’s a nasty shock for them when I inspect their bed and all of sudden dozens of bed bugs scatter everywhere.

“They will be living in your headboard, the underside of the mattress and in the tiniest nooks and crannies you’d never think to check.”

They may be small – adult bed bugs grow to about 5mm – but they pack a mean bite, leaving behind hard white swellings on the skin and itchy blotches that can last for hours, or even days.

They are notoriously difficult to treat, as they shelter in the narrowest of gaps such as seams of mattresses, the bed frame, behind furniture surrounding the bed or wherever the walls meet the floors.

Because of their translucent colour and the fact they only come out at night – the clever bugs can detect carbon monoxide in the breath of a sleeping human – most people don’t realise they are suffering from an infestation until they have been bitten.

Student houses, bedsits, hotels and hospitals are Mr Whelan’s most frequent customers across the city, but he says bed bugs aren’t class-conscious.

“Bed bugs don’t care how much money you have or how clean you are – it’s got nothing to do with hygiene or dirt,” Mr Whelan said.

“It’s not something to be ashamed of. Quite honestly, I have calls from all walks of life – from a student house in Portswood to a seven-bed mansion in Winchester.”

Their numbers declined until about ten years ago, rendering risks to travellers within Britain and many other parts of the world relatively low. But the bugs have bounced back over the past decade.

The boom in budget overseas travel, increasing popularity of car boot sales and resistance to poison have all been given as reasons for their rise.

Leading bed bug expert Dr Michael Potter warned: “After vanishing for a half century, bed bugs are back with a vengeance. Once introduced into a building or area, the insects quickly spread, crawling from room to room or floor to floor.”

The number of bed bugs on British public transport has also shot up, according to research by the country’s biggest pest control company. Rentokil has reported an increase in the transport sector in particular, with a 40 per cent rise in the number of transport-related call-outs in the past year.

They thrive in small places and are often found in the creases of seats and seatbelt fastening on buses, trains and aircraft.

The firm said it had seen a 24 per cent increase in work related to airlines, a 51 per cent jump in road-related call-outs, a 59 per cent increase in the shipping sector and a nine per cent rise on rail, compared with the year before.

Technical director Savvas Othon said: “The short turnaround times for planes and other forms of transport means they are sometimes not inspected as thoroughly as they used to be.

“What should happen is a good vacuum around the back of the seats and in the creases of the seats. Any small gap is ideal for a bed bug, which can go for quite some time without a meal.”

However, David Cain, managing director of Bed-Bugs.co.uk, a website dedicated to destroying the wingless insect, said: “The number one reason for the spread of bedbugs is the lack of public awareness. People simply do not know how to detect them in the way they would have done in the 1950s and 1960s.”

Spotting bed bugs Bed bugs are approximately 5mm long as adults. Before feeding they are a flattened oval shape and almost translucent, but become rounder and darker after feeding.

They come out at night, typically an hour before dawn.

The creatures are notoriously difficult to treat as they shelter in the narrowest of gaps such as seams of mattresses, the bed frame, behind furniture surrounding the bed or wherever the walls meet the floors.

Symptoms of attacks include sleepless nights, itchy blotches and hard white swellings on the skin.

Feeding and breeding Bed bugs live exclusively on blood.

They feed by injecting their saliva into your skin then sucking out blood for up to 10 minutes. The saliva causes the red swelling and irritation that indicates the position of the bite. Bed bugs can consume about four times their own bodyweight in less than 15 minutes.

One meal lasts each insect about 3 days in warm temperatures but by lying dormant, bed bugs can survive for up to a year without a meal.

One female bed bug can produce up to 3,000 offspring in three months.

How to avoid bed bugs on holiday Check mattresses for blood, faeces, eggs and actual bed bugs.

Don’t toss clothes on beds or on the floor.

Use hangers to keep them off beds and carpets.

Close suitcases as bed bugs are likely to walk over them rather than try to find a way in.

Pack clothing in closed plastic bags.

On returning, wash all clothing at the hottest water possible and put in a hot dryer for 20 minutes.

By Peter Law 

 http://www.dailyecho.co.uk