Don't let these bloodsuckers hitch a ride home on your next holiday

By Alex May

Beware: this story will make you itch, especially if you are reading in bed.

There has been an explosion in bedbug infestations - those little critters that live in mattresses, suck blood and refuse to pay heed to people who say "night, night, don't let the bedbugs bite".

"Since the Sydney Olympics, there has been a progressive escalation to the point where now it's pandemic," says pest controller Garry Jones of Eagle Pest Control.

In fact, there has been an 8000 per cent increase in the treatment of bedbugs in NSW between 2000 and 2005, says Stephen Doggett, a senior hospital scientist at Westmead Hospital's medical entomology department. And it's not because grotty slum dwellers fail to wash their sheets. It's a result of the one thing we all dream about - travel. "Three years ago, most of the bedbug treatments were for tourism and hospitality [facilities]," Jones says. "The follow-on from that is anyone who stays in a hotel has a home to go to, and takes bedbugs with them.

"The bedbugs are carted around the world and they get in people's luggage. The first place people put luggage to unpack is on a bed." Doggett says he has seen bedbug infestations in apartments, houses, five-star hotels, backpacker accommodation - even brothels and trains. "Anywhere people lay their head, there will be bedbugs," he says.

In 2004, the NSW Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal compensated a London man who moved to "an exclusive area of the inner eastern suburbs" in Sydney to rent a partly furnished apartment for $630 a week - only to be bitten by bedbugs.

"Bedbugs don't discriminate - I go to houses in Darling Point and houses in Mount Druitt. Bedbugs go where the travellers go," Jones says. Or, even worse, guests come to stay in your house and bring bedbugs with them. "It's a bit embarrassing to ask your guests if you can check their clothes, but I would say in 50 per cent of the cases we treat, it's been a guest or visitor that's brought the bedbugs in to the house."

How do you get rid of them?

Discovering bedbugs often takes weeks or months, which gives the bugs more time to breed. The bloodsuckers don't just live in beds, but inhabit any dark cracks and crevices in furniture or the house, where they lay eggs. They like to hide in the seams of mattresses, usually close to the wall or where it is dark. They come out at night to suck blood. A tell-tale sign of infestation is blood spots on the mattresses or sheets. The adult bedbug is the size of an apple seed, about four millimetres, and can easily be seen by the naked eye. In severe infestations, you may smell the musky stench of the bugs.

Doggett says poor pest-control practices have helped spread bedbugs because some insecticides repel the bugs, which disperses them to other areas. Insecticide resistance is also a problem.

"There was a multistorey building that had one room infested in 2003 and two years later, 20 per cent of the apartments were affected," he says.

There is now a code of practice to treat bedbugs. The treatments are expensive, intrusive and involve at least two chemical sprays as the insecticides don't kill the eggs.

"There are plenty of dodgy guys out there who will do it cheaply, but I would insist on going with someone who gives a guarantee to get rid of bedbugs. You would spend at least $500, and I've seen cases where people have spent $4000 getting rid of severe infestations," Doggett says.

Jones says the treatments require discipline from the home owner, who must pull apart the room to allow access under carpet and around power points. The home owner may also have to quarantine all linen, sheets, blankets, clothing and soft furnishings and wash them in hot water.

"I won't do a job unless the owner agrees to do these things," Jones says.

Doggett says science hasn't yet confirmed whether bedbugs are like mosquitoes and capable of transmitting disease - but Jones says: "The deprivation of sleep is a health risk. There is nothing worse than lying in bed and thinking you are being attacked by bedbugs," he says. Quite.

Itchy and scratchy

• Check your second-hand furniture purchases carefully, especially beds and mattresses. Pieces of furniture that have been close to beds pose a risk, as does upholstered furniture such as couches and chairs.
• When you go away check the bed and the wardrobe, and wash all clothes in hot water before returning them to your wardrobe. Don't put your suitcase on your bed to unpack.
• Mattresses without seams and metal-frame beds eliminate the breeding spots.
• Check for bedbugs before it gets to an infestation level.
• The peak season for infestations is January to April so take extra precautions during this time. It takes nine days from infestation until bedbug bites appear.
• If you travel, you are at risk. When away from home, check all mattresses (especially the seams) and when you unpack clothes, check whether any insects are on them.
• Bedbugs lay their eggs in dark cracks and crevices, so filling gaps in floors and walls can help.
• Doggett says metal-framed beds make it harder for bedbugs to create an infestation. "Bedbugs love timber," he says. However, Jones says he has seen bedbugs in aluminium-framed beds.
  "They will go wherever there is a meal waiting for them," he says.