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Home>Your Property >Public Health Services>Your Home>Bedbugs
Humans are the preferred host of bedbugs; however, the transmission of disease to humans is highly unlikely. However, a bedbug bite can cause irritation and consequent loss of sleep.
Infestations of bedbugs are due to the bugs being carried to the premises with personal possessions, bedclothes, furniture etc. Places that are occupied with transient visitors such as hostels and lodging houses are at higher risk of being infested with bedbugs.
Bedbugs have the following characteristics:
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 | Large mouth | | Six legs | | Wingless | | Oval shaped body approximately half a centimetre long | | Light brown in colour, but after a blood meal they change to red-rust | | Large antennae
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| Bedbugs have pearly coloured eggs and lay them in crevices of furniture, (bed frame, behind cupboards / wardrobes etc.).
Bedbugs are susceptible to extremes of temperature and can survive without feeding for months at a time.
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| Detection & Control | | To detect the location of bedbugs, use a torch and inspect the crevices surrounding the bed in question. Using a pyrethroid aerosol insecticide is generally one effective control measure.
Good household hygiene is essential to detect and control early infestations. Infested articles, furniture and walls should be thoroughly cleaned and then sprayed with a household aerosol surface spray or residual-action surface insecticides. Sheets and blankets should be laundered or dry cleaned. The room with the detected infestation should be monitored for to ensure that the infestation does not reoccur.
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