“A recent National Pest Management Association survey found that 95% of some 1,000 pest control companies across the world are dealing with bed bugs on a daily basis.”
- Dini Miller, Ph.D., Assoc. Prof. of Entomology, Virginia Tech
Adult bed bugs (Cimex lectularius) are about the size of apple seeds (3/16th inch), have six legs, no wings, and are light reddish-brown (right) and look darker after feeding (left). Feeding every five to seven days, to fill up on their host's blood takes five to ten minutes and their favorite food is human blood. From pinhead-size white eggs, bed bugs hatch and grow through five larva stages of translucent whitish-yellow color over ten weeks to the sixth stage of adulthood. Their life span averages six months to a year while the bugs hide out in mattress seams, box springs, baseboard crevices, behind wallpaper and clutter around beds between blood feedings. The thermal death point (for bed bugs) is about 118 degrees Fahrenheit. Images courtesy CDC.
September 30, 2010 Blacksburg, Virginia - Two weeks ago on the weekend of September 18, 2010, the Nike sports company shut down its 95,000-square-foot Niketown store in Midtown Manhattan. And kept it closed for more than a week. To do what? To exterminate the bed bugs that had literally taken over every nook and cranny of the building.
Click here to subscribe and get instant access to read this report.
Click here to check your existing subscription status.
