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HELP! Possible bed bug issue on holiday

Sloop John B

Sloop John B

And any old music will do…
We’re in Brussels at the moment and my wife over the last 3 days has come up with some spots on her face, hairline and arm about 5 in total. One left some blood on the pillow.
We cannot see any bedbugs and as she has a bad cold we are not in the same bed currently but I have no spots.

At a bit of a loss to know exactly what to do.

How do you know if the bites are from bedbugs?

I suppose my main query is if we move form this airbnb to an hotel what do we have to do to make sure we have not brought the infestation with us?


.sjb
 
Bed bugs don't live in beds persey check the skirtings into the corners. They are easy enough to see. Yes not taking them with you is going to be the challenge!
 
I feel sorry for your wife - my spouse and I have been in that scenario. She reacts badly to bedbugs but I seem not to. She takes Reactine that helps to calm down the reaction.

When relocating pack all your clothing into a bin bag except the clothes you are wearing. Go to a laundromat and put them through high temp wash. Go to new location - take off worn clothes, change into clean clothes, and put worn stuff in bin bag and seal/tie then take to laundromat asap.

I beg to differ garyi - bed bugs can be found in bed frames, mattress seams and even the zip mechanisms of "bed sheet protector" covers.
We purchased a handheld nozzle steamer used for clothes ( like a kettle) and blast the beasties with hot steam.

It's long running adventure/nightmare to get rid of them.
 
Having previously been eaten alive in a hotel room, it sounds very much like bedbugs. Blood spots on the bedding are a big giveaway. The allergic reaction to bites can, depending on individual metabolism, take up to 72 hours to develop, so it’s not always easy to determine exactly where and when you were bitten. Bear in mind that you may also have been bitten, not everyone develops the allergic reaction to bites. And yes, they are frequently found in the bed itself, especially along the seam of a mattress.

I would put clothes into a tumble dryer on the hottest setting for a good half hour, and would leave all luggage in an outhouse on returning home, although the little bastards can lie dormant for months without feeding.
 
If you put your clothes in a freezer for 24 hours any adult insects will die. In addition a conventional 40 deg C wash will generally remove them. It's only the same as human lice, they can on paper survive a 40 deg wash but in the real world human lice, which used to be endemic in the population, are now at zero unless you are homeless, simply because all our clothes are washed so often.
 
stevec67 said:
If you put your clothes in a freezer for 24 hours any adult insects will die. In addition a conventional 40 deg C wash will generally remove them. It's only the same as human lice, they can on paper survive a 40 deg wash but in the real world human lice, which used to be endemic in the population, are now at zero unless you are homeless, simply because all our clothes are washed so often.
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You need to eradicate the eggs n’ all, a 40° wash is unlikely to achieve that.
 
They usually bite in 3s - so random lines or clusters of 3 red dots. They can hide under mattresses (and can climb up walls FWIW). Blood spots on bedsheets are usually a sign of bedbugs. The mattress will have to be burned, the room treated and I would chuck all your wife's clothes just to be sure (and then take her shopping).
 
Finnegan said:
You need to eradicate the eggs n’ all, a 40° wash is unlikely to achieve that.
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Correct, it won't necessarily eradicate them but it will remove them, as with lice. As I say, there's a reason why the louse is all but extinct across Europe in domestic accommodation. It's like saying that washing up by hand will not kill all bacteria. No, it won't, but it washes them away and that's good enough.
 
Sloop John B said:
We’re in Brussels at the moment and my wife over the last 3 days has come up with some spots on her face, hairline and arm about 5 in total. One left some blood on the pillow.
We cannot see any bedbugs and as she has a bad cold we are not in the same bed currently but I have no spots.

At a bit of a loss to know exactly what to do.

How do you know if the bites are from bedbugs?

I suppose my main query is if we move form this airbnb to an hotel what do we have to do to make sure we have not brought the infestation with us?


.sjb
Click to expand...
You poor people. Be certain you don't take them home. Once settled in it's very, very hard to eradicate them.
 
It’s an Airbnb house we’re in and luckily we didn’t bring our suitcases upstairs at all.

We’re not definitely sure the bites are bedbugs (there are a few strange mosquito like insects flying around also) they don’t click all the boxes (not really clustered) and are on areas more likely to be reached by airborne bugs than bugs coming at you from below.

So tomorrow the pest control people are coming to assess, so we should definitely know whether they are bed bugs or not and act accordingly. We’re using the time to wash all our clothes and dry them hot and not store them upstairs once washed.

So the plan would be to bag and bin any clothes worn on our last day there if the bed bugs are confirmed and continue our holiday in our recently washed clothes.

Hopefully the answer will be negative though as it’s working very well for us visiting our daughter and new granddaughter.

.sjb
 
Be aware, it is not just clothes that will bring them to the UK. They will go in suitcases and bags - all will need to be treated as high risk.
 
stevec67 said:
There are already plenty here. Hotels have had treatment programmes in place for years.
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Yep. My daughter's final year student house in Nottingham had them when they moved in and it was all quite hellish for her. Iirc the pest control man had lots of infestations to deal with.
 
There’s been some quite hysterical reports in the press, as if we‘re experiencing some sort of invasion of an Ebola type virus. There’s been bed bugs here as long as there’s been beds. As someone who has literally been once bitten, twice shy, they’re annoying little f*ckers and a pain in the arse (and expensive) to eradicate, but fairly harmless health wise.
 
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