
Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite Charleston
Photo above courtesy of Post & Courier. Searching the seams of mattresses, behind headboards and under dust ruffles once was considered odd behavior. But peering into such spaces in houses and other buildings is becoming more common since a pest, thought to have been eradicated decades ago, has returned. It’s the bedbug. Some say it’s back with a vengeance. When night falls, bedbugs crawl from hiding places in and around beds, baseboards, wall outlets, picture frames and window coverings. The bugs move about in search of warm-blooded animals, usually humans, for their blood meal. Their five- to 10-minute feedings are not painful, so victims often can’t figure out what is causing the hive-like welts that can result. Telltale signs, however, can include blood droplets that bugs leave on bed linens and their excrement, which resembles tiny black dots, and can be found around the house. The proliferation of bedbugs has nothing to do with hygiene and they are not believed to spread disease, according to experts. Increased international travel, lack of public awareness and increased resistance to pesticides as well as changes in their application, are reasons offered for the increase in the bugs. The bugs, whose adults are brownish-red

