Bed bugs

Lug­ga­ge

Guests in hotels or vaca­ti­on ren­tals often bring bugs in their lug­ga­ge, which can then nest in mat­tres­ses and bed frames.

Second-hand Fur­ni­tu­re & Clot­hing

Used beds, sofas, or clot­hing from flea mar­kets or online mar­ket­places are also com­mon rou­tes of trans­port.

Walls & Con­duits

In very seve­re infe­sta­ti­ons, bed bugs can even spread to neigh­bor­ing apart­ments via walls and con­duits.

Bite Pat­terns

Noti­ceable signs include itchy, red­den­ed welts or pus­tu­les on the skin, which usual­ly appear in rows (“bed bug trails”) or clus­ters. The reac­tion varies indi­vi­du­al­ly; some peo­p­le show hard­ly any sym­ptoms.

Fecal and Blood Sta­ins

Rust-brown blood sta­ins (from crus­hed bugs) and black, pow­dery spots (fresh fecal traces) are often found on mat­tres­ses, bed linen, or fur­ni­tu­re.

Mol­ted Skins and Eggs

Trans­pa­rent, emp­ty bug molts (from mol­ting) as well as tiny, white eggshells are often dis­co­ver­ed in or around the bed, in cre­vices or on the backs of fur­ni­tu­re.

Cha­rac­te­ristic Odor

In hea­vi­ly infes­ted rooms, the­re is some­ti­mes a sweetish smell, like bit­ter almonds – a scent emit­ted by bed bugs.

Skin Reac­tions

The bites, espe­ci­al­ly on the arms, legs, and face, usual­ly itch sever­ely and can cau­se red­ness and welts.

All­er­gic Reac­tions

Par­ti­cu­lar­ly sen­si­ti­ve indi­vi­du­als may react more stron­gly to bed bug bites, which can lead to hives, eyelid swel­ling, or even all­er­gic asth­ma. 

Secon­da­ry Infec­tions

Scrat­ching the bite are­as can crea­te wounds that may beco­me infla­med and infec­ted. 

Stress & Anxie­ty

An infe­sta­ti­on often leads to sleep dis­tur­ban­ces and anxie­ty: affec­ted indi­vi­du­als report insom­nia and con­stant rest­less­ness. Many also per­cei­ve the use of insec­ti­ci­des in the bed­room as an addi­tio­nal impo­si­ti­on.

Iso­la­ti­on & Shame

In seve­re cases, the psy­cho­lo­gi­cal bur­den can lead to social iso­la­ti­on or depres­si­on.

Finan­cial Bur­den

In mas­si­ve cases, bed bugs can con­ta­mi­na­te mat­tres­ses, bed linen, car­pets, and uphols­te­red fur­ni­tu­re. In some ins­tances, infes­ted fur­ni­tu­re must be dis­po­sed of or pro­fes­sio­nal­ly clea­ned, incur­ring cos­ts.

Tra­vel Pre­cau­ti­ons

When you tra­vel, do not place your suit­ca­se on the bed or flo­or – use lug­ga­ge racks or ele­va­ted sur­faces. Inspect hotel rooms upon ent­ry for traces (e.g., black spots, mol­ted skins). After your trip, clean or wash your lug­ga­ge and clot­hing befo­re put­ting them in the clo­set.

Dili­gence When Purcha­sing Fur­ni­tu­re

Exami­ne used beds, sofas, and fur­ni­tu­re in detail for signs of bed bug infe­sta­ti­on (fecal spots, eggs, molts). If a sign is pre­sent, tight­ly packa­ge the fur­ni­tu­re – if pos­si­ble – (e.g., in a stur­dy pla­s­tic bag), tre­at it by free­zing or hea­ting, and imme­dia­te­ly remo­ve it from your home if the issue is not reme­di­ed. Cle­ar­ly mark infes­ted items to pre­vent unwan­ted fur­ther spread.

Inspec­tion and Hygie­ne

Keep living and slee­ping are­as tidy to more easi­ly detect ear­ly traces. Chan­ge bed linen regu­lar­ly and wash it at high tem­pe­ra­tures. Pro­tect your mat­tres­ses with enca­se­ment covers and occa­sio­nal­ly check their seams.

Awa­re­ness

Fami­lia­ri­ze yours­elf with the appearance and habits of bed bugs (e.g., typi­cal hiding places). Ear­ly detec­tion is the best pro­tec­tion against wide­spread infe­sta­ti­on.

No Report­ing Obli­ga­ti­on

The legal regu­la­ti­on does not sti­pu­la­te a report­ing obli­ga­ti­on for bed bug infe­sta­ti­ons, as they do not trans­mit dise­a­ses that would trig­ger a report­ing obli­ga­ti­on under the IfSG.

Bite Pat­terns

Noti­ceable signs include itchy, red­den­ed welts or pus­tu­les on the skin, which usual­ly appear in rows (“bed bug trails”) or clus­ters. The reac­tion varies indi­vi­du­al­ly; some peo­p­le show hard­ly any sym­ptoms.

Fecal and Blood Sta­ins

Rust-brown blood sta­ins (from crus­hed bugs) and black, pow­dery spots (fresh fecal traces) are often found on mat­tres­ses, bed linen, or fur­ni­tu­re.

Mol­ted Skins and Eggs

Trans­pa­rent, emp­ty bug molts (from mol­ting) as well as tiny, white eggshells are often dis­co­ver­ed in or around the bed, in cre­vices or on the backs of fur­ni­tu­re.

Cha­rac­te­ristic Odor

In hea­vi­ly infes­ted rooms, the­re is some­ti­mes a sweetish smell, like bit­ter almonds – a scent emit­ted by bed bugs.

Heat

Use a washing machi­ne and dry­er at ≥60°C for bed linen or tex­ti­les, an oven (with cau­ti­on), or a steam clea­ner to heat smal­ler items. Bed bugs can­not tole­ra­te tem­pe­ra­tures abo­ve 50°C inde­fi­ni­te­ly. Sun­light (espe­ci­al­ly in a sea­led pla­s­tic bag) can also gene­ra­te >50°C in sum­mer and kill bugs.

Cold

Small infes­ted items can be iso­la­ted and fro­zen at –18°C for at least three days. Bed bugs do not sur­vi­ve tem­pe­ra­tures of about –5°C over seve­ral days.

Vacu­um­ing and Steam Clea­ning

Direct cont­act through vacu­um­ing or hot steam (both make hiding dif­fi­cult) can kill or remo­ve insects, but it does not replace a com­ple­te tre­at­ment.

Diato­mace­ous Earth

This natu­ral pow­der dries out insects; it only works on cont­act and can the­r­e­fo­re at best be used as a sup­port­i­ve mea­su­re.

Mat­tress Cover

Pro­tec­ti­ve covers for mat­tres­ses and pil­lows (so-cal­led enca­se­ments) trap bugs and pre­vent them from re-hiding in the bed.

Pro­vi­sio­nal Traps

Dou­ble-sided adhe­si­ve tape or spe­cial traps on bed legs can catch initi­al insects, but they do not replace a full tre­at­ment.

Che­mi­cal Methods

Insec­ti­ci­de sprays and pow­ders (most­ly pyrethro­id-based, such as per­me­th­rin, pos­si­bly com­bi­ned with insect growth regu­la­tors) are often used. They work through direct cont­act or resi­dues in the hiding place and para­ly­ze the insects. Howe­ver, the­re is a high pro­ba­bi­li­ty that not all bugs will be rea­ched, and espe­ci­al­ly the eggs remain very resistant. Fur­ther­mo­re, bed bugs deve­lop resis­tance to many com­mon acti­ve ingre­di­ents. The­r­e­fo­re, che­mi­cal tre­at­ment should be car­ri­ed out by a spe­cia­list com­pa­ny that can spray resi­dues and, if neces­sa­ry, per­form mul­ti­ple appli­ca­ti­ons.

Heat Dis­in­fe­sta­ti­on (Ther­mo-Dis­in­fe­sta­ti­on)

Powerful hea­ting devices are used here. The affec­ted room is hea­ted to appro­xi­m­ate­ly 50–70°C, which kills all stages of the bugs. This method is odor­less, non-toxic, and more sus­tainable than insec­ti­ci­des. After tre­at­ment, rooms can usual­ly be re-ente­red imme­dia­te­ly.

Cold Dis­in­fe­sta­ti­on (Dry Ice Method)

Some pro­fes­sio­nals use liquid CO₂ (dry ice), which kills bugs through rapidly fal­ling tem­pe­ra­tures.

Inte­gra­ted Methods

Heat or cold are often com­bi­ned with spot che­mi­cal appli­ca­ti­ons to reach, for exam­p­le, cold-tole­rant bugs in deeper uphols­tery.

Inspec­tion and Moni­to­ring

Pest con­trol­lers con­duct inspec­tions befo­re and after tre­at­ment and, if neces­sa­ry, use snif­fer dogs or lure traps to ensu­re suc­cess.

Effec­ti­ve & Fast

A heat tre­at­ment with Ther­mo-bug® usual­ly only needs to be per­for­med once, as it also kills eggs and is effec­ti­ve against all deve­lo­p­men­tal stages (unli­ke many che­mi­cals used in con­trol).

Sus­tainable & Safe

No health-hazar­dous vapors or gases are pro­du­ced, and the rooms can be used imme­dia­te­ly after­ward. Rooms can be trea­ted with Ther­mo-bug® wit­hout hesi­ta­ti­on for fami­lies with child­ren, aller­gy suf­fe­rers, or pet owners, as only dry heat is used.

Gua­ran­teed Safe­ty

Con­ti­nuous moni­to­ring of safe­ty-rele­vant para­me­ters through inde­pen­dent cir­cuits. Safe­ty shut­down in case of over­tem­pe­ra­tu­re and a con­trol pro­gram with inte­gra­ted pro­gram sequence moni­to­ring.

True Pro­tec­tion Through Pro­fes­sio­nal Appli­ca­ti­on

With cor­rect appli­ca­ti­on, no bug migra­tes to an adja­cent room, as is often a con­cern with short-term heat tre­at­ments.