What happens if you bring bed bugs home from your holiday
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When Lisa* from Western Sydney got home from a quick break in Melbourne she thought the bites she and her husband were waking up to with were from mosquitos.
But weeks later she found a tiny creature crawling on her arm, and realised she had bed bugs.
Bed bugs can be carried home in suitcases. iStock
“I then took my phone light and investigated the nooks and crannies of our bed head and found their hiding places,” she told nine.com.au
Lisa reckoned she brought them home from the “cheap hotel” on her luggage.
She tried killing the bugs and eggs with a steamer, which seemed to have worked.
“We got someone out to inspect and spray, but it was going to cost over a thousand dollars to get it treated, and they thought I had done a pretty good job myself so to call back if we saw them back,” she said.
But the bed bugs returned.
She had to take the drastic move of wrapping all her bedroom furniture in plastic, before throwing it out. It proved to be a costly trip.
“That one night stay resulted in needing to completely throw out all our bedroom furniture, linen and mattress just to be cautious,” she said.
“I steamed the carpets again to make sure none fell and bought all new furniture.”
Lisa brought the bed bugs back from Melbourne she believes. Getty
Sadly, sometimes bed bugs and travel go hand in hand. This week it emerged an entire Qantas flight was grounded over bed bugs.
The bugs were found in the economy cabin of the Qantas plane after passengers complained about being bitten.
The six legged, 6mm insects feed on blood and can travel several metres, often sequestering themselves on items like suitcases and bedding.
They spend much of the time hidden in crevices waiting to emerge at night in search of a host. They are attracted by heat and carbon dioxide, such as sleeping humans.
Bed bug expert Stephen Doggett, Director of Medical Entomology at Westmead Hospital for NSW Health Pathology previously told nine.com.au the bugs can also be found on planes.
"It's in the frequent flier seats it's always a problem, often business class, and crew quarters," he said.
They can also be particularly common in airport hotels, because of the high turnover.
How to avoid bed bugs when travelling
“The first thing you do is put your bag in the middle of the room,” Doggett said, for when you’re arriving at a hotel.
“Don’t put it on the bed.”
Then he said to pull the bed away from the wall, pull off all the sheets, the blankets, the bedding and look for signs of bed bugs, particularly along the seams on the bed closest to the wall.
Check your hotel bed if you’re worried about bed bugs. iStock
“Bed bugs vary in size from about a mm to about a cm when they’re full of blood,” he said.
“You look for the bed bugs, and you look for their pooh spots. You can see groups of sort of little black dots.
“If you see lots of them round the bed, and then you see the insects as well... you’ll be getting another room.”
What if they’ve made it into your home
Anybody who fears they have brought home bed bugs should visit the AEPMA website and call the experts rather than trying to use any pesticides themselves, the expert warned.
That can be more deadly than the creatures themselves.
Another expert said it’s not just cheap hotels which can get bed bugs.
David Gay, a pest controller for WR Gay Pest Control for 25 years in Melbourne, told 9News he does a few hundred bed bug treatments a year.
“We’ve seen them in the high-end hotels, but to be fair, not as common as in more budget accommodations,” he said.
*name withheld for privacy.
