Are bedbugs invading your house?

A man sprays the house to kill bedbugs. FILE PHOTO.

What you need to know:

Have bedbugs invaded your home? There is a way out. Spraying is one of the most sure ways but pouring hot water is another option that can save the day. Do not let them spread to other parts of the house

One Saturday afternoon as Becky Kaija was ironing a T-shirt, she saw an insect crawling out of the collar. Upon pressing it hard using the tip of her right thumb, it emitted a foul smell. Kaija got more concerned after noticing three similar ones crawling on some of the un-ironed shirts that had been placed on the bed. I thought they were mere harmless insects but when I called my husband from another room to inspect them, he concluded they were bedbugs,” Kaija says.

A few days later, the mother of one sighted the bedbugs in other parts of the house including her daughter’s room, the living room and inside some of the books kept in the study area. She does not know how the bedbugs ended up in their house.

What are bed bugs?
Johnson Ssempijja, a fumigator at Stainless Cleaning and Fumigation Services Ltd says these are reddish-brown coloured bugs often with an appearance of an elongated shape. They live in human inhabited environments and they feed on blood of humans and other warm-blooded hosts.

“Blood is what they feed on to grow and reproduce,” Ssempijja says.
They feed for about five minutes before returning to their hideout. It is quite difficult to feel a bug biting until minutes or hours later after one noticing a small spot or when a particular skin area starts itching. Unlike most bugs, Ssempijja says bedbugs can survive for several months without sucking on any blood.
“The adults can even go for more than a year without feeding on anything,” he says.

Bedbugs are usually very small after hatching and bear a transparent appearance. Bedbugs love hiding in all sorts of places including clothing, beddings, mattresses and furniture. Since they are nocturnal, they come out at night to feed. By the time of their death, a female bedbug would have laid more than 100 eggs.

Are they dangerous?
Dr Alex Kakoraki, a general practitioner at Murchison Bay hospital, Luzira says bedbugs do not transmit diseases.
“The only problem with them is that they cause skin irritations, anxiety as well as sleepless nights. One fears going to bed because they do not want to subject their bodies to bedbug bites,” Kakoraki says.

Solutions
Often times, when one is battling a bedbug menace in their home, it is usually advisable to hire a professional pest control expert to inspect and fumigate the house.
“Employ the services of a qualified and registered fumigator. These will give you value for your money by completely eradicating the problem,” Ssempijja notes.

Charges for fumigation depend from one fumigator to another. For a two bed roomed house, Ssempijja can charge about Shs150,000 while a three bedroom house the charges is about Shs250,000.
But if someone cannot afford such services, Florence Bagwire says she temporarily took care of the problem by washing and rinsing out all her clothes using hot water.

“I made sure that I boiled water, poured it into several basins before dipping in my clothes repeatedly,” she says.

Bagwire employed the method after seeing bedbugs crawling around in her closet. But after saving some money, she hired a pest-control expert to fumigate all the rooms inside her house. She says after the disinfection exercise, the problem was eradicated.

David Sewanyana, another fumigator says the other practical solutions include limiting movement of items that are infested with bed bugs, for instance, from one room to another.
“This will prevent the bugs from easily spreading out to other places within the house,” he says.

In addition, Sewanyana recommends that home owners inspect their own homes from time to time. “This can easily help one identify the source of these bed bugs and thereafter act upon the problem immediately,” he says.

Sewanyana however asserts that fumigation is the most effective and practical way of dealing with a bed bug menace in one’s home.