Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Bedbugs

In October a Denver, Colorado area high school closed after bedbugs were found in a classroom. An investigation determined the rest of the campus was not infested, but officials closed the school down so exterminators could treat the building.

With the increasing numbers of cases of bedbugs, it’s no surprise to see them appear in a school, or any facility for that matter.

In our post, Bedbug Epidemic, New Early Warning System Highlighted on Shark Tank, we told you that “there’s been a 500% increase in bedbug infestations worldwide in the last few years.” A single twin bed may contain up to hundreds of thousands of bedbugs.

Bedbugs feed on humans, and they can cause hundreds of bites on each individual. Over 60% of households have a known bedbug infestation, but you can have an infestation and not even know it.

The school officials were justified in closing the campus to allow for complete extermination. It’s best to take control of the problem swiftly.

But as much as we now hear about bedbugs, most people are still misinformed about them. Here are some facts you may not know, according to Pestworld.org:

• Bedbugs can lay between one and five eggs per day, and more than 500 in their lifetimes.
• Bedbugs can survive as long as several months without eating.
• Bedbugs can withstand temperatures as low as freezing to as high as 122 degrees F.
• Bedbug hatchlings are tiny enough to pass through a mattress’ stitch-hole.
• Bedbugs are found in all 50 states.
• Bedbugs can consume seven times their weight in blood.
• Bedbugs do not transmit disease, although you can experience itchy, red welts from a bedbug bite.
• Some people believe bedbugs are more common in lower-income households and that they are attracted to dirty homes. But in reality bedbugs are found in all types of homes.
• 99.6% of US professional pest management companies have dealt with bedbug infestations in the past year.
• Bedbug infestations are most often found in residential settings, but they are also found in college dorms, hotels, offices, schools, nursing homes, daycare centers, hospitals and other facilities.
• Bedbug infestations occur most often during the summer months and least often in the winter.
• Bedbugs are the most difficult pests to treat, even more difficult than cockroaches, ants and termites.
• Homeowner clutter is the biggest obstacle for pest control professionals in treating bedbug infestations.

If your facility experiences a bedbug infestation, dry vapor steam cleaning is an effective way to use high-temperature, high-pressure steam to kill bedbugs. Vapor particles penetrate into even the smallest areas on mattresses, upholstery, bedding and furniture.

The high-temperature steam kills bedbugs and their eggs. Because the steam is low-moisture, it doesn’t soak into soft goods so you don’t have to worry about mold growth.

Goodway’s various dry vapor steam models include our backpack model GVC-BP-1700 and our floor model GVC-1750V. Both offer high volumes of high-heat steam that can successfully kill bedbugs as well as sanitize and remove dirt, grime, viruses, bacteria, allergens, mold and mildew.

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