Bed Bugs Traveling On Spring Break Across The County To Your Home

PHOENIX - March 12, 2013 - PRLog -- SPRING BREAK PERFECT INVITE FOR BED BUGS

M.R. Smoker- Health News Special Correspondent- South Western Arizona      March 2013

With visions of sandy beaches or snow-covered mountains, many families and college students are making plans for spring break.

Whether you are heading to the beach or the slopes, or any place in between, spring break is a great time to create lasting memories. While you are sure to want to pick up a souvenir T-shirt or coffee mug, the last thing you want to bring home is Bed Bugs.

Bed bugs are difficult to eliminate. The best way to keep from bringing them home is to look around before being settled.

Bed bugs are small, flat parasitic insects that mainly feed on the blood of people. Unfortunately, bed bugs can be found just about everywhere across the globe and they are not picky. Their presence is not determined by the cleanliness of the living conditions. Five-star hotels, fancy resorts and budget motels

That is scary enough for some on U.S. soil.

However, what happens in a foreign country, where spring-breakers can easily be mixed in with Bed Bugs, about 100,000 spring breakers will travel to Mexico and “the vast majority” will enjoy their vacation at the destinations listed here.

Acapulco, Mexico: A popular spring break destination off Mexico’s Pacific Coast. Bed Bugs are common within the city, as well as in nearby towns and adjacent resort area of Zihuatanejo.

Jamaica: The two international airports in Jamaica, Kingston and Montego Bay, have experienced Bed Bug Infestations. In many popular resort areas, such as Negril, you are at risk as long as you are on resort soil. Resort experience understaffed and ineffective in most areas of Jamaica.

Cancun, Mexico: A typical spring break hot spot, Cancun attracts more than 100,000 U.S. College and high school students, not only for its beautiful beaches and for world-class resorts, but because MTV began, filming annual spring break shows there. “We get a lot of people traveling to Cancun, but Mexico is the place with the most Bed Bug safety uncertainty,” said Tom Crosby, AAA's vice president of communications.  Because of Cancun’s growing population, The Bed Bug Infestation stretches along the beach from the Hyatt Regency all the way south to Club Med and, already this season, several U.S. citizens have drowned reported Bed Bugs Infestation conditions.

South Padre Island, Texas: Right here in the U.S., South Padre Island is a relatively safe vacation destination; however, Bed Bugs can be introduced easily.  Within Matamoros and Nuevo Progresso, U.S. tourists traveling just south of South Padre Island. It long has been the practice of adventurous vacationers on the south end of South Padre to take advantage of the inexpensive alcohol and lower drinking age south of the border.

Mazatlan, Mexico: Mazatlan, located just a few hundred miles north of Puerto Vallarta, has been perhaps the most consistently reporting of Bed Bug Infestations.  Mexico's resort cities during the past year.

Bed Bugs are often found in places that experience a high volume of overnight guests, such as hotels and motels, and rental properties.  Remember, they feed at night while you are sleeping, then retreat to a sheltered crevice by morning.  That shelter might be within your luggage or souvenirs. When visiting a hotel, check the room quickly for signs of Bed Bugs, such as bloodstains on the pillows or linens.  Inspect the seams of the mattress carefully.  Peek behind the headboard and wall decor.  Bed Bugs will hide in these places; if you do not see them or their signs, there should be no problem.  If it is possible, move the bed away from the wall.  If you visited an infested place, inspect your luggage and souvenirs before bringing them back into your home.  If infested, clothing to be placed in dryers on high heat for forty-five minutes.  Cold treatments might be appropriate for other items.

Inside buildings, Bed Bugs can breed all year. They typically have up to three generations per year.  Their average lifespan is ten months to a little over one and one half years, and in that time, a female may lay from 200–400 eggs, depending on the temperature and the amount of food available.  The females need a blood meal before laying eggs.

Bed Bugs mostly troubled rich people in medieval times, because they had the warmest

homes.  As the quality of homes improved during the late sixteenth century, Bed Bugs became a problem for people of all economic classes.  Before World War II, they were a common pest in the U.S. until a combination of factors including DDT, a household appliance, and fashion nearly eliminated them.  Unfortunately, Bed Bugs have made a worldwide comeback.  They are also turning up in surprising places, such as fancy hotels, sporting venues, hospitals, college dorms, laboratories, airports, and maybe even your home.

Many experts consider globalization a major culprit.  People and goods are traveling more widely and in greater numbers than ever before.  Bed Bugs are nocturnal, small, shy, and easily overlooked—and the adults can live for half a year without food—making them perfect stowaways in luggage and shipping crates.  So what should you do about Bed Bug infestations?

First, relax.

Although they feed exclusively on blood, Bed Bugs are not known to transmit any diseases to humans.  They may be horrifying to some, but they pose less of a risk to us than do mosquitoes.  In fact, if improperly applied, pesticides intended to manage Bed Bugs could be dangerous to your health.  The best strategy to deal with Bed Bugs is integrated pest management (IPM), combines a variety of practical techniques and products that pose the lowest risk to our health and to the environment.

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