Posted by Robin Steele in 364D Rickettsiosis, Anaplasmosis, Borrelia burgdorferi, Dengue Fever, Eastern equine encephalitis, Ehrlichiosis, Lyme disease, Malaria, Mosquito Bites, Mosquito Control, Mosquito misting, Mosquito-Borne Illnesses & Diseases, Outdoor Living Bug Free, Rickettsiosis, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, STARI (Southern Tick-Associated Rash Illness, Tick Protection, Tick Tubes, Tick-borne illnesses and diseases, Tickborne relapsing fever (TBRF), Tularemia on January 24, 2011
“Night, night sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite”. The sweet, innocent bedtime saying many of us say to our children when it is bedtime. The elusive bedbug however is not so innocent. During the 1990’s the bedbug made a comeback. The resurgence of the bedbug can be attributed to several reasons. Shifts in pest management play a role as well as resistance to certain pesticides. During the last ten to twenty years international travel has become commonplace allowing the bedbugs to hitch a ride so to speak on our clothing and luggage. We, as a society have also let our guard down to these resilient little bugs by thinking that bedbugs are a thing of the past.
Common bedbugs , their proper name being cimex lectularius, were thought to have originated in the Middle east in caves inhabited by bats and humans. Bedbugs were mentioned as far back as 400 BC in ancient Greece. Bedbugs were a serious problem during World War II, General MacArthur actually commented that bedbugs were the “greatest nuisance insect problem….at bases in the U.S.”
With the introduction of more effective pesticides during the 1940’s the bedbugs nearly disappeared completely in Western countries. Bedbugs are parasites that are usually no more than 1/5 of an inch in length. Bedbugs feed on blood of humans and other animals. Bedbugs are nocturnal and most often feed when people are asleep. An adult female bedbug can lay up to 500 eggs during her lifetime. When a bedbug feeds it injects a salivary secretion to the bite to discourage coagulation, the secretion can cause itching and swelling. Although bedbug bites are not known to carry any human blood-borne pathogens, the bites can be painful, and can cause distress. Scratching the bites can lead to secondary infections and some people have been shown to have allergic reactions to the bites. Bedbugs reside and lay their eggs in your furniture, the box springs and folds of your mattress, they can hide in the cracks of your hardwood floors, in your carpet, behind pictures, in your luggage and even behind baseboards and other places in your home.
Now that you’re fully “grossed out” and probably itching just reading this article, you can fight the bedbug war. Detection of bedbugs is not as difficult as you may think. Even though these parasites are tiny, they still can be seen with the naked eye. They are experts at hiding however and are nocturnal and usually only come out at night. You can look for signs that you have an infestation by examining your mattress and bedding for any blood spots or brownish or reddish spots. These are called fecal spots. You can also sometimes identify an infestation by checking for evidence of their skins that have sloughed off during moulting. In severe cases sometimes a pungent odor is prevalent. This is a result of the oily liquid they emit. The most obvious of all the signs that you may have a bedbug infestation is the bite itself. The bites can be red and blotchy or welt like. Early detection is always a plus in helping control an infestation.
Knowledge is always power with the treatment of bedbugs. The best course of action once you have determined you have an infestation is to contact a professional. Remember that the bed is usually ground zero (hence the name), but it is not the only place they reside. It is a good idea to eliminate clutter around your home. Anything you deem is infected and decide to discard should be sealed and labeled so no one else will become infected. Mattresses and box springs that are being disposed of should also be labeled and sealed in the same manner for safe disposal. Treatment will depend on how serious the infestation is and the range of action taken by the professional could range from industrial vacuuming to heat treatments , encasement of mattresses in plastic cover and /or the application of pesticides . Follow up visits may be necessary by your professional to ensure the problem is taken care of.
Like mosquito and tick bites, it’s good to be vigilant and take some time to inspect your bites. While bed bug bites are annoying and cause frustration and concern, at least they aren’t known to carry disease like mosquito and tick bites.
Remember, mosquito and tick bites can be prevented before they happen and in that case, prevention is the best cure. Have your yard sprayed on a regular basis during the spring, summer and early fall season. You can also take extra precautions against ticks by having an expert lay a product called tick tubes which animals will take back to their breeding and sleeping grounds. Click here to read more about tick tubes.
Ticks feed on mice. Infected mice = infected ticks. Infected ticks carry disease and transmit them to humans. These diseases can include Lyme Disease, Ehrlichiosis, Anaplasmosis, and Rocky Mountain Spotted fever – just to name a few.
Are all mice infected with disease? No. But we won’t ever know which ones are so we need a solution to kill ticks at the larval and nymph stages of their lives where they do their blood meal feeding on animals before they do their blood meal feeding on you, your family, and your pets.
Mosquito Squad offers a solution called Tick Tubes. They are environmentally friendly using cardboard and cotton. Our Mosquito Squad outdoor bug, mosquito and tick control specialists are trained to place these tubes in the places most amenable to mouse nesting.
These areas include wooded areas, brush and underbrush, gardens, along rock walls, in wood piles, under decks and sheds, and along foundations and fence lines to name just a few. Every yard is different so mice will nest in different areas in your yard.
How does a tick tube work?
The environmentally friendly tube contains cotton that is treated with a tick-killing chemical. The mouse forages for nesting materials and takes the cotton back to its nest. This reduces the source of the tick population by eliminating ticks at their larval and nymphal stages – before they ever spread out through your yard to bite people and pets. The tubes are precision-targeted to kill ticks and can result in up to a 10-fold reduction of exposure to ticks in the treated area.
The tubes are safe for you and your family. They are EPA registered and made right here in the United States.
How many tick tubes do you need for your yard?
It’s best to employ an expert tick control specialist to treat your yard. Mosquito Squad has locations across the middle and Eastern United States that are trained to treat your yard for ticks and other insects but here’s the gist of it. Only part of your yard is suitable for a mouse habitat so we need to figure out what percentage that is. You may have a full-acre yard but only half of your yard is suitable as a mouse habitat because the other area is taken up by the house, driveway, other paved areas, etc. For a half-acre of treatable area, we would use about 24 tubes for each treatment and two treatments are required in order to control the ticks at both the nymphal and larval stages.
Another thing to think about as it relates to employing a specialist to treat your yard for ticks is that the precise areas where mice hang out are the same areas where snakes reside. Let the specialist dig around in those areas and keep yourself safe in more ways than one.
Or go to the Mosquito Squad web site to learn more about tick control.
Ticks carry lots of diseases also. As urban sprawl continues, we come in closer and closer contact with deer and mice that carry ticks that could be infected with tick-borne diseases. Ticks carry a lot more than just Lyme Disease
According to the CDC, here are some of the other diseases that can be carried by ticks in the United States.
- Anaplasmosis is transmitted from the blacklegged tick in the northeastern and upper midwestern U.S. and the western blacklegged tick along the Pacific coast. Symptoms> headaches, fever, chills, and muscle aches
- Babesiosis is transmitted by the blacklegged tick found primarily in the eastern United States. Symptoms> fever, chills, sweats, headache, body aches, loss of appetite, nausea, or fatigue.
- Ehrlichiosis is transmitted by the lone star tick found primarily in the south central and eastern parts of the U.S. Symptoms> fever, headache, fatigue, muscle aches, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, cough, joint pains, confusion, occasionally rash
- Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is transmitted by several ticks – the American dog tick Rocky Mountain wood tick, and the brown dog tick. Symptoms> fever, nausea, vomiting, muscle pain, lack of appetite, severe headache
- STARI (Southern Tick-Associated Rash Illness) is transmitted via bites from the lone star tick found in the southeastern and eastern U.S.
- Tickborne relapsing fever (TBRF) is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected soft ticks. TBRF has been reported in 15 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming and is associated with sleeping in rustic cabins and vacation homes.
- Tularemia is transmitted to humans by the dog tick, the wood tick, and the lone star tick. It occurs throughout the U.S.
- 364D Rickettsiosis is transmitted by the Pacific Coast tick. This is a new disease that has been found in California.
As you can see, most of the symptoms are the symptoms you might see when you have the flu. Going into cold and flu season, experts advise watching prolonged persistence of these symptoms and be aware of some good ways to avoid coming in contact with ticks.