| Bed bugs (order
Hemiptera), the star of that popular little nursery rhyme
"Good night sleep tight - don't let the bed bugs bite".
Unfortunately that's all that's really popular about them.
In fact anyone who has had them knows first hand what an
unpleasant and unsettling experience they can be. The bug
which was once reasonably common went through a sharp decline
as standards of hygiene increased and insecticides were
developed that could effectively control them. Now they
are back in force! Bed bugs have developed resistance
to many forms of insecticide and in modern times with people
moving globally-frequently, we are now seeing a massive
resurgence of bed bug problems worldwide.
Bed bugs have the annoying habit of test biting. This
means a person can end up with a line of bites from a single
bug over one feed. Eggs can hatch in as little as seven
days, the bugs are gregarious often hiding very close to
each other in numbers close to a host (that's you). Both
adult and all stages of the young (nymphs) feed on blood.
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