Bed bug situations can occur in any enviornment, from the most luxurious hotels to low-scale housing units.

The information provided here has been compiled from several sources to give you some background information on bed bugs, what Drexel University does to prevent situations, and what you can do if you feel bed bugs are present in your room.

What to do if you think bed bugs are in your room/suite

How are bed bugs introduced to an environment?
Myth: Bed bugs infestations are caused by poor sanitation.
Fact: Bed bug infestations must are caused by bringing in an item that has bugs or eggs associated with it.

There are several means by which dwellings can become infested with bedbugs. People can often acquire bedbugs at hotels, motels, or bed-and-breakfasts, and bring them back to their homes in their luggage. They also can pick them up by inadvertently bringing infested furniture or used clothing to their household. If someone is in a location that is severely infested, bedbugs may actually crawl onto and be carried by people's clothing, although this is atypical behavior except in the case of severe infestations, bedbugs are not usually carried from place to place by people on clothing they are currently wearing. Bedbugs may travel between units in multi-unit dwellings, such as condominiums, dormitories and apartment buildings, after being originally brought into the building by one of the above routes.
This spread between sites is dependent in part on the degree of infestation, on the material used to partition units and whether infested items are dragged through common areas while being disposed of, resulting in the shedding of bedbugs and bedbug eggs while being dragged.

How can I avoid getting bed bugs?
Bed bugs mainly are transported from infested furniture and clothing brought into an area. If you avoid bringing any of these items into your room, you should be safe from getting bed bugs. If you think your items may have bed bugs inspect the items, especially around the seams and zippers, where the bedbugs might hide. Visit the website links referenced at the end of this piece for more information.

How can I identify Bed Bug?
Adult bedbugs are reddish-brown, flattened, oval, and wingless, with microscopic hairs that give them a banded appearance. Adults grow to 4–5 mm (1/8th – 3/16th of an inch) in length and do not move quickly enough to escape the notice of an attentive observer. Newly hatched nymphs are translucent, lighter in color and become browner as they molt and reach maturity. In size, they are often compared to lentils or apple seeds. A common misconception is that they are not visible to the naked eye.

Bedbugs are normally active just before dawn, with a peak feeding period about an hour before sunrise. However, they may attempt to feed at other times, given the opportunity, and have been observed to feed at any time of the day. They reach their host by crawling, or sometimes climbing the walls to the ceiling and jump down. They are attracted by warmth and the presence of carbon dioxide. After feeding for about five minutes, the bug returns to its hiding place. The bites cannot usually be felt until some minutes or hours later, as a dermatological reaction to the injected agents, and the first indication of a bite usually comes from the desire to scratch the bite site.

Although bedbugs can live for a year or eighteen months without feeding, they normally try to feed every five to ten days. Bedbugs that go dormant for lack of food often live longer than a year, while well-fed specimens typically live six to nine months. Low infestations may be difficult to detect, and it is not unusual for the victim not to even realize they have bedbugs early on. Patterns of bites in a row or a cluster are typical as they may be disturbed while feeding. Bites may be found in a variety of places on the body.

Do they carry disease?
Bedbugs seem to possess all of the necessary prerequisites for being capable of passing diseases from one host to another, but there have been no known cases of bed bugs passing disease from host to host. The salivary fluid injected by bed bugs typically causes the skin to become irritated and inflamed, although individuals can differ in their sensitivity. It is also possible that sustained feeding by bedbugs may lead to anemia. It is also important to watch for and treat any secondary bacterial infection.

What are some signs of bed bugs?
The most common sign of bedbugs are unexplained bug bites on your body. The next indication is seeing bugs similar to the type identified above. Even if this bug turns out not to be a bed bug, please notify your RA or AD/RD so action can be taken in regards to the other bugs.