How to get rid of bedbugs

We're in the grip of an epidemic of bedbugs. Newspaper headlines scream about it at least once a year. But is it true?

Certainly the incidences of bed bugs is on the rise. Even more scary are the increasing numbers of reports about bedbugs that are becoming resistant to treatments. Pretty soon we'll have run out of chemicals to kill them with.

Cimicidae, as bedbugs are officially known, are a type of parasitic insect. They like to feed on the warm blood of living mammals. They breed in huge numbers and rapidly. And they don't like the light.

If you suspect that you may have bed bugs there are two signs to look for. Check on your mattress for smears. These will be blood or the faeces of the bedbugs. However, this does not always mean you have bedbugs, just that at some point that mattress was infected.

A more accurate test is to ‘life up' the seams or buttons on the mattress. If you see click, flicker movements then it is likely you just disturbed a bedbug. Which is rather disturbing.

There's really only one way to get rid of bedbugs and that's to call in the professionals. First though there are a few things you need to do yourself. Wash any clothes and bedding in as hot a wash as they can take. Put bed clothes and linen through a very hot setting in a dryer.

You will also want to wash or clean all the clothes in the affected rooms, even those hanging in the wardrobe.

Don't worry about material covered surfaces. The professional you call will treat those areas, as well as spraying the bed and the inside of your wardrobes. It should only take two treatments for it to work. And then you will be free of bedbugs.