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Understanding & Solving Missouri’s Bedbug Problem

bed bugs in st louis moMissouri’s Bedbug Problem continues to add to the woes facing St Louis.

Missouri has long been known for being one of the most unpopular states in the nation. However, adding insult to injury, the residents now have to contend with bed bugs. In particular, the city of St. Louis is 16th on the list of top 20 cities that have bed bug infestations.

Missouri’s tourism board, which has always struggled to promote their state, is facing even greater difficulty after this release of bad bed bug news. Certainly, the city of St. Louis has much to offer, but it’s going to affected by this new information, especially hotels and apartments which people might need to use.

Cause of Bed Bugs

Why exactly are these pests so difficult to prevent and control? Bedbugs are elusive and difficult to identify and eradicate for a number of reasons. First of all, they’re incredibly small, about the size of an apple seed. Their eggs are even smaller so it can take weeks or even months to identify an infestation.

Secondly, bed bugs are amazingly adaptable creatures and can live in a variety of environments. Most people think of them as being in beds but they can be found in couches, box springs, and even carpets. Bedbugs prefer to be beds as their initial starting point but will branch out into other areas over time.

Identification of bed bug symptoms

In reality, it’s not difficult to identify an infestation but only by someone who has been trained. The best way to determine if a house or hotel has been the victim of a bedbug infestation is to look for dark stains in mattresses. They also leave behind eggs, egg shells, and molted shells which can be spotted. A large enough infestation will cause a room to have a sweet, musty odor. For this reason, it’s also possible to use dogs to sniff out infestations.

How Missouri Can Treat Bed Bugs

Many pest control companies use dogs to determine if bed bugs are present. However, look for visible signs initially. Hotel owners need to be especially vigilant and have a system to identify and prevent bedbugs.
While news of this bedbug infestation isn’t going to do much for Missouri’s tourism, the bugs themselves are not harmful. Mostly just annoying.

They may cause itching or rashes but their bites are not life-threatening. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention also confirms that bed bugs do not spread diseases like other pests such as mosquitos. The infestation is uncomfortable but will not be dangerous to a person’s health.

Bed bugs can be expensive to treat with an exterminator, but many don’t even realize that natural bed bug treatments like DE!

Eradicating MO Bed Bugs for Good

Missouri will need to take strong steps in order to remove themselves from this list and get rid of their problem. Bedbugs are not a simple pest to eradicate. Many home and hotel owners will use normal pesticides but these methods won’t kill the bedbugs themselves. Instead, it’s sometimes helpful (but expensive) to call a licensed pest control company.

As bedbugs can live for months without food, it can take several months before getting rid of these pests completely.

Although the state of Missouri isn’t the first one to have a bed bug problem, it needs to take this infestation seriously and work to remove bed bugs from private and commercial residences. Having a plan in place is the first step and one that businesses are encouraged to take.