Encountering Bed Bugs While Traveling

Close-up of an adult bed bug. Photo: Susannah Krysko.

By Marcia Anderson, PhD, LTE, U.S. EPA

As more people travel, there are more instances of bed bug encounters both at home and abroad. Bed bugs are easily transported as people move from place to place.

Experts believe the worldwide increase in bed bugs that hit its stride in the early 2000s may be due to both more travel and ineffective pest-control practices.

Places that we may encounter bed bugs when we travel include hotels, resorts, shore rentals, Airbnbs, cruise ships, or when visiting friends or relatives at their houses or apartments.

How Do Bed Bugs Spread?

Bed bugs are picked up in places where people congregate, such as in waiting rooms, bus depots, trains, theaters, concert halls, or indoor sports venues.

How many times have you attended parties where all the coats were piled up on a bed? Your clothes can easily pick up bed bugs left on a chair or bed by a previous visitor. Did you know that over a third of the theaters in New York City are regularly inspected and treated for bed bugs? (Nowadays, many treatments are proactive.)

Bed bugs can easily hitchhike on book bags, suitcases, outer garments, and clothes, and they can disperse by moving inside walls from one infested area to an adjoining apartment or hotel room, including via holes around utility lines. And in hotels, multi-family housing, or situations in which large extended families are sharing a residence, the comings and goings of occupants increases opportunities for bed bug introduction and spread.

They are also dispersed when infested items, such as beds and other furniture, are disposed of. They can fall off as items are moved down a hallway, through doors, or in an elevator.

Before You Travel, Take Precautions

You cannot be certain what may be in the room you are about to inhabit.

When packing, protect your belongings. This may include placing your bags and coats in extra-large zip-top bags to protect them from potential infestation. When traveling, wear simple clothing and avoid wearing pants with cuffs. Light-colored clothing is best for easily detecting the pest.

A few extra items that may prove helpful include: a strong flashlight, a sticky lint roller, a magnifying glass, an extra credit card you can cut, and a few small zip-top bags, all for initial room inspections. Be familiar with what bed bugs look like and consider consulting reputable websites (see “Further Reading” below) before you go. This can help you be prepared.

First Step: Know What Bed Bugs Look Like

Bed bugs in cracks and crevices of a mattress.

Bed bugs aggregate in cracks and crevices. Thoroughly inspect the mattress by looking along seams and in other hiding places. Photo: Susannah Krysko.

Many small arthropods are easily mistaken for bed bugs. Get a positive ID. Proper identification can save time, anxiety, and money. The only way to confirm bed bugs is to find live bed bugs, collect a few, and have a professional identify them.

But having some sense of what to look for can help you narrow down whether you have a potential problem on your hands.

Upon Entering Your Temporary Residence: Look Before You Leap! Inspect

When possible, consider placing your bags in the bathroom or even in the bathtub when you first arrive, and don’t sit down before you inspect. Often, bed bugs are not visible when you first enter a room and do not show themselves until late at night, most often in or around the bed.

Initially, bed bugs are hard to detect in small numbers. Often, people do not realize they had an encounter until weeks later when they notice they have brought bed bugs home with them. By then, they are much harder to control.

If you think you see something, say something to your host or the hotel manager.

More Information on Identifying Bed Bugs

An adult bed bug is mahogany in color. It is between five and seven millimeters in size, about the size of an apple seed and easily visible to the naked eye.

They are wingless—they do not fly or jump, but they use their six legs to scurry quickly across surfaces.

Their tiny, one-to-two-millimeter eggs are often glued to rough surfaces. Then, there are five juvenile stages called instars. They shed their skin after a blood meal.

Typical Bed Bug Behavior

Bed bugs aggregate in cracks and crevices during the day, then they will travel 15 to 25 feet or more from their hiding places, up onto your bed, have a meal, then scurry back.

Adult bed bugs can easily survive three to four months without feeding and sometimes longer, depending on temperature and climate. They are attracted to your body temperature and are activated by your exhaled carbon dioxide, especially when you are stationary for long periods of time, like lying in bed, sleeping, reading, or watching TV.

A common myth is that bed bugs are active only at night. While they prefer darkness, they will come out at any time if they haven’t eaten for a few weeks. In offices, homes, theaters, or reception areas, they can hide in plush couches and chairs and survive by getting their blood meal during the day. Bed bugs will come out of hiding to feed when they are hungry (usually once a week), and then return to their hiding spots. So, keeping the light on at night won’t deter them.

It’s crucial to understand that bed bugs are not a sign of sanitation issues. They’re after one thing: blood. You get bed bugs by exposure and encountering a source of them.

Inspecting Your Room

Did you know that over 70 percent of bed bugs are located in bed-related areas? For a thorough mattress inspection: look along the top and bottom seams and along the mattress piping. Most hotels change the sheets frequently, so there’s no need to inspect those. Check out the head side of the mattress and slide it over to look at the box spring.

You can use a flashlight and magnifying glass (mobile phones may suffice) to inspect under the mattress handles, along or inside air holes, and under buttons and labels.

What about headboards and bed frames? Bed bugs will hide in crevices on wood, metal, and plastic frames, or where the mattress touches the frame. Use a credit card or your room key card to scrape behind headboards that are attached to the wall.

For plush furniture, look at chair and couch legs. Inspect pillows and cushions, particularly the seams, folds around zippers, and the edges of cushions. Pay attention to staples, tacks, and buttons.

Oh My, I Found a Bed Bug in My Room! Capturing the Evidence

The shock of a bed bug encounter is never easy to cope with. Once a bed bug is found, it is important to seek help and be open about the problem.

On a recent trip, I did not find any bed bugs when I first entered my room and inspected the bed area. I left my bags in the bathroom, went out to dinner, then returned later to watch TV and settle into bed.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a small dark spot move quickly across my pillow. “Oh no!,” I thought, “I think I found a bed bug!”

I had to move quickly. I grabbed my sticky lint roller and a zip-top bag. I rolled the lint roller over the bug, then ripped off the sticky paper sheet and placed it into the bag and sealed it. I caught eight bugs that evening.

I called the front desk and reported that there were bed bugs in my room. The night manager did not seem to believe me and stated that there weren’t any bed bugs in the resort, but I had the physical evidence to prove otherwise. Still in my PJs, I showed him my evidence and asked to be moved to another room, and not next door. He apologized, took the evidence bag, and moved me to another room.

Is it always possible to change rooms where you are staying? Sometimes, it is not.

Visiting a friend or relative and telling them that their home has bed bugs can be difficult. Aside from providing the evidence, you can help them and yourself by pointing out some signs of bed bugs and ways to control the situation.

Signs of Bed Bugs

Signs of bed bugs include dark and rusty colored droppings, shed skins, voided material, and blood stains from crushed bugs. Photo: Susannah Krysko.

Typical signs include dark and rusty colored droppings, shed skins, voided material, and blood stains from crushed bugs. Eggs and eggshells, although very small, will be found among droppings or in crevices where adults hide.

Other common pests such as scabies, chiggers, fleas, or mites will not produce the same telltale signs on sheets or linens. You can also detect a sweet, musty order from the bed bug scent glands when infestations are severe (smells like coriander).

I Think I May Have Bed Bug Bites. Now What?

Many bites that occur while traveling are from a variety of pests such as fleas, mites, lice, carpet beetles, no-see-ums, mosquitoes, or other biting pests. These are often confused with bites from bed bugs.

Professionals cannot definitively identify bed bug infestations by the bites alone. The best way to be sure what has bitten you is to find what has bitten you, collect it, and have it identified.

Common medical issues associated with bed bugs include multiple itchy bites and inflammation, secondary skin infection, a minor potential for anemia from blood loss, stress, anxiety, sleeplessness, and the potential for overexposure to pesticides due to misuse.

However, bed bugs have not been shown to vector diseases, despite their evolution as a blood-feeding pest of humans.

The anticoagulant/anesthetic saliva that bed bugs inject into the body can cause varying degrees of inflammation. For many people, the bites go unnoticed, but for some, the bites can be extremely itchy. Not everyone reacts the same way, and a person’s reaction may change over time.

How Do I Avoid Bringing Bed Bugs Back Home?

Do laundry before you return home if possible. Photo: Susannah Krysko.

If you have been exposed to bed bugs, at the end of the day, place all your outer clothes in a plastic bag. Seal it tightly. Inspect other clothing and the bottom of your shoes before entering your vehicle. Place the shoes you wore in a sealable bag and do not open at home until you are ready to wash/dry or treat them. Check the leg seams of your pants, cuffs, and belt area for any signs of bed bugs. Use a sticky lint roller on your pants after exposure, just in case.

Before you return home, do some laundry if possible. If not, do it as soon as you get home. Laundering clothes is probably the easiest bed bug control method. While washing in warm, soapy water is effective against most of the bugs, it may not help with the eggs. The use of a dryer is the best insurance against bed bug introduction into a residence.

In fact, you could forgo the washer entirely and just use the dryer on high heat for 30 minutes because heat is an excellent bed bug killer. Clothing, curtains, linens, small rugs, pillows, and stuffed toys can also be tumbled in a dryer set on high for 30 minutes. (See www.epa.gov/ipm/avoid-bed-bugs-laundromat)

Note: Bagging items keeps the possibly infested items separate from the clean ones. Do not mix newly dried clothes with undried ones and ensure that any cloth laundry bags used have also been dried. Used plastic bags should be thrown away.

Visiting Relatives and Friends

Use a crack-and-crevice tool to dislodge eggs from tight spaces, then suck them up. Photo: Susannah Krysko.

My aunt invited me to stay with her as I planned a trip near her town. She is elderly and has some physical challenges, and her eyesight has deteriorated over the years. The room she often uses was full of clutter, as she has a hard time discarding old, used household items.

The evening after my arrival, I discovered bed bugs had taken up residence with her. She had no idea she had an infestation. She had complained of some itchy bites, but figured they had come from a pest that her cat might have brought in. She had not even considered the possibility of bed bugs.

If a few bed bugs become established in such a situation, it is likely that an infestation will develop without someone’s knowledge. Travelers, relatives, and service workers may inadvertently bring bed bug hitchhikers from their previous locations and a cluttered home makes it challenging to locate the bugs.

Her unused spare bedroom did not have bed bugs yet, but with me sleeping there, that would soon change. So, in the short time I would be visiting, how could I help her?

Although we may not be able to prevent bed bugs from being brought into a home, there is the possibility of containing them once they arrive. Clutter is a bed bug’s best friend. With many places to hide, bed bug population growth is practically guaranteed, and some may survive even the most aggressive treatment. When helping someone who has bed bugs taking advantage of a clutter situation, contain non-essential or rarely used belongings in clear, plastic containers and place in a storage room.

When helping friends or relatives in similar situations, the importance of vacuuming mattresses, beds, and other harborages cannot be overstated. It is an effective control method in combination with others, especially when the infestation is light to moderate. Suggest a regular vacuum regimen, especially under beds, in closets, and in corners.

A bed bug interceptor under a bed leg. Photo: Susannah Krysko.

Vacuuming not only removes the bugs but also cleans up shed skins. Studies have shown that bed bugs are attracted to other bed bugs and their shed skins. Use a crack-and-crevice tool to dislodge eggs from tight spaces, then suck them up. Immediately seal and dispose of the vacuum bag; otherwise, the bugs will just crawl out again. Empty bagless vacuums into the garbage outside.

Isolate the bed by pulling it away from walls and other furniture. Obtain physical barriers such as mattress encasements and interceptor traps (commercially available), which are important for detection and control.

Place each bed leg in an interceptor/monitor. For beds without legs, square interceptors that sit next to the bed are available.

Some monitors are sold with scent or carbon dioxide lures or attractants that will catch even more bed bugs. Monitors with scent lures will provide one to two months of enhanced attraction and capture.

For best control, interceptor monitors should be placed under all furniture legs, including beds, sofas, and upholstered chairs. If bed bugs are only in or around a bed, the infestation is most likely light to moderate.