The negative effects

Generally the initial symptoms indicating that bed bugs are present are their irritating bites. One may see small flat bruises or swollen reddish bumps on the face, neck, back, arms, hands and legs, particularly at those points where the skin is exposed while asleep.
When biting, along with an anticoagulant substance, bed bugs also inject an aesthetic and thus one may not even feel the bite; however, these bites can produce extremely unpleasant swelling and irritation.

Often the swollen bites itch and cause great irritation of the skin; they last longer than a mosquito bite and do not have a red spot in the centre as flea bites do. Thankfully, they do not have any particular consequences for human health and do not transmit any diseases. And yet, we must not underestimate the psychological aspects: concern and fear of being bitten can produce a state of anxiety and insomnia which can, in turn, lead to a wide range of reactions.

Therefore, prevention is to be taken into serious consideration.

Risks for hotels and accomodation facilities

• Complaints from guests bitten in their sleep.
• Guests harbouring concerns that the facility does not pay adequate attention to hygiene.
• Early check-out and requests for reimbursement.
• Spread of contamination from room to room: bed bugs can even migrate from one room to the next through small passageways or cracks in the walls and floors, or through piping and ducts.
• Damage to the hotel’s reputation expressed on social networks or postings in on-line registers of bed bug-infested hotels.
• Direct costs of disinfection: the cost can even exceed a thousand euro per room.
• Indirect costs as rooms go unoccupied, at times for several days depending on the type of disinfection treatment performed.
• Labour problems related to worker health and safety.

..... and these are just some of the problems generated by bed bugs.