Bed Bugs Bent On World Domination
In her new novel, Infested: How the Bed Bug Infiltrated Our Bedrooms and Took Over the World, Brooke Borel, a three time victim of bed bugs, goes on a journey to uncover all the facts about this vicious creature including its origins, their recent rise, and even how they have sex. Along the way she also learned about some of the extreme measures people have taken to get rid of them, and the devastation they can cause to people’s lives.
When a person’s home gets infested with bed bugs they are instructed to wash and dry all of their laundry and bedding at high temperatures, after which you have to use insecticide sprays that don’t always work because the bugs have built up a resistance to them. There are also treatments that involve placing special heaters in your home because bed bugs die at high heat. Borel relates how this can often go horribly wrong. People have set their houses on fire, poisoned themselves with insecticide, and one man accidentally killed his wife by setting out too many bug bombs.
As for the suffering people have experienced because of these nasty insects, it varies from experiencing no physical reaction to getting red, itchy welts that are so painful one girl Borel heard from almost committed suicide. The lengths that people will go to to escape the nightmare of a bed bug infestation is astounding. Borel advises people to immediately call an exterminator to deal with the problem, in addition to using the conventional treatments. She warns it may take months to completely get rid of them, but encourages people to stay calm and remember that they’ll get through it.
Have you lived through the hell of having bed bugs? How did you get through it?
