The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report there’s an alarming increase in the number of bedbug populations. In addition to being found in private residences, such as apartments and single-family homes, bedbugs are increasingly affecting restaurants, hotels, hospitals, schools and day care centers.
How to Check for Bedbugs
“Although bedbugs don’t usually require serious medical attention, they can cause a great deal of anxiety and restless nights,” says board-certified dermatologist Seemal R. Desai, MD, FAAD, who maintains a private practice in Plano, Texas and serves as clinical assistant professor of dermatology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, in a statement to press. “The most common sign of bedbugs is having bite marks on your body, which can sometimes turn into itchy welts.”
To help find bedbugs before they find you (and your belongings), Dr. Desai recommends looking for the following signs near places where you sleep:
