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Bed bugs are tiny parasitic insects that are flat and oval in shape and reddish brown in color. Bed bugs flourish in all sorts of environments and can be found in beddings, clothes, linen, furniture, boxes, cases, cracks in the wall, and crevices in the floor. Bed bugs tend to congregate around places where humans sit or sleep, as they feed on the blood of humans for sustenance. When bed bugs suck blood from humans, the bite itself can sometimes go unnoticed; however, the area of the bite tends to get inflamed and irritated causing a red rash to develop. Bed bug bites tend to be small and red and can be either flat or raised on the skin. A characteristic pattern of bed bug bites is several bites lined up in row indicating that feeding occurs in a sequence. Scratching bed bug bites may cause a secondary skin infection and should be avoided.

Treatment for Bed Bug Bites Include:

Wash the affected area with a gentle soap and water before applying a thick paste of baking soda and water. Let this paste dry on the skin for a few hours before rinsing it off. This is a popular home remedy for bed bug bites that helps reduce itching and inflammation of the skin. A paste made of aspirin and water works in the same way and can be used to treat bed bug bites.

• Natural astringents such as lemon juice, witch hazel and St. John’s Wort can be used to treat bed bug bites and relieve itching.
• Take a leaf of the Aloe Vera plant and split it into two. Use the gel from the leaf to soothe the bites and prevent swelling.
• Fill a tub with warm water mixed with a few drops of peppermint essential oil. This helps ease the itching and reduce redness and irritation.
• Hydrocortisone creams help reduce inflammation and speed up the healing process. Such creams should be used for a maximum of seven days at a time. If your bites have not cleared up or reduced after a week’s course of treatment, speak to your doctor about alternative medication.
• According to the Mayo clinic, the oral antihistamine diphenhydramine can be used to treat bed bug bites. The drug blocks the production of histamine in the body that is responsible for itching and inflammation. However, diphenhydramine can cause excessive drowsiness in people and should not be used when driving or operating heavy machinery.
  

Treatment to Get Rid of Bed Bugs

The only way to prevent bed bug bites is to exterminate the infestation at the source. To do this, you should:

• Wash all linen and bedding in the hot water. Dry them out at the highest temperature as well.
• Items such as shoes, stuffed toys, pillows and so on that cannot be washed on a regular basis should be dried at the highest setting for a minimum of half an hour.
• Carefully vacuum around your bed, curtains, window dressings, and mattress. Once the vacuuming is over, place the plastic cleaner bag in the garbage outdoors.
• If your mattress is infested, it may be wiser to just get rid of it and buy a new one. Before placing the new mattress on your bed, ensure that the surrounding areas are thoroughly cleaned.
• Bedbugs can hide in your walls, behind wallpaper or in cracks in the plaster so make sure you repair any cracks and glue down any torn patches of wallpaper.
• Hire the services of an experienced pest control agency to prevent future infestations. Professional exterminators use a combination of techniques to get rid of bed bugs. These include non-chemical treatments, pesticides, steam cleaning and vacuuming to treat the entire home and make it bug free.
  

1. http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/bedbugs/faqs.html

Warning: The reader of this article should exercise all precautionary measures while following instructions on the home remedies from this article. Avoid using any of these products if you are allergic to it. The responsibility lies with the reader and not with the site or the writer.