Bed bugs are small parasites which can often go unseen by the human eye. Normally it takes large infestations of many bed bugs before a person notices there is a problem and can take action for bed bug prevention. Bed bugs are hitchhikers, so they can be transferred from infested areas to non-infested areas rather easily. So even if you don't have an infestation now, acquiring bed bugs is not unlikely.

Bed bugs are highly resistant to pesticides or any chemicals found in the U.S., making their elimination difficult. Bed bugs are also prolific breeders, as females can lay eggs five times a day for her entire life. Bed bugs can also live up to a year without a meal. With such an overwhelming resistance to control and removal, it is crucial to understand how to detect bed bugs and the best forms of bed bugs protection.

Early bed bug protection is critical to the prevention and management of these parasites. There are many ways to detect the presence of bed bugs within your home. Many times, the first sign of bed bugs are small bites on the body, which look similar to raised red bumps like those that appear from mosquito bites. There may be many bites in one area, such as in a grouping or in a line. The bites will be itchy and are easily misdiagnosed as mosquito bites, chicken pox or a rash. If you notice bites similar to these, further inspection for bed bugs is needed.

First, begin looking around your mattress, bedding and box spring. With large infestations of bed bugs, there are often little brown or near-black dots on the mattress seams, on bedding or on the box spring. There may even be red splotches from a bed bug that has just fed on blood that was shortly thereafter crushed. With the presence of many bed bugs, they become more visible to the human eye. So spotting an actual bed bug is likely, and it will looks like a small, brown, flat, wingless parasite - similar to a tick or small cockroach.

If bed bugs are detected, there are some measures you can take to protect yourself and your mattress. One of the only ways to get rid of bed bugs that are already present is to have a professional pest control specialist steam, clean and vacuum the mattress and floor in the affected room. Structural fumigations may be necessary for severe cases of bed bug infestation, which requires the fogging or bombing of a room with chemicals. However, one of the most effective and proven methods as an aide in bed bugs protection is economical and simple: bedding encasements.

Bedding mattress cover encasements are essential to bed bugs protection and management. Mattress covers are especially useful in the prevention of bed bugs before an infestation even occurs. When you encase your mattress and box spring, you cut off the food source to the bed bugs in the mattress and box spring, which will eventually lead to their death. This does not eliminate the infestation, as bed bugs will breed anywhere in the house. However, it does make it much easier to spot bed bugs on the mattress when the look for a blood meal, which in turn makes eradication more painless. Also, mattress and box spring encasements help prevent the spread of bed bugs to other areas of the home. Mattress and box spring encasements are easy, cost-efficient and extremely effective methods of controlling, preventing and eliminating bed bugs. However, the encasements must be scientifically proven to work. If not, they will be ineffective.

Protect-A-Bed®'s bedbug proof mattress covers are scientifically proven to be an effective tool in the management of a bed bug infestation and are certified by an Entomology Laboratory to be bed bug entry, escape and bite proof.