Students may have something to be itchy about.
Bed bug infestations are becoming more and more common on college campuses, crawling between the sheets with students and biting them while they sleep.
Their numbers have exploded in the past five years, said Wayne Walker, senior pest control technician for UF's Department of Housing and Residence Education.
"Most of us in the industry believe it's because of increased international travel and truly a lack of awareness by most people that it is a problem," Walker said. "Most of the bed bug issues are brought in by people traveling in hotels and motels and ending up back in their residence or them picking up used furniture."
A bed bug is a small, blood-sucking insect whose adult form is around a quarter-inch in length, Walker said. The bug is from the same family as stinkbugs, and if a lot of them are in one room, there is a noticeable smell.
Though the bugs are not known to transmit any diseases, their bite has been known to cause an uncomfortable itch and, in some cases, an allergic reaction.
Walker, as well as Roberto Pereira, another UF bed bug expert, said the problem has not affected UF's dormitories as much as it has affected other campuses.
In the past five years, there have been about four bed bug occurrences in the UF dormitories, Walker said.
However, graduate students have not been so lucky.
About four bed bug infestations are reported per year in graduate housing, Walker said.
Off campus, the number of cases per year is even greater, though the bed bug problem is not as bad in Florida as it is in other states, Pereira said.
Students should immediately notify on-campus pest control if they discover bed bugs in dormitories or graduate housing.
Bed bugs, particularly young ones, are difficult to see with the naked eye. Baby bed bugs are clear and about the size of a period on a printed paper, Pereira said.
When bed bugs feed, they defecate, he said. So, the best way to look for bed bugs is to look for black spots on linens.
Pereira, along with Walker and another professor, Phillip Koehler, came up with a simple solution to the bed-bug problem - cook them.
They put up walls around infested items, such as blankets, with Styrofoam panels, and then place a heater or fan inside to create, in effect, an oven.
They then monitor the temperature inside the "oven" until all the bed bugs are dead.
Though the design is simple and could be built at home, Pereira advised potential home bed bug warriors to leave it to the experts.
Bed bugs are typically harmless aside from causing an uncomfortable itching sensation, although Walker said bed bugs could be harmful in other ways.
"When you share your bed with a bed bug, it's a traumatic experience of sharing your bed with something that feeds on you," he said. "So the trauma of it all and the mental anguish is an issue."
