Submitted by "Anonymous" on 03/28/2008

February, 2008, I was noticing bug bites on my arms and a dermatologist confirmed they were bed bug bites. My fiance and I pulled up the mattress and box spring and saw just minimal evidence of bugs: a few dried carcasses, a few small blood drops,and 2 live ones! Ew!

Before freaking out, we decided to be practical about this and use what we knew about bed bugs:

1) they don't travel far from the food source, so while it is possible to sit on the bed and perhaps pick up some eggs, then sit on your couch and transfer them, it is unlikely unless you have a severe infestation. If there are eggs, they will be deep in your mattress or box spring and not on surface of your sheets.

2) they can be brought in on anything. We suspect it was one of the several packages we received in the mail, one in particular was from China. They may have come in with that box.

So, we headed to Sleep Country and purchased Aller-Zip encasements with Bug-Lock protection. We encased the mattress and box spring and our pillows. If there are any bugs who've decided to call my bed home, they aren't getting out and no new ones are getting in. I'm keeping the encasements on there forever! We've washed all sheets, duvets, curtains and any other fabric that has had contact with the bed, in HOT water. In the case of my jeans, which would shrink in the hot water, they're currently in the freezer to kill of any possible pests. Dry cleaning is also an option.

As a preventative measure, we will now vaccum our mattress on a monthly basis, and throw the pillows and duvet in the dryer for 20 minutes, every now and then.