#Killing bed bugs with steam iron skin#

Other names once used for bed bugs include wall louse, bed louse, wallpaper flounder, night riders, red coats and crimson ramblers. In England, bed bugs were simply referred to as “Bugs.” (See footnote 1 below.) The early Spanish word for bed bug - “chinche” is especially relevant today since Spanish-speaking customers often refer to bed bugs as chinches or chinche de cama - bug of the bed. They probably named it so because when the leaves were crushed the pungent smell resembled that of bed bugs. Coriander (cilantro) is one of the world’s oldest spices. The early Greek term for bed bug was Coris, meaning “to bite,” from which the word coriander comes. In ancient Rome, bed bugs were called Cimex (meaning “bug”), while the species designation lectularius referred to a bed or couch. The global lineage of bed bugs can also be traced to their naming. The bed bug resurgence in recent years followed a similar pattern, with infestations in the late 1990s first appearing in such “gateway” cities as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami.

Aided by commerce, infestations initially arose in bustling seaport towns, appearing farther inland later on. Soon after, they hitchhiked their way to the Americas with European explorers and settlers. Bed bugs were first reported in England in 1583, but were probably there earlier. The poor, however, suffered the most an observation made in the 15th century and attributed to a lack of vigilant cleaning: “For they do not breed in beds of which the linen and straw is frequently changed, as in the houses of the rich” (De Animalibus Insectes, 1603). Heat generated from sleeping and cooking fires allowed the bugs to live comfortably both in castles of the wealthy and huts of the working class. As civilization expanded, bed bugs spread throughout Europe and Asia, reaching Italy by 100 A.D., China by 600 A.D., and Germany and France in the 1200s and 1400s.

#Killing bed bugs with steam iron skin#

Others suggested hanging a bear skin or setting a vessel of cold water under one’s bed while traveling.ĭISTRIBUTION & SPREAD.

To deter bed bugs, early Greek philosophers (400 B.C.) advised hanging the feet of a hare or stag at the foot of the bed. The ancients also believed that bed bugs cured many diseases when ingested with wine, beans or an egg. The Greeks and Romans burned them to make leeches loosen their hold. The Egyptians, for example, drank a bed bug cocktail as a cure for snakebite (asps). Fossilized bed bugs have been unearthed from archeological sites dating back more than 3,500 years - a time when they were considered both pest and potion. Life became easier for the bed dwellers with the formation of villages and cities. Most likely, relations between bugs and people were intermittent back then since hunters and herdsmen moved around a lot, making it harder for bed bugs to become established. Studies suggest the bugs first parasitized bats and then humans inhabiting the same caves in the Mediterranean region where civilization began.

Bed bugs have been biting people since the beginning of recorded time. If history repeats itself, the bed bug could again become the stuff of nightmares.ĪNCIENT ORIGINS. In battling today’s global resurgence of bed bugs, much can be learned from the past. Infestations were rampant, extermination was difficult, and treatments were sometimes as risky to people as to pests. Marlatt, The Bedbug, 1916.įor centuries the common bed bug, Cimex lectularius L., was the most hated of household pests.

“A Strenuous Struggle, a vigorous campaign, is before any housewife who is called upon to dispute the occupancy of her home with that persistent pest unfavorably known as the bedbug, who, gorged with the blood of his victim, lieth up in his lair from daylight to candlelight, only to swoop down upon his helpless sleeping prey during the midnight watches.” - C.