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Tests and diagnosis
By Mayo Clinic staffIf you suspect that you're being bitten by bedbugs, immediately inspect your home for the insects. Thoroughly examine crevices in walls, mattresses and furniture. You may need to perform your inspection at night when bedbugs are active.
Look for these signs:
- Dark specks. Typically found along mattress seams, these specks are bedbug excrement.
- Empty exoskeletons. Bedbugs molt five times before becoming adults. These empty skins are light brown.
- Bloody smears. You may find small smears of blood on the sheets where you accidentally crushed an engorged bedbug.
References
- Joint statement on bed bug control in the United States from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). National Center for Environmental Health. http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehs/publications/bed_bugs_cdc-epa_statement.htm. Accessed Dec. 7, 2011.
- Eiston DM, et al. Bedbugs. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Dec. 7, 2011.
- Bed bug information. Environmental Protection Agency. http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/bedbugs. Accessed Dec. 7, 2011.
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