I'm not sitting on my couch until I know: can you get bedbugs from a hug?

September 17, 2009 3:06 PM

Two minutes after I gave someone a big hug, she mentioned what's been going on for her: trying to figure out if their house is infested with bedbugs. I just got back to my house and --

I am wearing (dry clean only) clothes that I need to wear to a meeting in an hour. I don't have amy other good dressy clothes clean. I could dress down, I suppose.

I'd rather have an annoying afternoon than risk infecting me and my five roommates. That said, I don't want to go overboard.

Should I:
(a) sit on the hardwood floor in these clothes and then (walk?? or okay to drive my car?) to this meeting where I will sit in their conference room chairs?
(b) shower and change and sterilize the clothes? Do I need to, like, boil my long hair?
(c) stop overreacting?

All advice welcome, as I'm googling bedbug info on a handheld while standing in the entranceway trying not to touch any fabrics.

posted by ruff to health & fitness (17 comments total)

I should add, she said it might just be fleas. So there's a fair amount of doubt on the whole issue still.
posted by ruff at 3:10 PM on September 17

Bedbugs are bad, but they're not magic. If I were you, I'd grab a beach towel, sit outside til you head to the meeting, sit on the towel in your car, the dryclean suit and wash and dry towel on hot water/air.

i know this in no way is a guarantee that you won't get bedbugs, but it seems like a reasonable effort to limit contamination. Don't let it make you crazy. Really.

As an counter to all the bed-bugs are invincible stories, long ago I lived in a group house where some people apparently brought in a few bed bugs from a hostel infected with them. Everything was fine after one mattress was thrown away a few weeks later. No huge infestation, no nothing. Not that there aren't real problems, but like everything else, it's mostly the worst that gets written about on the internet.
posted by mercredi at 3:14 PM on September 17

should read "then dryclean suit".

but basically, yes, I think you need to take a deep breath. good luck!
posted by mercredi at 3:15 PM on September 17

I've never seen a bedbug myself, but Google seems to suggest they're about 1/8"-3/8" in size - small, but big enough to see with the naked eye. If I were you I'd probably strip down and check my clothing over thoroughly for bugs. Assuming none were in evidence, I'd get dressed and forget about the whole thing.
posted by homuncula at 3:21 PM on September 17 [1 favorite]

I think a lot of people also assume that bed bugs are almost invisible. They are small, but mainly they are good at hiding. If you have time to undress and inspect your clothing, that might ease your mind. If there's one on you, you won't need a magnifying class to see it. They are similar in size to a tick, if I'm not mistaken (I'm a Terminix employee so I should know and I'm going to do some research in just a minute to make sure). It will either be clear-ish white, or dark red/brown.
posted by a.steele at 3:23 PM on September 17

Ah, homuncula got to it first :)

I would also suggest not visiting this person's house or having them visit yours until their situation is resolved. they are very easily carried on clothing from homes that are infested (due to them getting into the dresser drawers). Ask her if she is being bitten all over her body or primarily on her legs and ankles. Legs/feet etc are fleas, all over (especially arms) are bed bugs. She can also look under her mattress and in the folds of fabric in the sheets to find them, if they're there. Fleas will only be in the bed if their pet sleeps with them.

Good luck!
posted by a.steele at 3:27 PM on September 17

*** IMPORTANT PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT ***

YOU CANNOT CATCH BEDBUGS BY HUGGING SOMEONE. OKAY? CALMER NOW?


Bedbugs hide in cracks/folds during the day. They'll hide in luggage, or under a mattress, or in a bed frame, but they don't tend to ride around on people (or their clothes). Even if your friend had put on an infested piece of clothing in the morning, there is an almost-zero chance that between the time she dressed and the time you saw and hugged her (between which times it sounds like she traveled) the bug didn't run off somewhere better to hide.
posted by mudpuppie at 3:32 PM on September 17 [6 favorites]

Ah, good idea to ask about the bites! She said she has not personally been bitten at all, just her toddler. That's making me think it's pretty unlikely. But I love the "undress and look" idea as well. Current plan: quick look now, prep for meeting, ride on towel, hug no one, come home and look briefly again, shower and forget about it.
More info or advice certainly welcome.
posted by ruff at 3:33 PM on September 17

Thanks mudpuppie. You know, if you google "bed bugs hug," particularly with that spelling, you get a lot of hits for some video about "free hugs = free bedbugs," so with that, uh, encouragement, I moved on to asking metafilter.
posted by ruff at 3:38 PM on September 17

I would go to your meeting like normal. When you get home, immediately put your clothes in a plastic trashbag and later on take them to be drycleaned. First hop in the shower. You should be fine.

I hope you didn't react with "UGH YOU HUGGED ME YOU FOUL BEAST" when your friend mentioned her bedbug fears. If so, after you shower, call and apologize for being a super neurotic person. I too am a super neurotic person (a friend with bedbugs once came to my house party and threw her long faux fur coat on my bed. I waited until she was out of the room before isolating it on its own hanger, nowhere near any upholstery. Later I told her it's because I didn't want it to get wrinkled.) People feel gross and bad enough without their friends freaking out post-hug that they might have been infected.
posted by np312 at 3:51 PM on September 17

If her toddler has the bites, I'm going with fleas. Fleas are typically confined to the floor (sometimes upholstered furniture) which makes toddlers and babies more susceptible to bites. Also, it is prime flea season right now. And if it is fleas (which are much more common than bed bugs) have her contact her vet. The bug bombs don't work. I know I'm trained to say that as an employee of an international pest control-company, but I also know from first-hand experience.
posted by a.steele at 4:02 PM on September 17

If it's fleas, the best flea control measure I've ever used is to dose all the pets with one of the long-acting pour-on insect growth regulator based flea controls like Advantage, Revolution or Frontline. This turns them all into little mobile flea traps: any flea that bites a treated pet will (a) lay sterile eggs and (b) die. Dose the pets every five weeks all summer, and you won't have fleas by the end.

Growth regulator flea controls, which you should find at least one of through your local vet, are very expensive per dose compared to the insecticide-based ones that you get from the supermarket, but they last a lot longer and they will effectively treat your whole house (or at least those parts of it that pets have access to).
posted by flabdablet at 4:51 PM on September 17 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I didn't react at all when she first mentioned it, and when I called to ask about the bites, I thoroughly framed the question as "I am super neurotic and am known to get paranoid about nothing, so forgive me for asking."

Thanks all.
posted by ruff at 6:13 PM on September 17

People can sometimes carry bedbugs on their person, but this doesn'tt happen except in the heavier of infestations. It sounds as if your friend's infestation is light. To be cautious, I'd seal up your clothes in a bag upon returning home (and I mean, strip in the doorway, go and get a plastic bag, and come back to the doorway and put them in the bag) -- and dump that bag directly into a hot-water wash and hot-air dryer (regardless of what you'd normally use) as soon as practically feasible. But I don't think you've got a great deal to worry about. Contrary to what others have said in this thread, I do believe it is possible -- bedbug transmission is not limited to them coming from neighboring apartments -- but I don't think it's likely.
posted by WCityMike at 6:20 PM on September 17

Eh. Bedbugs are slow crawlers. I'd be extremely surprised if they could be transferred person-to-person from a quick hug. You'd have to be in close contact for a long while, really.

And your friend isn't sure if she's even infested! Don't sweat it.

At any rate, bedbugs are just annoying (not at all dangerous) and furthermore are easily dealt with in small numbers.

Seriously: This is nothing worth panicking over.
posted by Sys Rq at 7:53 PM on September 17

As someone who dealt with a big, obnoxious infestation:

Stop overreacting. Seriously. Bedbugs are like STDs: yes, theoretically you could get them by rubbing up against somebody, but you pretty much have to sleep with them to really get infected.

The primary modes of transport for bedbugs are (a) sleeping in strange places or (b) second-hand furniture. Unless your friend hugged you and then handed you a couch, you should not be worried.

One thing to note: bedbugs hate sunlight. It tortures and kills them. Unless you hugged this person in a dark tunnel, you are most likely in the clear.
posted by koeselitz at 5:37 AM on September 18

I've been through a bedbug scare before. The impression I get is that they rarely jump from person-to-person. Apparently they like to hitchhike in bags, though, so I'd watch out for that.
posted by Sloop John B at 10:41 PM on September 18