Friday, November 23, 2007

Bedbug bites or Flea bites?

The biggest mistake pest control technicians make is to try to determine if a client has bed bug bites or flea bites. This is by all means a job for a doctor. The only one who can determine bite marks would be to have your doctor or dermatologist to have a look. If you think you have bedbugs or fleas then your pest control person would do better trying to find the insect itself rather than try to figure out what kind of bites the person has on them.

1 comment:

entoman said...

Leaving the determination to a family doctor is often a big mistake. Most family physicians and even dermatologists have little experience or knowledge of insect bites. Looking for the actual evidence of infestation is best - qualified and experienced technicians will do this, but at the same time, there is nothing wrong with a technician asking about where the bites are and a few other details. Without evidence and without real experience, family doctors and dermatologists are guessing and their guess is often not as accurate as a technician's determination. There is a difference between diagnosis by a physician leading to a medical treatment and a professional licenced pest control technician offering an opinion based on good entomological knowledge that the doctors usually lack. I know of cases in which doctors said the person was being bitten when this was just not the case.