In January 2020, a quartet of Tico microbiologists of University of Costa Rica (UCR) announced in the Journal of Entomology, that after an absence of decades, bed bugs are definitely back in Costa Rica. Horrors. Who even remembers what they look like?
Bed bugs are about the size of an apple seed, before they feed. They usually feed at night, and always on human or animal blood. After ten or so minutes of feeding, they swell up, then scurry off to dark corners and crevices to make more bed bug babies. They are reddish in color, and lay 100s of eggs at a time, for their entire lives. They are hard to eradicate, usually requiring a professional exterminator, although people have had success with bean leaves, that have a sticky surface which traps and immobilizes them.

Dr. Laura Sanchez, one of the microbiologists, described the discovery of bed bugs in Heredia in 2017, which led to confirmation that bed bugs were in fact present again in Costa Rica. “A family that lived in an apartment in Heredia reported the appearance of bed bugs. Out of a personal interest, I visited the house, interviewed the owners, collaborated with the fumigators, collected samples and scientifically identified the specimens. The people in the house reported being very affected by bed bug bites.”
Although they are a public health concern, bed bugs are not known to transmit disease through their bites. Known as ‘chinches de cama’ in Spanish, they can drink up to three times their size in blood at one meal. This will usually produce some degree of discomfort for the person bitten, often itchiness and inflammation. Their bites are usually in a zizag pattern, or in a line. The bites look like red itchy bumps, with a dark center, and swelling around the bite area.

Often small spots of blood will be seen on the bed sheets, as well as larger reddish-brown stains, which are bed bug droppings. They like to inhabit the crevices of mattresses, but will eventually expand their domains to include other furniture and carpets. They are amazing hitchhikers, which is usually how they enter your hotel room or house. They also travel home with you from trips in your luggage.

“Populations of bed bugs have rebounded worldwide over the past 10 years, possibly because of insecticide resistance, inadequate controls, and increased international travel.”

The Costa Rican tourism industry certainly does not need another black eye, on the heels of recent disappearances, murders, drownings, and the downgrading of the country’s security status from #1 to #2 for travelers and residents. Hotels should take immediate action if they discover a bed bug infestation in their establishments and should consider a regular fumigation contract which includes bed bug eradication as part of their services.

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