The Difference Between Dust Mites and Bed Bugs
Dust mites are present in every room of every home and multi-bed facility, like hotels, dormitories and nursing homes. Bed bugs are not present everywhere, although they are beginning to appear in many places.
Dust mites are microscopic bugs that primarily live on dead skin cells shed regularly from humans and their pets. They don't carry disease, but they can cause some rather uncomfortable and sometimes dangerous allergic reactions in a growing number of people who are allergic to their feces. Dust mites create even more of a problem for asthmatics and others with severe allergies. A single dust mite produces about 20 waste droppings (feces) per day, and each contain a protein to which many people are allergic. Depending on the person and exposure, reactions can range from itchy red eyes, headaches, nasal and sinus problems, scratchy or sore throat, fatigue or depression, to more frequent asthma attacks. Unlike other types of mites, house dust mites are not parasites since they only eat dead skin.
Bed bugs on the other hand, are small, wingless insects that are part of the arachnid family and feed solely upon the blood of warm-blooded animals. Bed bugs and their relatives have evolved as nest parasites. Certain kinds inhabit bird nests and bat roosts; others have adapted well to living in the "nests" (homes) of people.
Newly-hatched bed bugs are about the size of a poppy seed, with adults about a quarter-inch in length. Bed bugs seek out people and animals, generally at night while these hosts are asleep, and painlessly sip a few drops of blood. While feeding, they inject a tiny amount of their saliva into the skin. Repeated exposure to bed bug bites during a period of several weeks causes people to become sensitized to the saliva of these bugs. Additional bites may then result in intense allergic responses. The skin lesion produced by the bite of a bed bug resembles those caused by many other kinds of blood-feeding insects, such as mosquitoes and fleas.