While it is generally true that bed bugs are on or near the bed there are notable exceptions. I recently was involved in a severe infestation where the client spent a lot of time sitting in a stuffed chair. Though the bed was thoroughly infested the chair was equally infested with a very large colony sequestered on the back side. The client also complained that the bugs came out whenever she sat on this chair and she killed large numbers of them as they walked across the clothing. It was quite obvious that these bugs were accustomed to feeding on this client despite the fact that the client did not sleep there – the client only sat there for long periods of time.
We heat sterilized all beds and the stuffed chair and applied a residual chemical to the baseboards and remaining furniture. The bed was isolated with climb up interceptors. When we returned for follow up treatments a few weeks later it was noted that both the bed and the stuffed chair had significant amounts of new bugs harbouring on them. I am guessing here a bit but I suspect the bugs were attempting to feed on the client on the chair and when she stood up to go to bed she transferred a number of bugs to the bed on clothing.
What we learn here is that it is important to remove clothing before climbing on a newly sterilized bed and it is equally important to put on clothes fresh from the dryer before going out of the home. Just because you put on clean clothes in the morning does not preclude bugs climbing your leg during the day time.
