Question by Moxie:
Can you get bed bugs from going to a movie theater ?
If so, how soon would you know if you contracted them?
and what could you do to avoid them ?
Best answer:
Answer by Cory
-sigh-
Don’t worry. Bedbugs are the new “Africanized bees” that the media is sensationalizing. They do this every year (last year I think it was Chinese toothpaste). You have nothing to worry about. Don’t believe everything you see on the news.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Don’t believe news hype. How many movie theaters are there in America? How many had to close because of bed bugs? One and only one.
If there are bed bugs in the movie theater then they would probably crawl up your leg, bite you, suck out some blood and leave. You might notice bite marks. Then again maybe not. You might mistake them for mosquito bites or some other insect bite. If you are allergic to bed bugs then you might really notice the trouble the bites cause.
If you want to avoid them then I’d wear long socks and tuck your pant legs into them. If the bugs can’t get at your skin then they can’t bite.
The answer is yes, however, the odds are very very low that you would. You can bring home bed bugs from any location people congregate including public transportation, the library, hospitals, when in a hotel etc.
Bed bugs don’t move on their own from location to location. At best, they will move 100 feet from where they are dropped off. Plus they don’t leap from the floor on to a host. So to bring them home from a movie theater, someone would need to be carrying a bed bug on their clothes or on something they carried into the theater, the bed bug would then have to move off the object, move onto a movie theater seat and then move onto you. As you can see, a series of events have to take place before you become a carrier.
Instead, I’d suggest inspecting your seat when visiting a theater. Look along the seams for any bed bugs. If the seat is clean along the seams then you are fine. Again the odds are extremely low.
The resource if filled with pictures and more bed bug information.