I had holiday nightmare after sleeping in bed infested with bugs – I was left covered in horror bite marks
A TIKTOKER shared her holiday nightmare after sleeping in a bug-infested bed that left her covered in horror bites.
Sarah Luepker says she had no idea the bed at the Airbnb in Colorado was riddled with bedbugs until mysterious marks appeared on her skin days later.
Sharing her shocking story on Tiktok she hoped to warn other travellers about the dangers of bedbugs and where they might be hidden.
Sarah says she travelled to Colorado for a friend’s bachelorette party and checked into what appeared to be a clean Airbnb with her pals.
Despite checking the bed for any pesky critters, she says she spotted nothing untoward and ended up spending two nights at the rental.
When the pottery-maker woke up with bite marks the next day she presumed they were mosquito bites from sitting out on the balcony the previous day.
But Sarah says she was even more thrown by the fact the bites took so long to show on her skin, as bites from bedbugs can take up to 14 days to appear.
Still sure that the bites were from mosquitoes, she spent another night in the Airbnb before checking out and making her way back home.
Sarah said: “That’s when things really started taking a turn for the worst because every five minutes a bite that I did not previously have was appearing on my body.
“And they were clusters, there were in lines, it was a mess.”
Sarah and her group of friends say they returned to the Airbnb to take a second look for bedbugs when they made a terrifying discovery.
The bed’s cloth headboard was riddled with bugs that were difficult to spot in the crease of the fabric.
Bed bugs are tiny, blood-sucking insects that can be found in the joints of your mattress – adults are about 5mm long.
They crawl out at night and will then feed on human blood after biting through exposed skin.
Typically they are brown, dark yellow or red in colour, are flat and oval-shaped and are the size of an apple seed.
Although they aren’t dangerous, they can cause extreme discomfort and stress to those who are bitten by them.
Some may have no reaction at all to bedbug bites while others may see swelling, itching and bruising.
Sarah added: “We put all our belongings in garbage bags and when we got back to Emma’s house I had to go into her garage and literally strip butt naked and then tip-toe my way into her guest bathroom.
“I took five scolding hot showers, we threw everything we could at the highest heat in the washer, then the dryer, then the washer again, all at the highest heat.”
She says the bites got increasingly worse over the next five days, swelling to the size of golf balls while her body was “painfully itchy.”
She was forced to take tablets and sleep through the pain before being left with huge bruises over her entire body.
She says the silver lining for the nightmare trip was that Airbnb did refund the group’s entire stay meaning she “won everybody a free Airbnb trip.”
In an updated post, the Tiktoker warns that anyone who does have a severe reaction should head to A&E to help soothe their itchy skin.
Bed bug bites are painless and often clear up on their own, but some people can have a reaction to the red, itchy bumps on the skin.
In some cases, people can experience a rash or fluid-filled blisters and they can get infected with bacteria if scratched.
You can put something cool, like a clean, damp cloth, on the affected area to help with the itching and any swelling.
Keep the infected area clean and prevent infection by not scratching the bite.
You should see your GP if you have any signs of skin infection such as swelling, redness and pain as you may need antibiotics.
The NHS also says you should see a GP if a redness around the bite is spreading.
If they are very itchy you can use antihistamine tablets to relieve the itch and apply a mild steroid cream (such as hydrocortisone), which a pharmacist will be able to help with.
Antihistamines will help if your bites are very itchy and you’re unable to sleep because of this.
You should also clean your bedsheets.
Airbnb was contacted by The Sun but did not wish to comment.