Other Pests

Bugs are bugs are bugs. If steam can kill  mold, bacteria and dust mites, you can bet that dry steam cleaners can kill fleas, ticks, scabies, and whatever other bugs your child or pet brings home from the outside world.

Most parents are aware that lice and scabies are becoming a prevalent problem due to daycare facilities where children naturally want to roll around and play with their close friends. Unfortunately, permethrin is so commonly used, all of these pests are resistant to it.

Steam technology can help  assure that when bugs get in the house they don’t get to stay. You can steam your couches, rugs, carpets, mattresses and any other surface area. These things can’t go in the wash or take a bath. Steam is the most efficient and effective method for killing the critters when they invade your home.

***A note about scabies and lice.  Because these are pests that live on a host, it is most important that you treat the afflicted individual. For lice, steaming the whole house may be overkill. Not so with scabies. My recommendation for treating lice without chemicals is to use lots of conditioner to immobilize the bugs and a lice or flea comb to comb them out nightly for two weeks. For people with finer hair there is an electric device on the market that uses sonar to remove them.

As for scabies, my daughter brought them home on more than one occasion and in the end, the best remedy was washing sheets nightly, washing the body twice a day with lye soap (it is totally mild and it kills bugs!) and using a sulfur ointment called “Pomada De Azufre” as other sulfur creams have been taken off the shelves by all pharmacies.  This brand is sold by Walgreens.com and Amazon.com online and works amazingly well without the noxious odor that most forms of sulfur emit.  There is a faint odor but it’s worth it. If you do choose the Permethrin route, you may get rid of it in 2 uses as doctors recommend.   But after that, they don’t recommend repeated use.  So if the Permethrin doesn’t work, this is a proven effective plan B to fall back on.

By September 20, 2009