Bedbugs in Evington!
Two things most people find abhorrent in their everyday lives are rats and bedbugs.
Bed bugs are parasitic insects that feed on blood, usually at night, typically affecting unclothed parts of the body. Bites can cause several health issues, including skin rashes, psychological reactions and allergic symptoms. Skin changes from bites can range from small areas of redness to prominent blisters. These symptoms can take minutes or days to appear and normally cause itchiness. Although bedbugs don’t carry infectious diseases, some individuals may feel tired or have a fever.
Bedbugs are flat, oval shaped, brown to reddish brown (darker and more red after feeding!) and range between 1 and 7 mm in size, allowing them to hide in the smallest spaces. They spread by moving from one location to another or being transported on personal items such as clothing, handbags or suitcases. There is no suggestion that poor hygiene leads to influx of bedbugs which are more common high-density areas such as student accommodation or houses of multiple occupancy or areas where there is a high turnover of people such as hotels and hostels.
Bedbugs spend much of their time in dark, in hidden locations like mattress seams, or cracks in a wall or in wooden furniture. Getting rid of them is often a challenge as they can survive for about 300 days without feeding.
Fossils found in Egypt show bed bugs have been known as human parasites for at least 3,500 years. Despite being nearly eradicated in developed countries after the second world war, infestations have increased since the 1990s and bed bugs are now relatively common across the world. This has been put down to several factors including increases in immigration and international travel, more sales of second-hand goods, a focus on control of other pests, the banning of certain pesticides and increased resistance to pesticides still in use.
The good news for Evington is that from figures obtained from Leicester City Council showing pest control service requests broken down by postcode for the period between January 1st and November 14th, 2024, it had relatively low rates of infestation.
The following is the picture by post code:
LE5 – The ‘undisputed’ rat hot spot in Leicester with 722 callouts – had the fewest bedbug problems. The postcode covering Hamilton, Evington, Spinney Hills and Thurnby Lodge recorded just 18 bedbug service requests.
LE3, encompassing Braunstone Town, Glenfield, Leicester Forest East and New Parks, saw 26 bedbug callouts.
LE4, covering Beaumont Leys, Belgrave and Rushey Mead, recorded 40 requests.
LE1 (The city centre) came in second place with 51 bedbug-related callouts.
LE2, is currently the bedbug hotspot with 94 service requests in just ten months. This postcode covers Aylestone, Eyres Monsell, Glen Parva, Highfields, Knighton and Oadby areas, with more than five times the bedbug problems of LE5.
In total, Leicester dealt with 229 bedbug callouts during the period. An additional 48 cases were reported between mid-November and the end of December, suggesting that the problem with bedbugs persists into winter when they seek warmth indoors.
Sources:
1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bed_bug
2 Dylan Hayward (2026) The areas of Leicester where you’re most likely to encounter bedbugs – list of postcodes, Leicester Mercury, 3rd January 2026
