Clothing can serve as a temporary vehicle for bed bugs. While these parasites do not live on a host like lice, they are masters of hitchhiking to new environments. The risk of transmission is not necessarily from the clothes being worn, but from personal items stored in close proximity to an infested area, such as a hotel bed or public seating.
How Bed Bugs Use Clothing for Travel
Bed bugs rarely remain on clothing that is being actively worn because they are not designed to cling to a moving host. They rely on passive transport, moving from an infested site onto a resting object. The most significant risk comes from clothing stored in a pile, left on the floor, or packed away in a suitcase near a bed or other harborage site. Bed bugs easily crawl onto these stationary items and settle into seams, folds, or pockets for shelter.
Soiled clothing is a stronger attractant for bed bugs than clean garments. The residual human odor left on worn clothes acts as a chemical signal that encourages the pests to aggregate, even without a live human host. Leaving a bag of dirty laundry open on a hotel room floor poses a greater risk of acquiring bed bugs than having a pile of freshly cleaned clothes. Items that offer tight crevices, such as the lining of a jacket or the folds of a backpack, can still provide the temporary shelter they seek during transit.
Immediate Steps for Decontamination
Upon suspecting exposure, immediately isolate and treat clothing and other fabric items to prevent an infestation at home. The most reliable method for killing all life stages of bed bugs, including the eggs, is exposure to high heat. Begin by sealing any potentially contaminated items into tightly tied plastic garbage bags before transporting them to the laundry area. This prevents the bugs from escaping and spreading during movement.
For washable items, use the hottest setting possible on your washing machine, followed by a cycle in the dryer. The dryer is the most effective tool, as bed bugs and their eggs die when exposed to temperatures of 122°F (50°C) and above for a sustained period. Clothes should be tumbled on the highest heat setting for a minimum of 30 minutes to ensure the material’s core temperature reaches the lethal threshold. Items that cannot be washed, such as shoes or dry-clean-only garments, should still be placed in the dryer on high heat for 30 minutes, or taken to a dry cleaner with a warning about potential infestation.
An alternative for heat-sensitive items is freezing, though it requires a longer duration to be effective. Items must be sealed in a plastic bag and placed in a freezer set to 0°F (-17.8°C) or lower for a minimum of 3.5 days. Because cold takes time to penetrate a dense load, a two-week period is often recommended if the exact freezer temperature cannot be verified. Once treated, items should be immediately stored in new, sealed plastic bags until the risk of re-infestation is eliminated.