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Blood-thirsty bed bugs are set to sweep the UK in the coming weeks as forecasters predict a 'perfect storm' of a wet and mild winter.

The conditions will provide an ideal breeding environment for the creatures, which are capable of surviving for a month without feeding as they wait for a human to arrive.

And experts have warned people who were away on their summer holidays could have unwittingly brought more bed bugs back in suitcases and travel bags.

Bloodthirsty bedbugs are set to sweep the UK in the coming weeks with forecasters predicting a 'perfect storm' of wet and mild winter. The conditions will provide ideal breeding environment for the creatures

'People often associate an increase in the number of bedbugs with the warm weather, but it is far more likely to be caused by trips abroad or even hotel stays in this country,' said Rob Simpson, managing director of pest controllers register Basis Prompt told the Express.

'Families can bring them home in luggage or clothing and would never suspect a thing. The first time they know about it is when they wake up with a rash which can be itchy for days.'

Bedbugs, which feast on blood and leave irritating bite marks, have become far more common over the last decade.

Earlier this year, genetic tests revealed that a single undetected pregnant bed bug is all it takes to start an entire infestation.

Bedbugs, which feast on blood and leave irritating bite marks, have become far more common over the last decade or so. Their recent resurgence has been blamed by some experts on resistance to commonly used insecticides and the increase in international travel

A DNA study at Sheffield University showed that colonies of bed bugs come from a common ancestor or a few of female bed bugs.

The pregnant bed bug could rapidly create a colony of thousands of offspring that feed on humans.

Bed bugs' ability to generate a new colony from such small numbers might be a 'clue to their recent success'.

In the late 1880s, an estimated 75 per cent of households were affected, but by the outbreak of World War II, that figure had dwindled to 25 per cent.

Their recent resurgence has been blamed by some experts on resistance to commonly used insecticides and the increase in international travel.

Bed bugs spread on clothes, bags and in furniture when it is moved - 'anywhere that people exist, particularly where they sit or lie down', according to bed-bug extermination expert David Cain.

They are wingless, rust coloured insects about the size of an apple pip. 

During the day they lurk in the seams of mattresses, cracks in furniture, behind skirting boards and in crevices in the walls - coming out at night to feed on your blood.

They go for exposed areas of the body such as the legs and arms - they don't tend to bother burrowing through clothing. 

Genetic tests revealed that a single undetected pregnant bed bug is all it takes to start an entire infestation

When they bite, bed bugs inject tiny amounts of blood thinning and anaesthetic agents into their victim, triggering an immune response in humans. 

In most cases, and if they are left alone, the bites calm down and disappear over the course of a week to ten days.

However, in some cases the person bitten has a bulbous reaction to the bite - this is when the skin erupts into pus-filled blisters.

While bed bugs are not known to carry diseases, doctors say there is still a question over whether they can transmit hepatitis B or C, although there are no proven cases.

But almost more profound than the physical reaction is the psychological one.

'Some people get completely traumatised and go off the deep end, throwing out furniture and fumigating everything, but others deal with it very well,' said Mr Cain.

The problem is that victims think it's related to hygiene so it's a stigma. They're terrified to think their house is dirty or that they've introduced something that has caused their family damage.'

In fact, bed bugs do not choose a dirty home over a clean one - all they are interested in is your blood.

When they bite, bed bugs inject tiny amounts of blood thinning agents into their victim, triggering an immune response in humans. In most cases,  the bites calm down and disappear within 10 days