When Christina Streble and her family arrived at the Oak Plantation Resort in Kissimmee, Florida for their vacation at Walt Disney World, they were expecting a magical time.
But what happened would be anything but.
Upon lifting the mattress in their room, they discovered that it was infested with bed bugs – small parasites which feed off human blood and can cause an array of uncomfortable (and sometimes dangerous) reactions.
This terrifying find forced them to cut their vacation short so that they could seek medical help for the 206 bites on their oldest daughter and 125 bites on their middle daughter.
Bed bugs are tiny insects which live off human blood and are notoriously difficult to eradicate from any given area.
They range from between one-sixteenth of an inch to one quarter of an inch long, making them extremely hard to spot – something Christina Streble and her family experienced first hand upon checking into their hotel room.
With no visible signs or warning, it can take days before you realize that your accommodation has been breached by these unwelcome guests – allowing the problem ample time to spread before it is even noticed.
Unfortunately, due to the infestation in this particular case being quite severe, there was not much else than could be done beyond cutting the vacation short until further help was sought out.
Despite efforts by resort staff to treat the affected room afterwards, there is always a chance that some eggs may have been missed, leading to more problems down the line.
Although there are still many unanswered questions about how exactly Christina Streble and her family ended up being exposed to such a severe case of bedbugs during their stay at Walt Disney World, stories like these continue to act as cautionary tales for travelers everywhere.
