The Benefits of Bedbugs

Originally uploaded by M1khaela

This via flickr from:

Mikhaela B. Reid * Angry Cartoonist
cartoons@mikhaela.net * www.mikhaela.net

Click the cartoon to see it in a larger size!

bed bugs hiding

Originally uploaded by louento.pix

Lou Sorkin says of his photo:

“Flat rubber molding pulled back to reveal bed bugs hiding. Notice that bugs are at top of molding in corner where there is no adhesive.”

Housing and Preservation Department Educator Edward Brownbear told those in attendance at the Greenpoint HPD Bed Bug Seminar on Tuesday night that bed bugs had been found on benches at a number of different subway stations.

Miss Heather and Renee of New York vs. Bed bugs both blogged about that terrifying (but as to be expected) situation.

Now Pete Donoghue of the Daily News has picked up the story via Miss Heather:

Brownbear cited three stations where he believed bedbugs had, at least temporarily, bedded down: Hoyt-Schermerhorn, Union Square in Manhattan and Fordham Road in the Bronx.

A housing preservation and development spokesman cautioned that Brownbear, while more knowledgeable about bedbugs than the average person, is not a trained scientist or inspector.

NYC Transit spokesman Charles Seaton said the agency would check out the three hubs.

Brownbear may not be a trained inspector, but he had bed bugs in his home for five months. He is probably more qualified than many in the HPD to identify a scurrying bed bug.

I am concerned that they are only going to look at those three hubs. NYC Transit employees should be taught to search for bed bugs, and doing so should be a routine occurrence in all trains and at all stations.

Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign quipped: “Bedbugs on subway benches! Yet another reason not to fall asleep waiting for a train.”

The New York Post declares understatedly that “Bed Bugs Lurk Under Subway.” If they were under the subway, however, we would not have to worry. The problem is, they are in the subway:

Sharis Lugo, 20, of Brooklyn leaped off a bench at the Union Square station when she heard the news, saying, “Ewww! That’s nasty . . . They’ve got to take these benches out of here!”

Now that’s throwing the baby out with the bathwater! Why not get rid of the bed bugs instead?

It is possible, you know. But the first step is admitting we have a problem.

And Fox News shares videos of grossed out subway passengers (though Fox claims this footage represents passengers’ response to this news, this footage could have been stock “the subway is dirty” soundbites– bed bugs were not mentioned).

Perhaps in all the hysteria, New Yorkers will be reminded that we have politicians, we can demand they take action, and right now, the best way to channel that desire is to throw in your lot with New York vs. Bed Bugs. It only takes two minutes to make a difference.

The New York Post asks people on NYC subway benches about bed bugs in NYC subway benches:

Update: More from Gawker.

The U.S. News Health column also picked this up: Bed Bug Infestations Continue.

So did United Press International, the AMNY Subway Tracker, Subway Blogger (imagne a whole blog about the NYC subways! How bizarre! Just kidding, folks), Wall Street Journal blog Buzzwatch, and Gadling.

Playbill reports that a play entitled Bedbugs! has been selected for the Next Link Project:

The fifth-annual New York Musical Theatre Festival has announced the 12 musicals selected for its Next Link Project.

The three-week festival – running Sept. 15–Oct. 5 – features musicals from around the world, culled from invitations and an open-submission process.

The works accepted for the Next Link Project benefit from the Next Link dramaturg team, as well as writer support resources, including industry networking and producer “matchmaking” events, and financial assistance through discounted technical support and waiving of production deposits.

And that winning bedbugged musical?

Bedbugs!!! The Musical
Book and lyrics by Fred Sauter, music by Paul Leschen

“A hell-bent exterminator must save New York City from the mutant bedbugs she accidentally creates in this 80’s inspired rock musical fantasy.”

Sounds fun!

Come September, it may be time for the first-ever Bedbugger cultural excursion.

Who’s in?

For additional press, see Theatermania.

The Greenpoint HPD Bed Bug Seminar was last night.

I was not able to be there, but Miss Heather has an excellent recap on the evening.

New York vs Bed Bugs members were there spreading word on how to get some change on the bed bug issue in NYC.

The presenter was Ed Brownbear, the only HPD educator who has actually had bed bugs.

Congratulations to those who helped organize this event (Miss Heather and Ann Kansfield) and to Lou Sorkin and the NY vs Bed Bugs crowd for being there!

If anyone who was there wants to share some details, they’d be very much welcomed.

This bed bug story from KHON2 (Fox) in Honolulu interested me.

First, it’s a cautionary tale about how easily bed bugs spread: this woman says she spent one hour at an event held in a hotel lounge and then unwittingly took bed bugs home:

Yumi Suh says she and several friends spent just over an hour at the veranda room at the Halekulani Hotel and returned home with much more than they arrived with.

But what really interested me was what Suh reports as the hotel’s insurance company’s perplexing response to her complaint.

Read the rest

Ahhhh, the 70s.

A time when so few children in North America encountered real bed bugs that this game was not considered creepy.

I especially like that the hopping bed bugs bounce the gentleman’s bed right out of the room.

I remain amazed that this show remains so beloved.

Miss Heather of NewYorkShitty.com knows that the war on bed bugs needs a little Bill Murray, Caddyshack-style.

She also reminds us there’s a bed bug seminar coming up in Greenpoint next Tuesday.

Read the rest

Bed bugs in student housing in Berkeley, at the University of California, the Daily Californian reports.

Three apartment units at the Smyth-Fernwald Complex near Clark Kerr Campus could have been infested with bedbugs as early as March, according to Jeff Urdahl, campus director for housing operations, maintenance and environment.

Yadda, yadda… it happens, and is probably happening on every campus now to some degree. But wait, you know there’s more to this story:

Urdahl said a combination of manure pesticides and heat and cold treatments will be used in the infested apartment units.

Hot and cold, I get.

But manure pesticides?!?

Perhaps above I should instead have said @#it happens.

Pest Control Professionals, please tell us more.

The Hamilton Spectator reports on the spread of bed bugs in that Ontario city.

The story focuses on Lisa Courtney’s bed bug battle:

Courtney tossed out her bed, mattress and linens. CityHousing, Hamilton’s social housing agency, had her Cumberland Avenue apartment treated and life returned to normal.

But now, the bedbugs are back. Courtney’s anxiety has shot up with reports of three neighbours with the same problem.

“I’m psychotic now, because people down the hall have them, too,” she said.

Landlords need to learn that you can’t simply treat the unit of the person who complains about bed bug bites. You have to have all adjacent units (above, below, and on all sides) carefully inspected and treated if necessary.

Apartment managers would be advised to read this article from Techletter.com about dealing with bed bugs in the properties under their care.

Since bed bugs can be hard to detect, especially in the early stages of infestation, landlords may also consider that treating all adjacent units where bed bugs have not been found may be a good idea. The City of Boston’s Housing Division actually requires this when the Inspectional Services Department finds bed bugs in an apartment:

Our Standard bed bug notice of violation also requires that owners inspect all units in the dwelling, and they must treat all horizontally and vertically adjacent units to the infested unit(s).

Boston landlords treat adjacent units even if they turn up no visible signs of bed bugs.

You don’t know how often Bedbuggers tell us (often in the forums) both of the following: (a) I have had 4+ bed bug treatments and the problem persists, and (b) none of my neighbors have bed bugs. When pressed, people invariably say neighbors were “asked.” Since as many as 50% of people don’t react to bites, asking doesn’t do much. Many times, inspection also turns up nothing. And then a few months later, lo and behold, bed bugs are back.

You also don’t know how often I hear (often in discreet emails) about professionals eventually discovering the badly-infested unit, with so many bed bugs they’re falling from the walls in broad daylight — invariably a bed bug infestation later discovered in a building where some other poor soul thought they were the only ones infested. Sometimes neighbors don’t know they have bed bugs because they can’t see them.

Other times bed bugs are clearly visible, but residents don’t know what they are, or fear repercussions for bringing the problem to light, or are impaired in some way such that they cannot recognize the problem or act on it, or (in rare cases) they know and just don’t care (shudder).

The good news is Hamilton is taking bed bugs seriously:

Stan Yung, a Hamilton public health manager, says the city is already intervening. It has been tracking cases since 2005 and now has a new public education campaign.

(I look forward to hearing how they are tracking infestations.)

This from the Vermont Cynic, the University of Vermont’s student paper, which claims bed bugs are in UVM’s Living/Learning’s B-Building, in German House (”bed bug” is die Wanze to our Deutsch-speaking friends).

Students in a suite of Living/Learning’s B-building were displaced last week after it was discovered that one of the inhabitants had been bitten by a bed bug, UVM’s Director of Communications Enrique Corredera said.

On Thursday, April 17, it was confirmed that the bites on the leg of a female resident of one of the “German House” suites were from a bed bug, and all of the students living in the suite were moved to other housing by the next day.

The residents of L/L B-220 are permanently relocated to other areas in L/L for the rest of the semester as the suite goes through a three-week treatment process to eliminate any possibility of a bed bug infestation, Corredera said.

Evacuations must be done extremely carefully. Here, the students laundered all clothing and “bagged all belongings” (though what happens after belongings are bagged is unstated, and is of major interest, since bed bugs can apparently live for a year or even 18 months, unfed).

Evacuation of all residents and treatment of the rooms were carried out after one student received bed bug bites on her leg. It is not clear from the article whether any signs of bed bugs were found in the room (in fact, in the absence of such evidence, the student could have been bitten at a restaurant, in a library, or on a city bus).

A Toronto man is suing a Winnipeg Howard Johnson’s motel, claiming he was bitten by bed bugs there.

CJOB in Manitoba reports,

A Toronto man has filed a civil suit against the Howard Johnson Hotel on Ellice Avenue alleging he caught a case of the bed bugs while rooming at the establishment.

Steven Lipson claims after a one-night stay at the hotel in January 2007 he developed welts and itchiness. Lipson alleges a dermatologist confirmed he was bitten by bed bugs. He is suing the Howard Johnson for damages claiming he suffered pain, embarrassment, and permanent scarring.

There isn’t much to chew on there, but we don’t often hear about Canadian bed bug lawsuits, so it does feel quite newsworthy.