Christopher Francoeur was evicted from 415 MacLaren St. in Ottawa, after refusing to have his apartment in the infested 249-unit building treated for bed bugs.
The Ottawa Citizen reports that
According to a Landlord and Tenant Board ruling, the resident, Christopher Francoeur, refused to let anyone in to spray.
Francoeur claims he simply got home late from an appointment, but it does not explain why the city was turned away or locked out on seven previous occasions. The article claims the city
. . . visited Unit 1908 at least eight times. Each time, the bedbug warriors were turned away for different reasons — once because, they say, Francoeur, a 35-year-old convicted drug dealer, changed the locks.
Francoeur claims the public housing building had bed bugs before he moved in. However, this is no reason not to try and cooperate with the city’s plan to treat all the units. It is hard enough to get rid of bed bugs in a multi-unit building. If the landlord is willing to treat all units concurrently (and repeatedly, we hope), the other tenants have a better chance of getting rid of this problem.
The board ruled last month that Francoeur “substantially interfered with the reasonable enjoyment of the residential complex by the other tenants.”
We hear all of the time about such cases, where a tenant — for whatever reason — refuses treatment.
(And I love, by the way, how “reasonable enjoyment of the residential complex” translates to “trying to eliminate a blood-sucking parasite.”)
A NYC reader emailed today telling me that while she does not have bed bugs yet, she just heard someone in her building — a number of floors above her – is refusing treatment.
Even though laws may allow such tenants to be forced to cooperate with treatment or evicted, the process of enforcing them may take some time.
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A bed bug was spotted on a second grade student at Sardinia Elementary School in Ohio. It’s a brand new school, and the school responded by sending the child home with information for her parents about what they needed to do.
Officials then had the school “cleaned” thoroughly, removing carpets and steam-cleaning in classrooms. WKRC Local 12 in Cincinnati reports:
The superintendent says the precautions are necessary to make sure other students and staff are not affected. The superintendent says cleaning crews removed carpet and used steam cleaners in classrooms. Busses were thoroughly cleaned as well.
“One was spotted and that was enough we wanted to make sure we got in front of it In the afternoon the students’ book bags and backpacks which is what could carry the insect, they put those all in clear plastic bags and gave a handout to the parents to notify them of what had happened and how they’re supposed to handle that.”
Steam can effectively kill bed bugs but if they are harboring on the premises, multiple treatments with steam as well as residual pesticides and dusts may be warranted.
I have a serious problem with several things here:
1) Just because a bed bug in the school is spotted on a particular student does not mean that student brought the bed bug in. A bed bug could crawl from the school itself, from another student’s desk or bag, and so on. The bug could have been picked up in a school bus or other transportation, or at any location in the school. Even in a brand new school, as the story stresses in this case.
2) A recent study showed nearly 1 in 6 people in Cincinnati had had bed bugs. A really high number of Ohio residents have them right now. Any student, teacher, or staff member could have brought that bed bug in, and so banning the student from school while her parents carry out certain steps is not warranted in my mind. Perhaps it would be if we had confirmation that the family did indeed have a bed bug infestation. But I would guess any number of people in that school have an active bed bug infestation right now, and it’s unfair to single out the person caught with a bed bug on them.
3) “Cleaning” does not eliminate bed bugs reliably. Even steam cleaning, which will kill bed bugs if done properly, needs to be repeated in most cases and augmented with other treatment methods. I hope this school is getting good assistance from experts who know their bed bugs.
You can watch the Local 12 news video here. I did not embed it because it’s one of those annoying ones that does not wait for one to press the “play” key, instead simply loading as the page loads.
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AFP reports that the government in Madrid, Spain is educating its public about bed bugs and how to get rid of them:
Authorities in Madrid have declared war on a growing and formidable enemy — bed bugs that are infesting hotel rooms throughout the country at an alarming rate.
The government for the Madrid region has published a manual to make people and businesses more aware of the tiny pests and how to get rid of them.
The number of bed bugs actually declined in Spain in the 1950s and 60s.
But “today the situation seems to have completely changed, the declared number of cases has risen, in some cases quite significantly, approaching the level of an epidemic,” said the manual, seen by AFP on Wednesday.
It’s important for everyone in Madrid to realize that any location can become infested, not just hotel rooms.
Bed bugs seem to be spreading very quickly in all well-traveled areas of the globe. Few cities or regions are willing to declare them as “approaching an epidemic,” perhaps out of fear that tourists will stay away.
In fact, I’d much rather visit a place where business owners and individuals are educated about and talk about the prevalence of this pest, how to detect them, and how to get rid of bed bugs, as opposed to visiting a city where the hotel industry is mum on the issue, as if it did not exist.
AFP also reports that
[Bed bug] numbers rose by 10 to 20 percent in 2008 in Spain, according to a study last year by the National Association for the Control of Plagues (ANECPLA).
I know you’re asking yourselves, non-Spaniards, “Why don’t we have a National Association for the Control of Plagues?”
ANECPLA is associated with the National Pest Management Association in the US.
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PCT Online reports on the Legislative Day held by the National Pest Management Association on Monday, where attendees educated legislators about bed bugs; they encouraged Congress members to consider:
- Providing additional resources and directing the CDC to provide leadership on the bed bug issue.
- Authorizing “a research program to helped develop effective methods of controlling bed bugs and other resurgent household pests.”
- That
When EPA registers new products, alters or reevaluates the registration of existing products or considers petitions for emergency exemptions, it should consider factors such as (1) the impact on Americans “quality of life” when residential and other pests are not able to be controlled; (2) the risks that arise when consumers resort to overapplying ineffective products or use unregistered products or other homemade remedies and 3) the opportunity for the proliferation of inefficacious or “snake oil” type products when affordable, effective products do not exist.
And that
. . . efficacy data for all pesticide products claiming to control bed bugs, to provide assurance to the professional industry, consumers and federal and state regulatory officials that such products work as advertised. This is especially important for bed bugs control products because it is not immediately obvious when a product does not work.
- Making a “concerted federal effort” to address the bed bug crisis, including the formation of a Federal Advisory Board; suggestions were made that
Congress should require the Secretaries of the Departments of Health and Human Services, Commerce and Housing and Urban Development and EPA Administrator to report to Congress on steps the federal government could take to combat the bed bug epidemic. Congress should demand greater intergovernmental cooperation and coordination by instructing the Secretaries of the Departments of Health and Human Services, Commerce and Housing and Urban Development and EPA Administrator to take measures to coordinate the federal government’s response to the crisis.
If legislators hear about the bed bug crisis and gain information on the issues above, perhaps the Federal government will be able to take some action to help improve the situation.
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The Daily Mail (UK) reports that
Research by pest controllers Rentokil shows that, on average, a single train compartment houses a staggering 1,000 cockroaches, 200 bed bugs, 200 fleas, 500 dust mites and 100 carpet beetles.
Well, blimey! Someone should do something about that!
It’s not that bed bugs and other pests can’t infest train carriages (they surely do), or buses and cars.
But stating the “average” number of insects in a train compartment is just a bit sensational.
Some compartments will be wildly infested with bed bugs, others not so much. I fear that implying every train compartment has 200 of the suckers in it just makes some people think, “why bother.”
Rentokil’s message of doom in the Daily Mail coincides with its launch of Entotherm, a thermal treatment for trains, buses, and cars in the UK.
Of course, I am glad thermal is being used in public transportation and — I assume — to treat personal vehicles which are infested with bed bugs.
How can you hate bed bugs and not love thermal?
However, the message seems to be that, on average, every vehicle is infested with bed bugs, which of course is not true. (And yes, cars can harbor roaches, but not every car will be secreting 20 of them.)
Public transportation would benefit from routine treatments of this sort, if it is economically feasible. Since the economy is lousy in the UK as it is in my neck of the woods, I fear suggesting frequent thermal remediation of the entire fleet of trains, underground trains, buses, and taxis would not go over well.
And let’s be honest: thermal does not keep bed bugs away. So treating every train compartment with thermal is a control measure, but how often can you do it? The very next day someone will bring in new bed bugs. A bit of residual would not go amiss here.
How do we make sure infestations in public transportation are handled swiftly?
Pest control workers, transportation staff, and customers should all be educated about how to look closely and critically at these vehicles — and, d’oh! they also need to look at their homes and other places they frequent — on a routine basis.
They should do these inspections.
They should know who to report to if they see anything suspicious.
And any signs of bed bugs should be followed up on, aggressively.
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Dayton detectives raided an apartment for drugs Friday night, and found the home infested with bed bugs, WDTN news reports.
But, the worst part for detectives was having to collect the evidence from a bed bug infested apartment.
Lieutenant Brian Johns of The Dayton Police Department said, “I’ve been itching ever since, but I’ll be okay. If you just saw all the bite marks all over her body. I know they are juveniles, but I can’t understand why you would want to lay your head in a place like that.”
Three people were arrested.
Officers say they will follow up with apartment management for help cleaning up the drug and bug problem.
It makes sense that someone with signs of illegal activity in their home would not seek help for bed bugs. It is especially sad that children are living under these conditions. However, the officers would probably be surprised to learn how many people were seeking treatment for bed bugs and still living with the problem.
I don’t envy the officers picking through bugs to find the evidence they were after. I hope they took precautions to avoid spreading bed bugs to their cars, precinct, and homes.
You’ll remember that police officers in New Rochelle, New York had to have their patrol cars and cell block treated for bed bugs. And, closer to Dayton, bed bugs were enough of a problem for Cincinnati police and firefighters that the City Council considered paying to help with their home bed bug treatment if they brought them home from work.
I also hope the building management not only deals with this home’s infestation but also inspects units attached on all sides, since bed bugs spread easily from one apartment to another.
And is it just me, or when someone brings up the police and bed bugs, do you get this guy in your head, all over again?
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There have been a flurry of articles on bed bugs in Hamilton, Ontario this week. Today, the Hamilton Spectator brings our attention to the Good Shepherd Works Program, which assists people in Hamilton who are dealing with bed bugs. Ralph Guarino was one of those who benefitted:
“Oh my God, you’re sleeping and you get itchy. You start scratching and you can’t sleep anymore. It was pretty awful,” he says of his two year battle to get rid of them. “When you scratch too much, you start bleeding.”
The 45-year-old schizophrenia sufferer is finally bedbug-free thanks to a Good Shepherd crew that thoroughly vacuums and steam-cleans a place before pest control spraying and then returns in 10 to 14 days to do it all again if necessary.
Guarino is among hundreds of mostly poor Hamiltonians with bedbug infestations this past year. Many weren’t as lucky in getting rid of them.
“It’s a huge problem right now, and I don’t think people are grasping this,” says Matt Bowen, manager of the Good Shepherd Works Program, a social enterprise concentrating on the social aspects of business by giving jobs to people with employment barriers such as mental illness or learning disabilities.
The roster of 80 workers are paid $9.50 to $12 an hour to clean, paint, landscape and do lawn maintenance, but “the bedbug problem is our meat and potatoes,” treating 250 apartments a year, Bowen says. Hamilton’s social housing is their biggest client.
If you’re on a low income and dealing with bed bugs in Hamilton, Good Works may be able to help you. The article notes,
The Good Shepherd Works Program can offer advice and sometimes advocacy for people who call its bedbug hotline at 905-525-5188, ext. 23.
We’ve long been fans of Toronto’s Bug and Scrub — another service that hires people who need work — in this case, shelter guests who are trained and paid to do bed bug prep and treatment, treatment which is priced right for those on low incomes.
What could be better than helping people who need work get work, and helping people who need help with bed bug prep and treatment to get good treatment?
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Bed bugs in your room in a Kansas hotel? The state will no longer be inspecting rooms to enforce code violations.
An article in Sunday’s Wichita Eagle recounts the story of hotel guest Becky Andrews, who was itching and scratching in a Bonner Springs, Kansas Super 8 bed, until she discovered the cause: bed bug bites.
She claims she took a live bed bug to the hotel’s front desk, but was not taken seriously, so she filed a complaint with the state.
A Kansas Department of Agriculture inspector visited the hotel on Nov. 3 and confirmed that Room 406 was infested with bed bugs. The hotel was ordered to fix the problem, and a follow-up inspection was scheduled for Dec. 3. But the follow-up never occurred. The state announced that day it was suspending its lodging inspection program because of budget cuts. In Kansas today, no government agency is working to ensure that hotel rooms are free of bed bugs, showers are free of mildew, evacuation routes are conspicuously posted, and drinking glasses are properly prepackaged. “This is the painful reality of our current economic climate,” Josh Svaty, acting agriculture secretary, said in a news release issued that day. “Whether the department will be able to resume inspections will depend on future funding levels. “In what has turned out to be a tight budget year, it seems unlikely that the state will find the $240,000 it needs to fund the lodging inspection program for another year. Andrews said she finds that unsettling.
[Emphasis added.]
This sure is an unsettling state of affairs. And it is not just bed bugs that I’m worried about. How can the State of Kansas enforce laws which apply to hotel conditions, if it does not have a lodging inspection program? I know money is tight, but safety is a concern.
And when it comes to bed bugs, we remember well that at the end of 2008, a year when bed bug complaints in housing were eleven times what they were in 2007, Cincinnati did not continue funding bed bug inspections in housing. And that’s after a study found 14.5% of the population of Cincinnati had had bed bugs.
I wonder how many Cincinnati residents have had bed bugs more than a year later?
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If there was ever a reason to hand out buttons bearing such a slogan, this is it.
AlisaS writes on lifestyle forum The Nest ,
One of my patients told me her friend had a big garage sale to get rid of all of his bed bug infested furniture and didn’t disclose.
This happens more than you would think: self-serving folks with no ethics whatsoever try to make money off of their bed bug-infested possessions.
(I was going to write: “people with no knowledge that bed bugs spread or no ethics whatsoever,” but then I thought about it: if they did not know bed bugs could be in their stuff, why would they want to get rid of it all?)
I would guess that as bed bug-awareness is spreading, most people doing such a stupid thing would not disclose the presence of bed bugs.
Some people even give the stuff away on Craigslist or Freecycle: hey, thanks! Free bed bugs, just the thing to financially ruin anyone who already happens to be short of cash.
BrickUnderground asked me recently how people should approach secondhand and thrift-store shopping in the age of bed bugs. (See their helpful article here.)
There are indeed ways to reduce the risk of picking up bed bugs you or the seller may not be aware are there. In most cases, you probably can’t entirely eliminate the risk unless items can be sealed in airtight plastic and heat-treated in a dryer or Packtite. And even stepping into a home or second-hand shop which might contain bed bugs is risky, unless you normally seal yourself into an airtight ziploc for the duration of your shopping trip (note: do not try this).
Shame on anyone who knowingly foists their bed bug problems onto others, whether they’re trying to cash in or not. And if you want to know why bed bugs are spreading like wildfire, these people are a big part of it.
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Molly McAleer offers The AWL’s readers a different first person account of bed bugs, illustrated with bite pictures (and yes, those are definitely different too).
She is another bed bug survivor, with a deadbeat landlord and infested neighbors in Koreatown, Los Angeles.
But the article is not your typical tale of bed bug woe.
As commenter KarenUhOh wrote,
This is like if Orkin bought American Apparel.
I couldn’t put it better. You have to check it out yourself.
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