The bed bugs in the jars are in APTIV’s laboratory where we are researching bedbug behavior and developing a surveillance device that will be used for detection of incipient infestations as an early warning system, and for assessment of the efficacy of control programs. Our product will be launched next month at PESTWORLD .
Philipp Kirsch
President and Chief Scientist, APTIV Inc.
7980 SE 17th Ave, Portland Oregon 97202
971.327.7129 work
503.819.2269 cell
http://www.aptivinc.com

Update (9/26):

Watch the fascinating video from WNCT in Oregon, here.

It looks like the footage someone forgot to edit. There’s no voiceover, just video of the hospital lobby and bed bugs in a jar, and soundbites from several unnamed sources: a hospital administrator (saying bed bugs “really do not pose any time of health threat”) juxtaposed with those of a PCO or entomologist (claiming “there are many people that have very strong dermal reactions to the bites”).

The latter also states, “we treat them as if they’re anthrax, or some exotic virus… It really is a tsunami that is coming. They’re going to be everywhere.”

I think bedbugs are probably as common in hospitals as they are in hotels–both are places where many guests (or patients) check in and out and sleep. When people are just in a hospital for a short time, they might not realize they got bedbug bites. If I could be bitten by bedbugs in a chair at an airport, bedbugs are surely in many hospitals.

Interesting note that the bedbug was found to be in a kind of baggage room. That is a common place to find bedbugs in a hotel, too.

In this case, it sounds like patients’ rooms were not found to have bed bugs (including that of the owner of the fanny pack).

All hospitals should be searching for bed bugs and should have a protocol in place to deal with them when they are suspected or found.