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Halifax tenants dealing with with bed bugs and unsympathetic health department

nobugsonme — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 05:33:04 +0000

The Chronicle Herald in Halifax had more to say about bed bugs on Sunday, reminding readers that it can be hard to get a landlord to deal with bed bugs in private rentals, and pointing out exactly why the provincial government isn’t getting involved:

Tenants who move into privately owned apartments already infested with bedbugs might have trouble finding help to deal with unsympathetic landlords.

The provincial government doesn’t typically have much to do with that type of problem because it isn’t considered a risk to the public, Tara Walsh of the Department of Health Promotion and Protection said. “We wouldn’t address it.”

“Similar to lice, it’s a public health nuisance. There’s not a public health threat, it’s not a communicable disease, so it doesn’t cause disease, it’s just an infestation.”

“It’s just an infestation.”

I strongly believe that this kind of thinking is a failure of the imagination on the part of the public health officials in Nova Scotia.

The World Health Organization seems to think bed bugs are a public health concern. So much so, that as Renee of New York vs. Bed Bugs noted, WHO put a bed bug on the cover of this recent publication entitled The Public Health Significance of Urban Pests, alongside a rat and a tick.

Not alongside a louse, or a carpenter ant, or a carpet beetle.

Though bed bugs are not yet known to spread communicable diseases, they obviously cause problems with sleep, anxiety, and intense itching. The WHO study identifies allergic and immune system reactions to bed bug bites, including (occasionally) anaphylaxis, as well as a possible connection with bronchial asthma.

And desperate people may harm themselves and their families by misusing pesticides while attempting to get rid of their problems.

In addition, when people are on a tight budget, an unexpected outlay of funds (for bed bug treatment, or to replace discarded items) may also contribute to other health problems, because funds may be re-appropriated from other areas of life, such as the purchase of healthy foods.

You can read the Chronicle Herald article here. And read this story from yesterday, which shows that even in Halifax public housing, where the landlord does cover bed bug treatment, solutions to bed bug problems may be slow to reach tenants.

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Farmington Days Inn treats for bed bugs; New Mexico’s laws still need attention

nobugsonme — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:12:20 +0000

Farmington, New Mexico paper The Daily Times reports that the Days Inn which was recently in the news and where travelers claim to have been finding bed bugs at least since the summer of 2007 is now getting professional treatment.

The problem of bed bugs in New Mexico lodging, however, is not as easy to treat. According to the Daily Times:

Besides distress and disgust on the part of bite victims, it’s maddening because no regulations exist in New Mexico to ensure lodging establishments deal with the problem correctly.

The Department of Health has no bedbug-related regulations.

Because the biting insects don’t spread disease, New Mexico Environment Department is not involved, either.

Unless the business at which a customer was bitten is a member of New Mexico Lodging Association or Convention and Visitors Bureau in Farmington, the onus is on the bite victim to seek redress from hotel management.

The treatment by Albuquerque’s Ecolab is going floor by floor, since guests are still staying in the hotel. The hotel also replaced all the bedding and carpeting. And the hotel manager.

But make no mistake: bed bugs don’t come to hotels with bad managers. Bed bug infestations can happen in any hotel at any time, and so hotels need to have a plan for detecting bed bugs and treating them, before they get out of hand. They should not be waiting for guests to point the bed bugs out to them, since bed bugs are notoriously difficult to detect.

Similarly, the owners of hotels should not be assuming employees know about the problem: managers, cleaning and maintenance staff and others who work in hotels need to be trained on how to prevent and detect bed bugs, and on what is needed to treat them properly. They need ongoing professional advice from people who know bed bugs.

And, in addition, we should not assume all hotel owners know enough about the bed bug problem, or give a hoot about it. Government regulation serves the purpose of setting standards and enforcing them. I don’t want to get all big government on you, but personally, I don’t want to leave it up to chance as to whether my hotel management gives a darn about bed bugs or not.

People who suggest that the hotel industry will lose money and begin to regulate itself do not understand how long bed bugs can breed and bite people and continue to spread before even being seen by a hotel guest. In the case of this hotel, we have a pair of police officers this month, and a pair of couples who filed suit after being bitten by bed bugs in different rooms on different floors in the same Days Inn in summer 2007 according to another Daily Times article that has now gone offline.

How many people do you think were bitten by bed bugs in that hotel, and potentially brought them home, in the space of more than a year? I would guess many, but I would also suspect most of them did not see the bed bugs or complain about them.

The story of the Days Inn came to light two weeks ago when some local police officers found bed bugs in their hotel room and discovered there was no public body or official they could complain to. There was only the hotel manager.

Note to travelers: check whether your hotel is a member of the New Mexico Lodging Association, so you at least have someone to complain to about your hotel room’s bed bugs, until the laws in this state get better.

People of New Mexico, you might want to tell the Department of Health that infectious diseases aren’t the only health problems that can plague people; bed bugs cause plenty, from psychological distress and anxiety, bed bug bites and related skin problems, and other allergic reactions, to a lack of sleep, which researchers tell us may bring on a whole host of illnesses.

The use of money to pay for everything from extra laundry and plastic bags to pest control treatment which may get into the high thousands can also have implications for a person’s health, when someone on a budget has to choose between paying for medication and healthy food, or dealing with the extra costs related to bed bugs. People also sometimes resort to extreme and potentially dangerous measures to get rid of bed bugs, which can cause definite health problems too.

So, yes, bed bugs are a health problem. Even though they are not known to spread infectious diseases at this time.

I’d really like public officials who deny that bed bugs are a health problem to move into a hotel room infested with bed bugs, and determine first-hand whether they’re just a “nuisance,” as we’re so often told. I have a hunch they’d discover a list of negative health effects pretty quickly.

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Toronto municipal councillor pushes for bed bugs to be declared a health hazard

nobugsonme — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 07:23:02 +0000

Toronto Municipal Councillor Howard Moscoe is pushing for bed bugs to be declared a health hazard in that city. The question is not just a semantic one.

In Toronto, defining bed bugs as a “health hazard” would have legal ramifications. The CBC reports:

“Because the Health Act does not declare them a health hazard, you can’t force a neighbouring tenant to allow the city in to spray for bugs, so it’s a significant dilemma for people who have them,” he told CBC News.

Moscoe said he will make his case to the health board at its next meeting.

If neighbors can’t be forced to treat for bed bugs, those neighbors can force those around them to live with bed bugs indefinitely, or move.

Yes, bed bugs are not yet known to spread infectious diseases. However, they do cause indisputable health problems, including anxiety and lack of sleep, itchy bed bug bites, and in some cases, more serious allergic reactions.

You can read the CBC article on this issue here.

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We love Dr. Susan Jones, Entomologist

nobugsonme — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:18:57 +0000

Why?

Because she’s one of those entomologists who’s telling it like it is, to public officials who want to ignore the bed bug problem. The Columbus Dispatch quoted Jones Tuesday as saying,

“If you bury your head in the sand, you’re going to get bitten, and it’s just going to get worse and worse,” said Susan Jones, an entomology professor at Ohio State University.

And because she’s trying to convince public health officials that bed bugs are a health problem, something many health officials don’t seem to get:

“The question is: Is it a public-health issue or not?” Columbus Health Department spokesman Jose Rodriguez said. “Bedbugs are really looked upon as a nuisance issue.”

OSU’s Jones, however, said scabbing, secondary infections and the anxiety caused by fearing your own bed are serious health concerns.

Amen. It’s not just about the bed bug bites, for crying out loud.

Those alone are often more than a nuisance, but the loss of sleep, anxiety, and loss of money due to treatment or preparations for treatment (which can mean people do not get the food, health care, or other resources they need) can have even more serious health consequences for many.

Susan Jones is involved with the Cincinnati/Hamilton County Joint Bed Bug Task Force.

Code enforcement handles individual complaints, but Jones recommends a centralized master plan.

She suggested a task force that combines the expertise of pest-control, health, code-enforcement and housing agencies. Trends would be easier to spot with all the complaints and treatment numbers in one place, and a task force also could coordinate a publicity campaign to tell people how to stop the spread of bedbugs.

People should seal infested furniture in plastic before disposing of it; travelers ought to check hotel beds for pests; and exterminators need to know that bedbugs are harder to kill than most insects, experts said.

Jones works with a similar task force in Hamilton County. The group was launched after the Cincinnati Health Department received 737 bedbug complaints in 2007 - the same number as for mice, rats and roaches combined.

I wonder how New York City’s bed bug complaints stack up against our complaints for mice /rats / roaches?

The article’s basic focus is on how Columbus / Franklin County, Ohio need to step up their own response to bed bugs.

Well, you know what they say: admitting your city or county has a bed bug problem is the first step towards solving it.

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Bed bugs in another women’s shelter in Charlotte, North Carolina

nobugsonme — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 16:41:27 +0000

A Charlotte, North Carolina shelter that houses women who have suffered domestic violence has evacuated residents for several weeks while bed bugs are removed, according to the Charlotte Observer:

The Charlotte-area United Family Services domestic violence shelter has evacuated its residents to “a safe place” in order to battle a recent infestation of bedbugs, said Libby McLaughlin, vice president of development and communication. The staff anticipates reopening the shelter in two to three weeks.

But the move has added to the difficulties the women face, which include other time constraints. Shelter rules dictate that, upon arrival, residents have 30 days to find a job and another place to stay.

The bites and rashes from the bedbugs have made it hard for some women to find a job. And the medicine given to fight the itching, such as steroids or Benadryl, has triggered the addictions of some women with substance abuse problems.

“People are saying to go back home,” said one anonymous shelter resident. “I don’t have that option, because I’m not going back home.”

One would hope that the normal rules of the shelter would be adapted during such a crisis.

While removed from much more dangerous situations in their homes, these women have still been suffering from a lesser kind of “domestic crisis.” It’s a lot to expect for women who may be losing a lot of sleep and suffering from stress, visible bed bug bites, and itching (which can be quite uncomfortable) to find new jobs and a new home within thirty days.

We’ve previously reported on another Charlotte shelter, the Salvation Army women’s shelter, which houses homeless women, and which has been battling bed bugs off and on for nearly a year. The Salvation Army has apparently spent $50,000 in the last few weeks on renovations aimed at eliminating their bed bug problems.

Meanwhile, the United Family Services shelter has invested in new flooring, mattresses and bedding. It has also purchased a new dryer and new metal frame beds. (It is not mentioned in the article, but I hope they are getting good, aggressive pest control treatment as well.)

Local public health officials stress bed bugs are not a health problem,

“This is not a public health pest,” said Lynn Lathan, environmental health supervisor for the Mecklenburg County Health Department. “They’re annoying, but not transmitting disease.”

However, I personally think that a condition which can cause serious skin irritation, visible welts all over your face and body, other allergic reactions, anxiety and loss of sleep is a health concern.

Nevertheless, the women at United Family Services have worse threats to worry about:

For women in the United Family Services shelter, there’s a choice: Face the bugs in the shelter, or face abuse at home.

“I have a choice of going back to my husband and getting punched in the eye or getting eaten by bugs,” said one anonymous shelter resident.

We can only hope things are better for these women soon.

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