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Bed bugs spread when no one who can pay for treating them is responsible for treating them

nobugsonme — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:00:06 +0000

A new article from Baltimore’s City Paper is troubling.

Landlords in Baltimore who rent out single-family homes are not responsible for treating for bed bugs in those homes, even if the “single-family home” is a kind of unofficial rooming-house with fifteen or more residents. As you may guess, the residents may also lack the funds to treat their homes for bed bugs. (Owners of multi-family units are responsible for treatment for bed bugs, though many are finding this extremely challenging, both financially, as well as because bed bugs are just really hard to get rid of.)

Many people in Baltimore, including Mark Adams, who is profiled in this article, attribute the “cause” of bed bugs to their neighbors’ Latino/a ethnicity. And this is where it starts to get ugly.

The bottom line is that if your neighbors have bed bugs and do not get proper treatment, you will probably get bed bugs, and you will not be able to get rid of them.
This is true whatever your neighbors’ ethnicity, country of origin, religion, or economic class.

The real problem here is that no one is required to treat these single-family homes for bed bugs.

Edward Ericson, Jr. writes for City Paper, that

in the southeastern Baltimore City neighborhoods of Butchers Hill, Upper Fells Point, Fells Prospect, and Highlandtown, the [bed bug] trouble has often attached itself to and spread out from de facto rooming houses filled with extended families and working men.

And

The Baltimore City Health Department itself acknowledges the correlation, though not the causation, in a “Bed Bug Response Plan” it quietly released on April 20. “Pest control companies and the Hispanic Apostolate noted the pronounced bed bug problem in the Latino community, perhaps due to travel and frequent relocations,” the plan notes.

Asked during a June 8 phone conversation to expand on that observation, three Baltimore Health Department officials say nothing for several seconds. “I think that’s where we’ve seen a fair amount of our complaints coming in,” Interim Commissioner Olivia Farrow finally says, speaking of the Latino community. But she and others stress, bed bugs are not confined to the Hispanic population.

“Bed bugs don’t discriminate,” says Sarah Norman, chief of the city Lead, Asthma and Injury Prevention bureau. “All they care about is whether you’re alive.”

Anyone who doubts this should spend some time on our Bedbugger Forums. Although most posters are anonymous, you do get a sense of the diversity of ethnic, national, and socio-economic backgrounds represented.

However, let’s leave aside habits of “travel and frequent relocations,” for a moment and consider the fact that the residents of this single-family row-house are likely unable to pay for their own bed bug treatment. They may lack information about bed bugs and how difficult they are to treat. They may not know where to get help (if, indeed, there is anywhere to get help.)

The city rightly acknowledges that the bed bug blame game does not work:

In a four-way telephone conversation on June 8, city health officials explain that fixing blame for a given infestation is effectively beyond the ken of local government. “We do get a lot of bedbugs going from place to place,” Sarah Norman says. “The difficulty is verifying. Do they have some evidence?”

“You have to get into both properties,” Olivia Farrow adds. “It’s a lengthy investigation.”

Add to that gaps in the city’s laws that make the owners of multi-family dwellings responsible for pest eradication, but don’t obligate the owners of single-family houses to fumigate, no matter how many people are living there, and code-enforcement appears to be a non-starter–at least where the Health Department is concerned.

“So the real thing is education,” Norman says. “What we do is we knock on the door and we really try to create a relationship with the neighbors.”

The Health Department is currently trying to snare federal grants that might, if they come through, help at least some of the city’s low-income families shoulder the cost of eradicating bed-bug infestations. “We are hoping to make a national model about how this kind of thing can be done,” Kasameyer says at the June 16 community meeting.

(Emphasis mine.)

That’s good news. Please make it happen quickly.

The bottom line is that — since the cost of bed bug treatment in Baltimore lies with them — single-family home tenants and small-scale multi-unit landlords may need help in paying for treatment. They also need to educate residents and enforce treatment of those single-family homes.

Baltimore clearly needs affordable, effective pest control to be available to everyone.

And when bed bugs are spreading from row-house to row-house, it really could soon be everyone who has them.

Be sure to check out the article, and the interesting link to a map of bed bug infestations reported to Baltimore’s 311 since 2006.

Update (7/2):

Compare this story from ABC: “Southeast Baltimore Infested with Bed Bugs”

What a difference it makes when the focus is on neighborhoods.

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Baltimore’s new Bed Bug Response Plan

nobugsonme — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 20:40:23 +0000

We are happy that Renee of New York vs Bed Bugs alerted us to the news that Baltimore is now implementing a bed bug control strategy, which includes

bed bug inspections,
training for Baltimore City Health Department Healthy Homes Division staff in detection and control of bed bugs,
development of English- and Spanish-language educational materials, as well as several Spanish-language outreach campaigns, and (as Renee writes)

training Baltimore City public housing maintenance and management staff and, apparently, impressing upon them “the need to immediately respond to bed bug complaints.”

For more, see Baltimore’s Bed Bug Response Plan.

Baltimore City Health Department has a bed bug page, which lets readers know what to do in case they suspect bed bugs. Unfortunately, at this time it only mentions what “homeowners” should do.

It is crucial, in my mind, that local fact sheets direct renters as to what they should do when they suspect bed bugs.

Also, the fact sheet advises:

Avoid “insecticide bombs” and “foggers” in your home. These products can spread hazardous chemicals throughout your home.

It is correct that people with bed bugs should avoid “bombs” and “foggers” when treating bed bugs. But the reasons are not just related to the spread of chemicals. In some cases, they are a fire hazard.

But as important is the fact that entomologists tell us bombs and foggers can disperse bed bugs and drive them deeper into our homes. They’re specifically a bad idea with bed bugs for this reason.

Still, we are very glad Baltimore has a bed bug page and that they’re taking coordinated action to reduce the spread of bed bugs, and help citizens learn how to identify and get rid of the problem.

The bed bug page also provides links at the top to download PDFs of the press release, Baltimore’s bed bug plan, the EPA bed bug fact sheet in English and Spanish.

Update (4/27): and now the Baltimore Sun catches up with New York vs. Bed Bugs, reporting about the new Baltimore bed bug plan and website.Similar Posts:

More on the National Bed Bug Summit

nobugsonme — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 02:19:56 +0000

Renee of New York vs. Bed Bugs has more details on the upcoming EPA National Bed Bug Summit (April 14-15) in Arlington, VA):

Sharon Heath of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene will speak at EPA’s National Bed Bug Summit on April 14. It’s a portion of the session titled “How Public Health Agencies View Bed Bug Infestations,” with Mike Herring from CDC, Dr. Camille Jones from the Cincinnati Health Department and Sarah Norman from Baltimore City Health Department.

and…

EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs has made the meeting agenda (PDF) available. Topics include bed bug basics, impact on public and private housing, control methods and challenges and the government response to bed bugs.

For the details, and the links to the agenda and details on the webinar broadcast, see NYC Department of Health at National Bed Bug Summit (plus agenda and webinar details).Similar Posts:

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