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NYC Department of Education advertises for bed bug killer

nobugsonme — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:41:52 +0000

The New York City DOE is hiring someone to identify and kill bed bugs in NYC schools:

The Department of Education is advertising for a killer — soliciting bids for the “identification and extermination of bedbugs within the schools citywide.”

A listing in yesterday’s City Record said a contract with a pest-control professional would last up to three years and cost the department less than $100,000.

A department spokeswoman said the listing was a contingency measure, not a response to an increase in bugs.

Though, to be honest, as bed bugs increase outside the schools, we can only assume they’re increasing inside schools as well.

And that City Record listing? (You can search here, for keywords “bed bugs):

BEDBUG IDENTIFICATION AND EXTERMINATION - Competitive Sealed Bids – PIN# Z1325040 – Due 12-7-2009 AT 5:00 PM

This is An Open Market Agreement and is intended to cover, during the period of the contract, the requirements for Identification and Extermination of bed bugs within the schools citywide under the jurisdiction of the Department of Education of the City of New York City as outlined in the OMA Document. The contract resulting from this OMA will be for the period commencing with the execution of the contract by the Department of Education and will expire on December 31, 2012 or with the expenditures of $99,999.99, whichever comes first. Provided that $99,999.99 has not been expended prior to June 30, 2011, the Department of Education, at its sole option may further extend this agreement for a final period of up to one hundred eighty (180) days.
Bid Opening: Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 11:00 AM.

And as every New York City pest pro will know, and this post discusses in more detail, there are limits on the kinds of pesticides which can be used in city-owned buildings, under Local Law 37 (PDF), including pyrethrins.

Yes, pyrethrins are no miracle cure for bed bugs, but they are often still an integral part of bed bug treatment plans.

Is $33K a year really going to get this job done?Similar Posts:

Cambridge, Massachusetts City Council to look into how to address city’s bed bug problems

nobugsonme — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:11:01 +0000

Wicked Local Cambridge (Massachusetts) reports the following in a brief recap of last night’s Cambridge City Council meeting:

Councilors voted to look further into bedbug extermination protocol and ways make the associated costs for residents more affordable.

I had some trouble with this video of the meeting, but the relevant part is item five and begins about 2:16.

(This is a paraphrased account of what I heard): the Cambridge City Council asks the Public Health Department to work with Cambridge Housing Authority and other agencies to address the bed bug problem.

Councillor Craig Kelley speaks briefly but eloquently, suggesting the city needs a one-stop place to go to find out about bed bugs, and an education program so people will learn (for example) not to pick up discarded furniture. According to Kelley, the problem is partly one of various agencies not knowing what to do, what best practices are.

(Again, that’s a rough paraphrase of what I could catch. My computer did not like the video format.)

These are problems that sound very familiar to me and will probably sound familiar to others in New York and elsewhere.

We look forward to hearing more about Cambridge’s attempts to do more about bed bugs.

Similar Posts:

None Found

Rachael Ray Show not bad, but not quite right on bed bugs

nobugsonme — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:06:51 +0000

It was not the worst segment we’ve seen, not by a long shot.

It was great to see that Rachael Ray spent the first fourteen minutes of her show on this important topic. It is crucial that everyone learns about bed bugs, and I am glad to see the focus on them here. No doubt many people will know more about bed bugs because of this segment.

I was also glad to see the range of information provided – the emphasis on how bed bugs will hide in the smallest cracks, how they can live in your home (not just in your bed), and the detailed footage of Nathalie’s bed bug prep (including 15 loads of laundry being dried on hot by each of the two bedbugged roommates). Nathalie also drives home the point that a bed bug experience is expensive (she estimated $1000 for materials and treatment).

That said, there were some points which were erroneous or not quite right:

First, as the partial recap on the Rachael Ray site notes,

Dr. Ian Smith reassures [bed bug sufferer Nathalie] that bed bugs may be disgusting, but there are no real health consequences,

The World Health Organization would probably reject that statement. They recently produced a publication stating that noted,

Besides the effects of direct bites, airborne common bedbug allergens that are always released during infestations may produce bronchial asthma. Within a group of 54 asthmatic Egyptian patients, 37.1% reacted positively to a common bedbug head and thorax extract, and 50.1% reacted positively to an abdominal common bedbug extract (Abou Gamra et al., 1991). Numerous routine bedbug bites can contribute to anaemia and may even make a person more susceptible to common diseases (Usinger, 1966; Snetsinger, 1997). Some people can develop a general malaise from numerous bedbug bites; that, along with the loss of sleep and extreme itching of bug bites, can lower a person’s vitality
and make individuals listless and almost constantly uncomfortable.

PDF download: The Public Health Significance of Urban Pests, 2008: 138-139.

Bed bugs are not currently known to spread infectious diseases. But bed bugs can lead to health problems ranging from the very common itchy skin rashes, anxiety and lack of sleep, to (in rare cases) anaphylaxis, a life-threatening reaction.

Viewers were also told about treatment:

Bed bugs won’t go away on their own, but if you catch them early you can avoid an infestation.

That’s true, but, then the program then went on to suggest self-treatment as a first option:

Start with inexpensive sprays and dusts from the hardware store to treat the affected areas. “Some work, some don’t work; it’s really trial and error,” Dr. Ian says. “When you use a spray at home, you also have to use the dust [spray] because the dust will get into the cracks and crevasses where the spray doesn’t get into and the dust will last longer. So it’s a combo deal!”

I don’t agree that people should start by self-treating in most cases, and I don’t think people should be encouraged to rush out and apply sprays and dusts; if someone is going to do their own bed bug treatment, they need to research the methodoloy and health precautions. People commonly misapply the dust diatomaceous earth, a potentially useful tool which can be a health risk if inhaled into your lungs and which may not be effective at killing bed bugs if misapplied.

And on the question of “catching the infestation early,” let’s face it — most people with bed bugs think they have a small infestation and that they caught it early. We hear from people who assume this because they have not seen bed bugs, or have seen only one or a few, even we know though you can have a good number of bed bugs before ever seeing one or a few. Other people may assume they have not been bitten or just started being bitten by bed bugs. I so wish Dr. Ian Smith had pointed out that many people do not react at all to bed bug bites. You can be bitten quite a lot without ever reacting, and we have heard other people go on being bitten for a while with no reaction, before eventually reacting quite a bit (in some cases, seemingly reacting all-at-once to multiple bites).

In other words, many people are in a poor position to judge how small or new their infestation is. And it’s a common story for people claiming small, early infestations to need multiple careful treatments from a professional who knows how to get rid of bed bugs, before the problem is finally gone.

The Rachel Ray show did show a sample of live bed bugs, and noted the difference between “babies” and adults. Not a perfect explanation of the life stages, but better than most media reports, which only show an adult bed bug. Unfortunately, Dr. Ian Smith said bed bugs were “brown-black” and “about the the size of a pencil eraser,” which may throw off many people, before he later showed some younger, smaller nymphs.

Much more should be done by those in the media to demonstrate the relative life stages of bed bugs, and the appearance of the smallest first instar nymphs before and after feeding. Lou Sorkin’s photos of bed bug life stages, including the comparative photos of fed and unfed nymphs shown on our Bed Bug Photos page,) are a great place to start.

The show talked about tools including encasements (which Dr. Smith called “sealants”), the Packtite, and the Bed Bug Registry, though Dr. Ian Smith was a bit misleading in presenting the website in the following way:

“The EPA just had it’s first-ever bed bug conference because it’s such a problem, and they now have a website bedbugregistry.com where you can find out whether or not there’s an issue in your city.”

First, it sounds like the EPA runs the Bed Bug Registry, which of course, it doesn’t.

Secondly, it implies that if “there’s an issue in your city,” you can find out on the registry.

That’s not necessarily true, and this is an important point – we have heard people who were surprised to have bed bugs in a new home or hotel because it had received no listing on the Bed Bug Registry. In fact, you will only see bed bug reports for your city, town, hotel, or building if someone reported them there; registry users are a self-selecting group, and though the site continues to grow and thrive, most people probably do not know it exists, or don’t add their listings for other reasons.

Another annoyance: when the show displayed an image of a heavily-stained mattress (far and away the most bed bug feces I’ve seen on a mattress, ever), Dr. Ian Smith said, “now that’s an infestation,” as if a much less serious case of bed bugs was not “an infestation.” Smith is right that it is an obvious case of neglect, where someone really is not paying attention, but I don’t agree the term “bed bug infestation” should only be applied in the most severe cases.

If the term “infestation” is to be so-used, then give us a new word for a bed bug issue (which may be as small as one bed bug, ten, or fifty). Some suggestions in this comment thread, where we deal with the “infestation” terminology.

And did you play bed bug bingo as you watched, like some forum participants?

All in all, I have to stress I am impressed with the length of this segment and the value of much information presented. I appreciated the human segment which was fairly well-presented. (Incidentally, Nathalie, one of the two bedbugged roommates, said she worked as a bed bug researcher and writer for M&M Environmental, a NYC firm that treats for bed bugs!)

But I can’t help wishing that the news media would take more advantage of bed bug experts, including the more relevant “doctors,” — Dr. Michael Potter, Dr. Louis Sorkin, Dr. Jody Gangloff-Kaufmann, and others — entomologists who study bed bugs and who are much more qualified to help the public understand the key issues surrounding bed bugs.

Update 10/31:

We knew Nathalie worked for M&M. However, you may have seen her face before; she did a series of youtube videos for M&M about various pest control issues, including bed bugs, some of which are included in this forum post.Similar Posts:

Who pays for bed bug treatment in a rented NYC Condo?

nobugsonme — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 07:58:45 +0000

On Friday, the New York Times Real Estate Q&A clarified the issue of who pays for bed bug treatment in rented condo units:

“The condominium owner would have the primary responsibility,” said Robin LoGuidice, a Manhattan real estate lawyer. The respective responsibilities between the owner and the board are governed by the condo’s bylaws. But if the building has three or more residential units, the registered managing agent may have some responsibility as well, she said.

Ms. LoGuidice said that the tenant should write to the owner and request immediate remediation and send a copy of the request to the board of managers and the registered managing agent.

[Emphasis mine.]

See: Dealing With Bedbugs in a Rented Condo – Real Estate Q&A Blog – NYTimes.com.Similar Posts:

Yet another person tries to self-treat for bed bugs and sets building on fire

nobugsonme — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:17:04 +0000

Cincinnati.com reports that fourteen people living in a Hamilton County, Ohio apartment building were displaced overnight by a fire caused by someone spraying alcohol-based pesticides while smoking:

Fire investigators have determined the blaze was started by a resident spraying for bed bugs while smoking, said Capt. Steve Conn, spokesman for the Colerain Township Fire Department.

“They were spraying for bed bugs, and it had alcohol in it,” Conn said. “One of the residents lit up a cigarette, and it basically flashed and started the room on fire.”

[Emphasis mine.]

This is very dangerous, obviously, and it is a good thing no one was seriously injured, and that most of the residents have been able to return home.

This Hamilton County Public Health document (click for PDF) reminds residents who rent that

If you rent a home or apartment within Hamilton County (excluding cities of Cincinnati, Norwood, Sharonville or Springdale) and you think you have bed bugs, please contact the Hamilton County General Health District at (513) 946-7832. Health District sanitarians will work with your landlord to eliminate the problem.

Self-treating for bed bugs is often ineffective and can be dangerous, as this story reminds us. And this is not the first fire caused by attempts to get rid of bed bugs.

People in Hamilton County have other options for bed bug treatment; what about tenants and low-income homeowners living elsewhere who don’t?Similar Posts:

Bed bugs bite Edmonton

nobugsonme — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 05:25:31 +0000

The Edmonton Sun reports that

Swarms of bloodthirsty bedbugs are taking over entire apartment buildings across the city, and public health officials warn that it’s only getting worse.

And how do bed bugs come to take over “entire apartment buildings”?

Step one: when tenants complain of bed bugs, treat once and never follow up.

[Tenant April Lariviere] first noticed the bugs in her furniture last spring. It’s gotten so bad in her northside apartment that she’s had to throw out their mattresses, couches and chairs. They now sleep on air mattresses on the living room floor.

“We’re living in Tupperware containers,” she said. “Everything has to be sealed up to keep the bedbugs off.”

She said the building was fumigated in the spring, but the bugs came right back.

“Nothing’s happened since them,” she said. “There was no follow-up.”

[Emphasis mine.]

Bed bugs are not new to Edmonton; the city has been struggling for years.

What are the laws regarding bed bugs in Edmonton? According to the CBC,

Alberta’s public health act and housing regulations require a landlord to provide a tenant with a healthy and habitable environment. A tenant with bedbugs is advised to report the dwelling to the regional health authority. Health inspectors will then assess the problem and in most cases order the landlord to take care of it.

In the Sun article, Ken Dong, a senior environmental health official with Alberta Health, notes matters are complicated in the building Lariviere lives in, because many tenants are renting their suites from individual condo owners who live out of town. But Alberta Health is now on the case:

After several complaints from tenants, Dong said, a health inspector recently went through the place again and informally told the management company to work with the condominium board and tenants to get rid of the pests.

Dong acknowledged that it’s complicated because most of the suites’ owners live out of town and rent them out.

He said inspectors will continue to monitor the building, and if they’re not satisfied with how the infestation is being handled, they can slap the condo board with a formal order. Failure to comply with the order could result in fines. They can also order suites vacated.

It would be a shame if the tenants lost their homes after having suffered from bed bugs for so long. Let’s hope it does not come to that.

Living in the Edmonton area?

Capital Health has a Bed Bug Prevention PDF and a Bedbugs Fact Sheet; you can download both here.Similar Posts:

Colleges react to bed bugs: Loyola (Chicago), Boston University, Brigham Young (Hawaii)

nobugsonme — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:44:23 +0000

There are a lot of reports about bed bugs in colleges this week, in the wake of the recent high profile John Jay College bed bug infestation (and the less high profile Manhattan College bed bug troubles).

The Loyola Phoenix reports that Loyola University in Chicago was treating bed bugs with steam and pesticides, encasing infested mattresses, and (students claim) telling them not to talk about their infestations:

In addition to the rooms being treated, items that were on top of beds or on the floor near the beds were removed from the rooms to be cleaned. According to [Andrew Naylor, assistant director of Facilities Operations], these items were taken to a company that specializes in cleaning items that housed bedbugs or came into contact with them.

Throughout the process, residents affected by the bedbug incident were communicated with on a consistent basis, said Naylor; however, residents on other floors were not informed of the incident. “It’s certainly not like we’re trying to keep a secret. We just didn’t feel it was necessary to alarm the whole building,” said Naylor.

[Juniors Mike Fernandez and Eric Finnegan] said they were informed to not talk about the incident. “They told us ‘don’t say anything,’ because they didn’t want to start a mass panic and have all the students worry, which is understandable until they got the problem under control,” Fernandez said.

[Emphasis mine.]

Ke Alaka’i reports that Brigham Young University in Hawaii is giving dorm RAs Steri-Fab for treating bed bugs and eggs; Ke Alaka’i says

Bedbugs live in both the seams of and in the crisscross stitching of mattresses. They are visible by pulling down on the edge of the cording.

However, as we understand it, Steri-Fab is not recommended as a sole treatment option (Dr. Michael Potter found Steri-Fab had a “very low egg mortality”) , and bed bugs can live anywhere in a room, not just on the seams of mattresses.

The most encouraging story this week comes from Boston University, where the Daily Free Press reports that housing officials proactively searched on-campus housing for bed bugs in August.

Boston University housing officials have identified the bedbug infestation in dormitories such as Student Village and Myles-Standish Hall as a serious concern within the last year.

The infestations don’t just occur in older dormitories — they can show up in any building, new or old. There were five StuVi1 apartments infested with bedbugs at the start of the academic year, Director of Housing Marc Robillard said.

“Bedbugs travel with people. It has nothing to do with hygiene,” he said. “Some of the nicest hotels in the world have bedbugs because of the transition of people coming into their properties.”

In August, housing officials checked each of the larger residences for bedbugs after the dorms housed different groups during the summer, Robillard said. Housing officials said they are currently unaware of any active cases on campus.

Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences graduate student Emily Wilkinson said she found out her four-bedroom StuVi apartment, which she shared with roommates last year, was one of the five infested.

“I guess they found the bedbugs when they were doing an inspection so they didn’t want to put us [in our apartment],” she said. “They moved us into StuVi 2 and told us it would take two weeks for the whole process to happen. It took more than three, which was annoying.”

[Emphasis mine.]

There’s no guarantee that bed bugs can be eliminated in two or three weeks, and it would be interesting to know how the college performs these proactive bed bug inspections and how it signs off on housing units as being bed bug-free after bed bug treatment.

However, it is a good idea for colleges to have residences proactively inspected for bed bugs; remember, not everyone reacts to bed bug bites, and it can take some time before one sees obvious signs of a bed bug infestation.Similar Posts:

Bed bugs in apartment complexes: bed bug “lotharios” and “Nintento Trojan horses”

nobugsonme — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 23:03:46 +0000

Mark Sheperdigian has an excellent new article in Pest Management Professional about what apartment building managers need to be aware of when dealing with a bed bug infestation — the often unconsidered aspects of multi-unit dwelling life which help bed bugs to spread from unit to unit.

We’re all familiar with the problem of a single household discarding its contents (often unnecessarily) which then spread bed bugs to everyone who collects something from the pile.

However, bed bugs may spread easily in ways which are less obvious.

For example, have you also considered the potential for bed bugs being spread around a complex by a gentleman caller with multiple lady friends in the building, or by the visiting meals on wheels volunteer?

Or the way bed bugs might move around with adolescents who troop from one kid’s bedroom to another with Nintendos, game chairs, and other gear in tow? (These are what Sheperdigian cleverly dubs “Nintendo Trojan horses”).

Sheperdigian suggests apartment managers need to try to develop

programs that work to find and encompass all the networks, families and friendships that facilitate the move of bed bugs across a community.

Although I am skeptical most apartment managers won’t bother doing this — let’s face it, we hear so many won’t choose a knowledgeable professional, have adjacent units inspected, or follow-up on treatments — Sheperdigian shows us how very important these networks can be, if we really want to get rid of bed bugs in the building.

Instead of only searching adjacent units in a clover-leaf pattern, apartment managers may want PCOs to also inspect units frequented by tenants of an infested unit, or whose inhabitants are frequent visitors of an infested unit, or whose owners have the same visitors as the infested unit.

Sounds confusing, right? All the more reason, frankly, to consider just doing a careful inspection of the entire building.

Other recommendations Shepherdgian outlines for apartment managers include

Telling tenants about the bed bug problem and educating them about bed bugs (rather than keeping mum about the problem);
Setting up assistance programs for those needing help (such as the elderly or infirm);
Implementing programs for discarding items which must be removed, so removals don’t spread bed bugs in the building; and
Reaching out to regular visitors (like that meals-on-wheels volunteer) to make sure they aren’t re-infesting units they visit.

More and more, apartment managers are talking about how to prevent and respond to bed bug outbreaks. Last week Renee brought to our attention a new draft training manual created by the Columbus Apartment Association (with the assistance of Dr. Susan Jones).

Bed bugs are difficult to treat, even for the most well-meaning and attentive building managers. I applaud Mark Sheperdigian for outlining some of the angles which are commonly missed, and I know you’ll want to read the rest of the article here: Bed Bugs in the Apartment Department at Pest Management Professional.Similar Posts:

Langdon Mill Apartments: now 85% bed bug-free

nobugsonme — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 04:24:50 +0000

Thank goodness the building is under the care of a community organization and landlord that is not willing to put up with this building being only 85% bed bug-free.

Remember this campaign to free a 20-unit Manchester, New Hampshire building (Langdon Mill Apartments) of bed bugs?

A group called NH Bed Bugs, spearheaded by members of the American Friends Service Committee and the Granite State Organizing Project, went to great lengths to try and solve the bed bug problem at Langdon Mill.

As the Concord Monitor reported Sunday,

They moved the families out of the building. They washed and dried all of their clothes and bedding on high heat. They threw out almost all of the furniture they owned – not just mattresses and couches, but tables and desks, too – and solicited donated replacements. After exterminators had sprayed everything, the families came back.

Unfortunately, when new mattresses were being brought back in on Wednesday, three units still showed signs of a bed bug infestation.

Though vastly improved, the building will continue to be treated.

Make no mistake, it is a vast improvement: the building has had bed bugs since 2005, and when NH Bed Bugs stepped in, every unit was infested.

NH Bed Bugs threw itself into the project, and learned on a large scale what individual bedbuggers learn: how difficult and expensive it is to get rid of bed bugs.

Maggie Fogarty, of the American Friends Service Committee told the Concord Monitor,

“. . . we couldn’t ask these refugee tenants to run every piece of clothing they had through a high heat cycle in the dryer. It cost us thousands of dollars to do it for them,” Fogarty said. “They certainly couldn’t afford to go out and buy all new stuff, even secondhand stuff.

“One of the problems we have not figured out is, how do you do this if you’re of limited means? How do you do this effectively?” she said. “It’s a very expensive problem.”

And Fogarty is mindful too of the difficulty of helping people get rid of this problem:

“We cannot convene hundreds of volunteers, and tens of thousands of dollars, for every building in New Hampshire,” Fogarty said. “We have to step back and look, systemically, how we can prevent this problem from spreading.”

[Emphasis mine.]

There are two important points here:

Bed bug preparations and treatment are time consuming and costly. If people cannot afford the costs of bed bug preparations and treatment, or cannot manage the physical labor, then bed bugs will continue to thrive and spread.
Bed bugs are a fact of life and cannot be completely avoided.

Some steps may help curtail their spread and/or help stop them in their tracks when they are brought in:

Everyone needs to be educated about how to avoid bringing bed bugs home;
Residential buildings, schools, office buildings, public transportation, and other locations need regular professional inspections to detect bed bugs;
Cracks and wall voids may need to be dusted and sealed, and other preventive measures taken to foil the odd bed bugs which may be brought in.

Similar Posts:

Bed bug “luau” on the Camino to Santiago

nobugsonme — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 06:02:40 +0000

The bed bugs are still biting Pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain. We last posted about bed bugs on the popular Spanish pilgrimage route exactly a year ago. There was so much bed bug trouble in various lodgings on the road to Santiago that the government was planning to close its own hostels for pilgrims for 15 days last winter to try and get rid of bed bugs on the route.

Of course, when pilgrims come from around the world, it is inevitable that bed bugs will be continually reintroduced. And since summer is the most popular time for people to travel the Camino, it’s no surprise there is a lot of chatter about bed bugs among Camino bloggers and discussion board participants.

Yesterday, pilgrim and blogger Lisa Fullam offered a humorous perspective on being bitten in a hotel she and a companion stayed at in Burgos:

I lay in bed not sleeping. Was it the very tasty chocolate we’d had after dinner? Or was it the itching? I itched idly, thinking I’d perhaps encountered a hungry mosquito on the road. Then I noticed that I was itching in new places, which seemed unlikely if mosquitoes were the culprit. Then I heard…was it the sound of tiny drums? Then…a kind of festive chant, very soft and high-pitched, almost nasal. The drums increased in rhythm and urgency. It was eerie in the dark. I scratched again, and finally decided to turn on a light.

They were everywhere. Hundreds of them. Bedbugs, celebrating something very much like a luau, and the occasion of the feast was me. Some were dancing in little circles wearing ceremonial masks, doubtless thanking whoever their gods are for this more than generous feast. Others carried little torches as they scurried around accompanying the elderly or the lame to the party. (At least some looked elderly, being gray-haired and slightly hunched, if bedbugs can be described as hunched. The crutches identified the lame–even with 6 legs, sometimes life leaves one down a few legs, needing some help.) Others carried tiny bowls of…coleslaw? Potato salad? Jello? What are the side dishes of a bedbug luau?

[Emphasis mine.]

Sometimes humor is the only way to get through such an experience. Fullam notes that they will be washing all their belongings, and we hope they manage to enjoy the rest of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela without bed bug bites, and — most importantly — that they do not take them to subsequent destinations.

I know you’ll want to read the rest of this amusing entry on the Process of Pilgrimage blog.

Another recent report from the Camino: Tony, a hospitalero — or volunteer warden of one of the Camino’s refugios or albergues (simple hostels for pilgrims walking or cycling the pilgrimage routes) — blogs in a post entitled “Bed Bugs and Broomsticks” about the arrival of a pilgrim who had been exposed to bed bugs on the previous night in another refugio:

A lad from the Czech Republic arrived yesterday afternoon. He was covered in bedbug bites: all down his legs and over his back. He thought he got them in León. What a mess!

Well, being the sort of hospitaleros we are, we agreed to let him stay. Since Anne is a trained nurse, she took charge, with Peter’s help. All of his clothes went in the washer at a high temperature and everything else was sprayed within an inch of its life.

Initially, we said he could sleep in the garden, but relented and let him sleep on the floor of the library. I gave his some antihistamine because it looked as if he was having an allergic reaction. That ensured he had a good night’s sleep!

He was a really nice lad and extremely grateful; many places would have told him to go away, or, what’s worse, let him stay and propagate the pest even further. Hopefully, he’s all clear now.

It is wonderful that the volunteers who staff these accommodations are becoming educated about bed bugs and how to prevent their spread.

Education is, of course, our most important weapon against bed bugs.Similar Posts: