All this time we’ve been waiting and hoping to see cities and states, in a painfully gradual trickle, taking action on the national bed bug epidemic. I confess I’m rather amazed at this turn of events.

On May 15, Representative G. K. Butterfield (D-North Carolina) introduced H. R. 6068, aka the Don’t Let the Bed Bugs Bite Act of 2008. The bill’s cosponsors are: Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), Rep. Donald Payne (D-New Jersey), Rep. Doris Matsui (D-California), and Rep. William Jefferson (D-Louisiana).

This bill would establish a grant program for states to inspect hotel rooms:

whereby not fewer than 20 percent of rooms in lodging facilities in such State are inspected annually for cimex lectularius, commonly know as the bed bug.

The grants can be used to conduct inspections, train inspectors and educate hotel managers and staff in bed bug prevention and eradication.

It’s significant that Butterfield evidently felt compelled to deflect ridicule:

“Unfortunately, it’s not a joke,” Butterfield said in a news release. “Fifty years after being virtually eliminated, bed bugs are back all across the country.”

I am mindful that in 2004, UK urban pest management expert Clive Boase, in describing an “epidemiological approach” to bed bug infestations, wrote that:

Such an epidemiological approach can also help to highlight improved control strategies. For example, anything that can be done to reduce the time taken to identify and completely eliminate current infestations (e.g., the development of effective monitoring devices, or of more effective treatments) will reduce the opportunity for current infestations to give rise to new infestations, before being eventually eliminated. Such an approach will also indicate that infestations in high-turnover locations such as hotel rooms, are particularly likely to give rise to more secondary infestations in the community, and should therefore be seen as ‘priority’ infestations for control. [emphasis added]

Source (link is PDF): Boase, C. J. (2004) Bed-bugs - reclaiming our cities. Biologist, 51 (1), 1-4

I mention this here because, although the logic is familiar to those of us who are well-versed in bed bug issues, it may escape the understanding of people — policy and opinion makers alike — who have yet to become acquainted with the most basic features of the bed bug epidemic.

I look forward to seeing the story of this bill develop. Yes, it should surprise no one that the hotel industry is first in line for legislative notice. But does it matter? Are the larger goals of achieving control of bed bugs still served? We will see.

Is this the biggest surprise in our bed bug world to date? I don’t know. I remember my reaction when Cincinnati committed itself to taking action and we first realized what the possibilities were.

So, weigh in, please. Let’s hear it all.

• Given that they spread like wildfire, why did bed bugs take 30 years to come back?
• Bed bugs in hotels: how to report (and check up on) bed bug infestations
• the hotel industry lies: bed bugs in hotels as rare as Asian flu (i.e. Bird flu)
• inspectors find 600 unsanitized mattresses at Charlotte, N.C. used furniture store

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Gale Brewer (Manhattan 6th District) has been at the forefront of the efforts to introduce meaningful bed bug legislation in the New York City Council for the past three years. We recently had an update on those efforts.

In January of this year, as the city launched its bed bug seminars, Council Member Brewer had this to say to NY1:

“The bottom line is bed bugs must be dealt with. And they are a mental health issue if they are not a physical health issue,” said City Councilwoman Gale Brewer. “New Yorkers really need to know their government is behind them in trying to get rid of bedbugs.”

My own theory for why these efforts have not yet yielded control measures that are appropriate to the high levels of infestation in New York City is that the stigma of bed bugs prevents many New Yorkers from voicing their concerns, asking for help and supporting the legislative proposals.

Or could it be that there aren’t enough bed bugs in New York City!? Is there or isn’t there an epidemic? Will you come to the open house to meet Council Member Brewer and tell her what you think?

Thanks to Crawledon for the open house info!

GALE BREWER’S SPRING OPEN HOUSE

Sunday, May 18, 4-7PM & Monday, May 19, 5:30-8:30 PM

Council Member Gale A. Brewer’s District Office at 563 Columbus Ave. (at 87th St.)

Refreshments

Details via Manhattan Community Board No. 4 news.

• Gale Brewer’s Bed Bug Update
• NYC Bed Bug Task Force / City Council Update
• More on New York’s response to bed bugs
• New York Magazine on bed bugs

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Val Kilmer is going to Vancouver to shoot an eco-thriller, The Thaw. The story follows a group of students that discover an ancient parasite frozen inside a prehistoric wooly mammoth. The parasite comes back to life as the mammoth is thawed out, threatening the students and possibly spreading across the world.

Why do I care?

Director Mark Lewis tells Dread Central that the parasitic monster was inspired by bed bugs and how vulnerable we all really are to Mother Nature.

Indeed.

And yikes!

*Thanks to hopelessnomo for the tip.

• Infested student apartment building at Wright State University, Dayton
• Stanford U bed bugs: being fought with enthusiasm and wisdom
• Bedbugs in literature
• Warning to Bracken County, KY: don’t get caught in the bed bug blame game

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Author Paul Bello interviewed PCOs in various cities about their current bed bug-fighting tactics, including Austin Frishman of AMF Pest Management Services in Boca Raton, Fla., who did many bed bug jobs forty or so years ago, and said of those times, “When I was a technician, we used cyanide egg gas pellets.” Do not try this at home, please.

“Bed bugs are not a simple problem to get rid of,” stresses Frishman. “They require knowledge and a willingness to work hard. As an industry, we are needed more now than ever.”

Ain’t that the truth.

The article offers these recommendations to professionals dealing with Sneaky Simes:

Bed Bug Management: Steps to Success

* Properly train your service technicians.
* Provide customers with written pre-treatment preparation instructions.
* Provide customers with a clearly written description of the scope of your services and reasonable expectations.
* Ensure your service agreement states what you intended.
* Provide your customers with viable prevention recommendations.
* Be thorough.
* Use all viable control means available.
* Use non-traditional control techniques, combined with insecticide treatments.
* Use suitable vacuums.
* Use suitable steamers.
* Use the best-available products at the appropriate label rates.
* Use mattress encasements.
* Follow up in a timely and adequate fashion.
* Consider getting additional help for problem bed bug accounts.

Part 2 is said to be “coming in April” but doesn’t seem to be available online yet.

Thanks to hopelessnomo for the tip!

• FAQ: advice on getting treatment to eliminate your bed bugs
• Consumers, before you hire one, find out what that bed bug dog can do!
• how stealthy bed bugs can be
• new mattress protectors available

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The intellectually challenged woman who had been part of our lives for the past two years exists in a complicated, yet porous social safety net. Living semi-independently, she has access to a support worker about four hours a week who helps with everything from shopping to doctor appointments to hygiene to money management to just talking with her on the phone when she’s lonely.

But this is a bed bug website, so you know where I am headed, right?

Yes, she got bed bugs.

Mohan noted how devastating bed bugs were to this woman:

It’s hard to give quality care for someone who has the mental development of a six-year-old in just four hours a week. When her apartment was overrun with bedbugs, all her belongings were thrown out without proper explanation to her. She had to start all over again, including relocating.

This bed bug case may have been mismanaged. In most instances, throwing everything out is not a good idea. It is not necessary, costs the resident a lot of money and heartache, and doesn’t actually solve the problem. It also can help spread the bed bugs to surrounding neighbors. Most PCOs we know don’t tell people to throw everything away, but instead treat mattresses and furniture, direct people to encase their mattress, and give instructions on how to wash and dry clothing, so most or all belongings can be saved.

To throw away a disabled person’s things without even explaining it to her is simply horrible.

Besides the need for thoughtful and proper bed bug treatment, this heartbreaking story also reminds us of the need for better emergency social services for people with bed bugs.

It is not just people with intellectual challenges, as this woman, who might need extra help with preparing for bed bug treatment. The elderly and physically challenged also need help with prep (decluttering, obtaining and fitting mattress encasements, washing and storing belongings, etc.).

Four hours a week of assistance might be reasonable for normal circumstances, but this woman needed a lot more help during her bed bug infestation. With proper assistance, this infestation would not probably have been so devastating.

• Vancouver public education forum on bed bugs is a start, but probably not enough
• bedbugs at Stanford University dorms (again)
• Dumpster-diving tenant evicted after Winnipeg apartment seriously infested with bed bugs
• Freehold, NJ Social Service agency asks county for money to treat bed bugs

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Mangycur has a full report on last week’s bed bug seminar in Greenpoint.

• HPD seminar will be coming to Greenpoint– thanks to community lobbyists!
• Bed bugs in NYC: if we could just get Bill Murray on the case
• HPD expands bed bug seminars
• Merry Christmas; gratitude; the blasted 55-day rule

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Excellent reading. Check it out!

• Bed bugs in Ventura County (Thousand Oaks, California)
• Marty Markowitz’s building has bed bugs
• Bed bugs & tenant organizing: don’t take this lying down
• FAQ: My landlord hired a PCO who comes twice a month, and we still have bed bugs

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Well, that’s amazing, right? Thank Goodness.

Interestingly, there’s more to this article.

Kelly’s living with bed bugs. Her husband is staying in the Gateway Shelter to get away from them, but Kelly is staying in their bedbugged apartment, because she is afraid she’ll lose her home otherwise.

[Husband Randy] Isenberg is staying at Gateway Shelter because their building is infested with bedbugs. He’s got the bite marks on his arms to prove it.

The Toronto Community Housing Corp. building where they live in the Eglinton Ave. and Allen Rd. area was part of a television exposé on the shabby state of public housing in Toronto. His wife remains in the building.

“She doesn’t want to move out because she’ll lose her unit,” he said.

Though she doesn’t sleep at night, Isenberg doesn’t believe fatigue played a part, he said. But existing health issues with her leg have not been helped by the stress.

I suppose if anything will put bed bugs in perspective, it’s escaping death by only seconds.

Despite what she says, I would not be surprised if fatigue did play a part. She is not sleeping because of the bed bugs. Many of us have been there, and know what a toll lack of sleep can mean to our health, productivity, and mental and emotional wellbeing.

I am so glad that Theresa Kelly’s story of tripping and falling onto the subway tracks has a happy ending. I just hope she doesn’t have to go home to bed bugs — and without her husband — for much longer.

• Toronto Community Housing does good; Orlando, Florida tenants and Billings, Montana shelter guest demonstrate why more bed bug education is needed
• After a fire, bed bugs “rain down from ceilings” into other apartments
• Covington, Kentucky IRS building infested with bed bugs
• bed bug news for 2007-11-11: Lexington, KY and Toronto, ON

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Alderman-at-large Ben Clemons wants to amend this law so that landlords also have to give tenants code enforcement department contact information. That way, if landlords don’t respond to a need for repairs (or pest abatement), they know who to call.

The Nashua Telegraph reports in this article,

Currently, under the city housing code ordinance, chapter 182, section 31, property owners are required to post the address and phone number for an emergency contact in a common area of an apartment building or give a copy of the information to each tenant and file a copy with the city code enforcement department.

Where I live, in New York, rental buildings post the phone number of the landlord or super in the lobby.

But here, as in Nashua, there’s no information posted there or given to tenants on what to do if the landlord does not respond promptly.

Back to Nashua:

Under Clemons’ proposal, that procedure would remain the same, but the emergency contact information would also include the code department’s contact information and directions on how to proceed with difficult housing situations.

The directions would inform tenants that they must give their landlords written notice of any nonemergency housing issues and allow landlords two weeks to address the issues prior to the department’s involvement. Also, the postings or handouts would define the difference between emergency housing code violations and nonemergency housing code violations, outlining the landlord’s required response to both.

Under state and city ordinances, landlords must correct emergency housing code issues – those that pose an immediate and serious threat to the health and safety of occupants – as promptly as possible.

For nonemergency housing code issues, state law requires landlords to fix the problem within 14 days of receiving written notice from the tenant or face penalties of $1,000 a day for each day of a verified violation.

And while the 14-day written notice is the procedure city code department officials already require of tenants before taking action in such nonemergency situations, that fact is not spelled out in the current ordinance.

This is partly in response to some cases last year in Nashua.

In 2008, a bedbug infestation at a Temple Street rooming house had several tenants calling the code enforcement department with complaints that the landlord was refusing to properly treat the problem.

At least one of the tenants, Dale Evans, said he worked with his landlord for some time before he ever contacted code enforcement officials, only to find out that he still had to send a letter and give his landlord another 14 days.

As the article points out, if this change is made, it will simply mean information is made more accesssible to tenants whose landlords are unresponsive.

• More bed bugs in Nashua, NH: rooming-house tenant goes to court
• Nashua, NH Health Officers on prowl for bed bugs
• added to the “Tenants and Landlords FAQ”: Washington, D.C. and Florida
• Still more from Nashua, New Hampshire: fewer bed bugs at 23-25 Temple St.

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. . . recent stats show that ticks and bedbugs have been ramping up their itty-bitty attacks. Luckily, it’s easier than you think to KO the little creeps.

How easy is it to get rid of bed bugs?
Is it possible? yes.
Worth doing? absolutely.
Easier than you think? Maybe not so much.

It was nevertheless good to see bed bugs listed in an article about how to get rid of biting insects such as chiggers, deer ticks, and fleas.

Our number one enemy in the fight against bed bugs is lack of awareness.

• Bed bugs spread in Ottawa
• Maybe a new treatment - maybe snake oil
• ancient Bed bug tale, from the Fables of Bidpai
• Are the bed bugs bigger in Texas? University of Texas at Dallas students infested with bed bugs

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