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
• Bed bugs in another women’s shelter in Charlotte, North Carolina
• After a fire, bed bugs “rain down from ceilings” into other apartments
• Bed bugs and the elderly: a story from St. Paul

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The story focuses on Lisa Courtney’s bed bug battle:

Courtney tossed out her bed, mattress and linens. CityHousing, Hamilton’s social housing agency, had her Cumberland Avenue apartment treated and life returned to normal.

But now, the bedbugs are back. Courtney’s anxiety has shot up with reports of three neighbours with the same problem.

“I’m psychotic now, because people down the hall have them, too,” she said.

Landlords need to learn that you can’t simply treat the unit of the person who complains about bed bug bites. You have to have all adjacent units (above, below, and on all sides) carefully inspected and treated if necessary.

Apartment managers would be advised to read this article from Techletter.com about dealing with bed bugs in the properties under their care.

Since bed bugs can be hard to detect, especially in the early stages of infestation, landlords may also consider that treating all adjacent units where bed bugs have not been found may be a good idea. The City of Boston’s Housing Division actually requires this when the Inspectional Services Department finds bed bugs in an apartment:

Our Standard bed bug notice of violation also requires that owners inspect all units in the dwelling, and they must treat all horizontally and vertically adjacent units to the infested unit(s).

Boston landlords treat adjacent units even if they turn up no visible signs of bed bugs.

You don’t know how often Bedbuggers tell us (often in the forums) both of the following: (a) I have had 4+ bed bug treatments and the problem persists, and (b) none of my neighbors have bed bugs. When pressed, people invariably say neighbors were “asked.” Since as many as 50% of people don’t react to bites, asking doesn’t do much. Many times, inspection also turns up nothing. And then a few months later, lo and behold, bed bugs are back.

You also don’t know how often I hear (often in discreet emails) about professionals eventually discovering the badly-infested unit, with so many bed bugs they’re falling from the walls in broad daylight — invariably a bed bug infestation later discovered in a building where some other poor soul thought they were the only ones infested. Sometimes neighbors don’t know they have bed bugs because they can’t see them.

Other times bed bugs are clearly visible, but residents don’t know what they are, or fear repercussions for bringing the problem to light, or are impaired in some way such that they cannot recognize the problem or act on it, or (in rare cases) they know and just don’t care (shudder).

The good news is Hamilton is taking bed bugs seriously:

Stan Yung, a Hamilton public health manager, says the city is already intervening. It has been tracking cases since 2005 and now has a new public education campaign.

(I look forward to hearing how they are tracking infestations.)

• Residents at the Bella Vista apartments learn their building has bed bugs by watching the news
• Piecemeal inspections and treatment: no way to rid an apartment building of bed bugs
• Bed bugs & tenant organizing: don’t take this lying down
• Boston and bed bugs: Mayor Bloomberg in NYC could learn a thing or two

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Concern about the recent city-wide rise in bed bug infestations has led to the creation of a bed bug forum, coming to Etobicoke this Wednesday, April 2 at LAMP CHC.”You have a couple of generations who are not used to living with bed bugs,” Reg Ayre, manager with the Healthy Environment Program at Toronto Public Health, told The Guardian. “Before the Second World War bed bugs were fairly common and people knew how to live with them and how to deal with them. Now you’ve got the situation where folks are having to learn to deal with them all over again.”The forum will feature speakers from Toronto Public Health, South Etobicoke Legal Clinic and Sam Bryks, Manager, Environmental Health at Housing Services Inc.

According to the article,

The forum runs from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at LAMP CHC, 185 Fifth Street, Community Room. Light refreshments provided.

• FAQ: I need legal advice but can’t afford a lawyer. What do I do?
• Reg Ayre of Toronto Public Health: bed bugs a “health concern,” not a “health hazard”
• After a fire, bed bugs “rain down from ceilings” into other apartments
• bed bug news for 2007-11-16

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2 a.m.!

That’s just the beginning.

“There was a fire in the building in November, on the fourth floor. One man was killed. Nobody knew him; we’re still suffering from the stress of that … the bugs were totally blown out of that unit.”

Blown out?

“People were coming to me in tears, in total frustration, from bugs on the fifth floor, and more on the third floor; they were falling from the ceiling.” Bedbugs fleeing fire.

As if the horror of a fire in the building and a neighbor losing his life were not enough. Imagine bed bugs raining down from your ceiling.

Fiorito’s assessment of the public housing situation in Toronto vis a vis bed bugs?

Funny, TCHC [Toronto Community Housing Corporation] staff told me last year there might be three or four of their buildings with bedbug problems. I now believe there might be three or four without bedbug problems.

Toronto now has a Bed Bug Action Committee, so change is hopefully on its way. As I said before, I have no doubt Fiorito’s excellent series of articles on bed bugs in Toronto has a lot to do with that. Rock on, Joe!

• bed bug news for 2007-11-11: Lexington, KY and Toronto, ON
• Reg Ayre of Toronto Public Health: bed bugs a “health concern,” not a “health hazard”
• Bed bugs not so nice either
• Toronto Community Housing does good; Orlando, Florida tenants and Billings, Montana shelter guest demonstrate why more bed bug education is needed

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It’s worth noting that Wikipedia claims Seaton House is the largest homeless shelter in Toronto, housing at times as many as 700 men.

I found more information on this initiative in this PDF at the City of Toronto website. (”Bug and Scrub” is item #2.) They even have a great name, though if they are only dealing with bed bugs–and this is not clear from the description–they might have gone with “Bed Bug and Scrub” to make this clearer.

It sounds like the program provides full-service assistance with bed bugs (from detection, to cleaning and prep for treatment, pesticide application, and follow-ups):

Bug and Scrub is an all in one service that incorporates responsible and reliable measures to deal with the bed bug issue. Following an Integrated Pest Management protocol, full treatment is provided including assessment, prep work, spraying of the bed bugs, removal of belongings and follow up. The business has already proven successful and has provided many low-income, vulnerable individuals with this unique service.

Staff at Seaton House support clients during their training and employment phase. Anyone residing in the City of Toronto can receive the Bug and Scrub service. Fees operate on a sliding scale and can range from $250 -$800 based on the type of work required.

For more information please contact Richard Grotsch at 416-392-5572.

Remember, contrary to some misconceptions, IPM doesn’t mean no pesticides are used. It means fighting bed bugs on multiple fronts, trying to remove them as much as you can, and then treating to kill what’s left.

I have to say, the Bug and Scrub concept excites me: these men are getting training in what is unfortunately a growth field, they’re getting support as they make an educational/career transition, and Toronto residents are hopefully getting good, reasonably-priced pest control service.

• Toronto Public Health now has a Bed Bug Action Committee. Action, people.
• bed bugs in Toronto; Vancouver; Billings, MT,
• Bed bugs: what’s really working?
• Nova Scotia home help nurses stop visiting client with bed bugs

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Toronto has had a serious bed bug problem for some time, just like New York, London, San Francisco, Vancouver–I could go on and on, but you get the idea.

The Toronto Star also has a journalist called Joe Fiorito who wrote extensively and repeatedly about how serious a problem bed bugs were, for everyone who gets them, but especially for the poor, the elderly, the disabled. You can see links to just some of Fiorito’s articles on my del.icio.us page. I mention Fiorito because I do not doubt for a moment the effects that good (or bad) journalism can have on public perceptions of the bed bug problem. In Fiorito’s case, the journalism was very good.

Then in November 12, 2007, Toronto City Councillor Paula Fletcher asked the Board of Health (of which she is a member) to take action on bed bugs. This is a PDF of her letter.

Fletcher wrote,

Traditionally Public Health officials consider and have categorized bed bugs as a nuisance because they do not carry and spread communicable diseases. However, ailments stemming from a bed bug infestation can range from secondary infections due to scratching to anxiety, embarrassment, and loss of sleep.

Moreover, residents who experience infestations are faced with considerable financial costs associated with fumigations as well as replacing furniture deemed to be unsalvageable.

Here is a politician who understands the bed bug problem. Clearly, she’s been listening to her constituents.

In the letter, Fletcher specifically asked the Board of Health to

• Review and report on the current procedures for bed bug inspection and control, including changing categorization of bed bugs as a public health ‘hazard’ and the harmonizing pest control under Municipal Licensing which currently deals with pest control relating to mice, cockroaches and termites
• Investigate and report back on a Bed-Bug Furniture Pick-up program
• Investigate and report back on North American best practices, including by-laws relating to sale and disposal of used furniture and mattresses
• [To provide an] Expansion of public education initiatives on measures, particularly to tenants, occupants of multi-residential units and users of shelters
• Report on the City’s regulatory authority to require action from property Owners, Operators of Hotels and Other Multi-unit dwellings including
  o Requirements for control and prevention, including pest control management plans included as part of landlord licensing requirements
  o Requirements for responding to complaints
  o Procedures for reporting to City officials
  o Treatment and control of bedbugs in hotel rooms
  o Guidelines for pest control companies
  o Responsibilities of tenants and homeowners

Fletcher noted that even though property owners are responsible for bed bug eradication, there is a need due to the “resilient and migratory nature” of bed bugs, for government agencies to re-examine their practices regarding the pest.

In response, Dr. David McKeown, the Toronto Medical Officer, unveiled a proposal for dealing with bed bugs last month. He asked the Board of Health to take action, outlined in this PDF.

McKeown’s report opened with a brief introductory paragraph, followed by this statement:

Bed bug infestations occur in all neighbourhoods and communities in the City and most households deal with the problem without assistance from the Municipality. This is not the case with the most vulnerable populations in our community. In recent months, Toronto Public Health has devoted significant resources to deal with severe infestations impacting on the health of the elderly, those living with physical and mental health issues and people living in poverty. This report is intended to focus primarily on strategies to ensure that vulnerable people get the assistance they need to lead independent, pest free lives.

The Medical Officer of Health’s made a series of proposals to the Board of Health (outlined in the same PDF) to deal with bed bugs.

The Board of Health then met on 2/26, and (as outlined in this PDF):

1. requested the Medical Officer of Health to establish an action committee comprised of city divisions, housing providers, health care organizations, social services, community groups, representatives of landlords and tenants, and other appropriate stakeholders to develop a comprehensive action plan to reduce bed bug infestations in the City of
Toronto with particular emphasis on vulnerable populations;

2. requested the Medical Officer of Health to report on the progress of the action committee within six months;

3. requested the government of Ontario to incorporate the issue of bed bug infestations in their poverty reduction strategy; and

4. referred all communications/submissions, and the following motions to the new Action Committee described in Recommendation 1:

Motion by Valerie Sterling:
“That Recommendation 1 be amended by adding the words “and in addition, consider broader public education and social marketing strategy to address the stigma associated with having bed bugs.”

Motion by Councillor Fletcher:
“That the Medical Officer of Health and TorontoPublic Health be requested to educate the medical community in identification of bed bug bites.”

This CBC article which was written in advance of the meeting notes that Toronto’s public health department surveyed PCOs about the increase in bed bug cases. This is the easiest way to get a realistic picture of the number of cases in a city, though of course those who self-treat will be left out.

Toronto Public Health surveyed 12 pest control companies in December 2007 and received six responses. All six reported an increase in numbers of inquires and calls related to bedbugs from 2006 to 2007. The majority of calls were in apartment buildings.

This was an informal check with just 12 companies. Remember the study done in Toronto in 2003? That year, every PCO reported every case of bed bugs in the city (well, theoretically, anyway). Most cases then were in single family homes. That might sound strange to some, since bed bugs are now a much bigger problem in apartment buildings, but it’s fully plausible.

Anyway, the Toronto officials know that if you want to know who has bed bugs in your city, you don’t simply rely on tracking official housing violations (as the New York government is trying to do) or official complaints to the Toronto Public Health Department. You ask the PCOs. Obviously, in this case this is just an informal inqury, not an official study (like the one in 2003). But the principle is the same.

A Toronto Sun article last December noted that the Toronto Public Health Department had gotten 160 calls about bed bugs in the first nine months of 2006. But Reg Ayre, the city’s Healthy Environments manager, said back then that anecdotal evidence from PCOs showed much higher incidence of bed bugs. One PCO claimed to be treating 1200 cases a year, another claimed to treat 400-600 a month (more on that below). You can read more about this here. (Sadly, I cannot link to the original article, since the Toronto Sun is holding out on us, so you’ll have to make do with the report I did on it in December.)

There were other documents associated with the Board of Health meeting, including several fact sheets and this: a PDF of a Toronto Community Housing proposal for dealing with bed bugs in public housing. (The key components, not surprisingly, are educating staff about bed bugs, educating tenants about bed bugs, getting both to cooperate, and using only qualified pest control contractors).

Bed bugs are clearly a problem that is far more serious than current Toronto Public Health data. The officials in Toronto are smart to recognize this. Here in New York, city officials seem happy to cite the number of bed bug cases in NYCHA public housing, or the NYCHPD housing violations for bed bugs, though it is obvious to us that these are just the tip of the iceberg.

The action we’re seeing in Toronto seems to stem in part from

• a vocal and forward-thinking city councillor taking up the cause of bed bugs,
• a persistent and talented journalist taking up the cause of bed bugs,
• a Board of Health willing to re-consider the definition of a “health hazard,”
• a Medical Officer of Health looking deeper into available bed bug statistics, and prioritizing the issue.

Doubtless, there are many more factors I can’t yet see. In any case, I am grateful for all those working to solve this problem in Toronto, and anywhere else.

I can’t overestimate how significant it is that Fletcher and the Board of Health were willing to consider bed bugs as having a significant effect on health. On February 26, other issues the Board of Health was dealing with included the provision of dental care to people on low incomes, and a plan for dealing with an inflenza pandemic. Deadly possibilities like an infleunza pandemic must be planned for, but we also need to deal with bed bugs, even if the health effects are not deadly.

I hope that cities which have not yet taken action will use the work being done elsewhere as a starting point. McKeown’s report, for example, cited what was being done to deal with bed bugs in Vancouver, and Hamilton (Ontario). Problems may vary from place to place, but the bed bug enemy is the same, and cities would do well to use the best practices beginning to be developed elsewhere as a starting point.

I look forward to hearing more from Toronto.

Many thanks to hopelessnomo for helping me think about this issue and for providing the location of the Board of Health’s document stash.

• bed bug news for 2007-11-16
• Toronto Councillor Paula Fletcher has some progressive ideas about bed bugs
• Toronto Public Health now has a Bed Bug Action Committee. Action, people.
• New York vs. Bed Bugs: NYC is the underdog!

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The first seminar is scheduled to take place on Monday, January 28 from 6PM to 8PM at the Russ Berrie Medical Science Pavilion, 1^st floor conference room, Columbia University Medical Center, 1150 St. Nicholas Avenue (at 168^th Street) in Manhattan.

The second seminar is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, February 5 from 8PM to 9PM at Ricardo’s Catering Hall, 21-01 24^th Avenue in Astoria, Queens.

The final seminar is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, March 12 from 6PM to 8PM at the Hope Gardens Senior Center, 195 Linden Street in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

Anyone interested in attending any of these seminars is encouraged to call (212) 863-8830 to reserve a space. Translation services will be provided for Spanish-speaking members of the public.

New York Times blogger Jennifer 8. Lee also reported on the seminars. She also gave a helpful insight into what happens after you call 311:

Bedbug complaints are listed as an “emergency,” which means they go to the top of the priority list. The department sends out inspectors at night, when bedbugs tend to be more active. Typically, bedbugs are listed as a Class B violation, which gives the owner 30 days to correct the problem. The least severe violations, Class A, have to be fixed within 90 days. Class C violations, for emergency conditions like no electricity or hot water, must be corrected within 24 hours and completely dwarf the bedbug complaints.

Although we knew something about what happens when bedbuggers call 311, we had not previously heard that inspections were made at night. (I’m not sure how big a help this is, since I assume inspectors aren’t coming to call at 2 am, but still, it can’t hurt.) Lee also provided an interesting quotation from a City Councilperson who had had bed bugs:

Robert Jackson, a city councilman who represents parts of northern Manhattan, said at a news conference that his family had been plagued by bedbugs when he was young.

“They used to bite us all,” he said.”We used to wake up trying to kill them at night.”

Incidentally, Jackson was born and raised in Manhattan, according to the City Council’s biography, linked from his name above. I suspect someone in the New York City Council will soon have a contemporary story of bed bugs. I hope that when they do, they will speak out.

Lee continued,

Awareness has made people paranoid of bedbugs, which is why calls to 311 have skyrocketed, though only a part of those have ended up with violation notices.

“I think a lot of people are convinced they have bedbugs when they don’t,” Mr. Aragon said.

That is another reason they are holding the seminars, he said, so that people with skin rashes know when not to call 311.

This is certainly important– people should not panic, and should rule out other causes of itching. Knowing what different stages of bed bugs look like is key.

However, I have to admit that– having heard some 311 stories myself, and knowing how difficult it can be to find bed bug samples– I would suspect at least some of the 5000 people who called 311 last year and who were told they did not have bed bugs, did have them. Although some of the 7000 calls were doubtless panic reactions, I would not be surprised if more than 2000 were actual bed bug cases. I would like to know what constitutes evidence of bed bugs for the inspectors, and how they are trained to detect infestations. We’re told some PCOs do not visually inspect for bed bugs, finding this too difficult, time-consuming, or pointless.

Hopefully anyone who did have bed bugs, but whose HPD inspection turned up nothing, eventually found evidence and called again. However, we know that when people call for help and don’t get it, they often try other means the next time–like paying for their own treatment, or self-treating. (If neighbors are infested, both methods can fail miserably.)

The Times Ledger community newspapers also reported this week on the planned seminars.

The meetings, one of which will take place on Feb. 5 in Astoria, are a response to the rise in complaints that city residents have filed against the insects, according to City Council Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria).

“It’s a problem that until recently even I wasn’t aware of. You expect something like this in a third world country but not in the capital of the world,” he said.

They cited incorrect statistics on the number of complaints citywide:

In 2005, there were only 62 bedbug complaints, which soared to 366 last year, according to the city. Astoria had the third highest number of complaints, Vallone said. Although bedbugs do not transmit any diseases, they are still pose a health crisis for city residents according to the councilman.

“Other cities don’t consider bed bugs a crisis but when people aren’t sleeping they can develop physical and mental problems,” he said.

Perhaps the paper meant to cite statistics for Astoria? The city reported much higher numbers of complaints in 2007 city-wide. The press release about the seminars says,

In Fiscal Year 2007 alone, the City’s 311 hotline received nearly 7,000 bedbug related complaints and HPD housing inspectors issued over 2,000 violations to building owners all across the City. By comparison, Fiscal Year 2004 saw only 1,800 complaints and less than 400 violations issued.

We should remember these are only the people who called 311 to complain about bed bugs, which it appears most tenants and no coop or condo owners do. The numbers also leave out the NYC housing authority residents who had bed bugs last year. Douglas Feiden’s December report in The Daily News reported that there were

… 1,708 verified bedbug cases in 277 public housing projects this year [2007], the city Housing Authority says.

The city and the media leave us to do the math: New York City knows of approximately 3700 tenants who had bed bugs last year. They have no data on non-NYCHA tenants who reported bed bugs to their landlords directly, nor those who called pest control operators themselves, nor on co-op, condo or other homeowners.

From where I sit, hearing the stories of New York bedbuggers daily–and knowing only a small percentage call 311 about their bed bug problem–this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Vallone is also wrong that other cities don’t consider bed bugs a crisis. Lexington, Kentucky, Cincinnati, Ohio, and San Francisco, California, are all US cities that are taking bed bugs seriously. Though responses have been limited so far, some of these cities have expended more money and energy per capita on bed bugs than New York has, by far.

And outside the US, Vancouver is also taking bed bugs seriously with a number of responses. Toronto is currently figuring out what to do.

Also this week, the New York Press blogged about the bed bug “education campaign”, and used one of Bedbugger mangy_cur’s excellent bed bug photos. Congratulations, mangy_cur!

They also linked to a thread in our forums, which we do appreciate (thanks, Emily Meredith of nypress.com!) though it’s always a little embarrassing when people arrive first via a forums thread, like a new guest coming to visit for the first time off the fire escape and through the kitchen window. But we welcome them nonetheless.

Update 1/21: CBS on the bed bug seminars; includes interview with Lou Sorkin who stresses that people need to look for the tiny, translucent nymphs which will be more common than rust-colored adults.

• Lexington, KY vs. New York, NY: a tale of two bedbugged cities
• Tomorrow’s bed bug seminar in New York (Tuesday 2/5/2008)
• Roger Smith Hotel on Lexington in NYC: latest bed bug lawsuit
• Columbia Spectator on bed bugs, again with the HPD statistic soup

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Joe Fiorito of Toronto’s The Star spoke with Reg Ayre of Toronto Public Health about why that body can’t legally class bed bugs as a health “hazard”:

Ayre’s office is downtown. He is a good guy in a hard job. He got right to the point. “Can we talk about what a health hazard is?” Sure, why not?

“We’re talking about a legal definition, in terms of the Health Protection and Promotion Act. It has to be a condition that would affect everyone in the community.”

Like SARS?

He said, “Bedbugs aren’t, under the act, a hazard. But Public Health considers that they are a concern.”

I suspect the concept of concern offers little comfort to the woman in social housing whose arm swelled from bites and who had an epileptic seizure after treatment.

Nor is concern any help to the man who was so bothered by bites that he washed his body with gasoline – and do not even think that is a good thing to do.

Nor does concern ease the pain of the father who had to bring his young son to the emergency room one day last November, because the boy’s bites were so bad.

Ayre said, “All the definition does is allow us to serve orders. But bedbugs is an issue where we don’t go the legal route.”

I cannot count the people I know who wish we could go the legal route. Because I think Toronto is Vancouver waiting to happen.

At least beautiful, bedbugged Vancouver has the motivation of the coming Olympics to spark a cleanup. Our motivation?

Itch, scratch.

I think I understand TPH’s distinction between health hazards and health concerns. But is the assessment that bed bugs would not “affect everyone in the community” because they would never infest everyone at once? Or because some people will be bitten and show no reaction to bites (as many as 50%, some experts say)? Or because, unlike SARS, the effects would not be as dire in the vast majority of cases? (Some do die due to bed bug bites, but it appears to be a very rare to have such a serious allergic reaction.)

From where I sit in New York City, I’d love to have my own city’s officials even admit bed bugs were a health concern.

But Fiorito is correct that the problem needs to be classified in such a way that agencies take care of it. If public health agencies can’t “go the legal route” in fighting bed bugs, can housing departments? Some agency needs to have some muscle when it comes to eliminating this problem.

You can read the rest of the article from The Star here.

• bed bug news for 2007-11-16
• After a fire, bed bugs “rain down from ceilings” into other apartments
• bed bug news for 2007-11-11: Lexington, KY and Toronto, ON
• Toronto Public Health now has a Bed Bug Action Committee. Action, people.

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David Saunders from Paramount Pest Control tells CFRA News the [bed bug] problem is rampant in rooming houses and hostels.

But Saunders adds it’s just as bad in homes and hotels across the capital.

“Even a year ago from right now I would get maybe a call a month or something. I’m receiving three to five calls a day for bed bugs now, ” Saunders says.

This kind of statistic, from individual PCOs, is very compelling.  In the absence of government tracking of bed bug infestations, it is also all we have sometimes.

There was also some advice for travelers about avoiding bed bugs:

Saunders suggests, if you’re staying in a hotel, you can leave your luggage in your vehicle and wash your clothes at an off-site facility.

We don’t usually suggest leaving items in the car or doing laundry regardless of known exposure to bed bugs, but they are not bad ideas, not at all.  Certainly easier than worrying about how to get rid of bed bugs once you have them.

Saunders suggests that

a lack of awareness about bed bugs, and areas not being treated properly have contributed to the boom over the last year.

Although these factors are obvious contributors to the spread of bed bugs, they actually aren’t articulated very often, especially in news articles which seem to gravitate towards other, hoarier chestnuts (DTT, global travel, etc.).

You can read the article here.

• FAQ: How can I avoid bedbugs while traveling?
• Family of five “run out of their home” by bed bugs in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia
• Burned by bed bugs? A cool vacation idea…
• Company reports bed bug bite photos their most searched-for medical image in 2007

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She wants the health department to investigate whether they’re a health hazard:

Toronto Councillor Paula Fletcher (Ward 30, Toronto-Danforth) has received so many calls from constituents she’s asked the health department to declare them a health hazard. Last month, Fletcher met with Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health. It was decided the Board of Health would issue a report in February on what should be done about bedbugs in the city and whether they should be declared a health hazard.

Here’s a hint, Toronto: stress, anxiety, loss of sleep, are all health issues. You need look no further. Something more sinister is clearly a possibility, but these other concerns are not to be taken lightly.

Next, Fletcher wants people to talk about how to get rid of bed bugs, and prevent their spread:

In the meantime, says Fletcher, “We will have a bedbug summit with all the people who are interested in and involved in this issue.” Fletcher is advocating the city address the problem with education, not enforcement.

“Some people said they were living beside a house and the bugs were travelling from the house or apartment next door,” she said. “I’d like to see a focus on what needs to change in terms of behaviours; what do you need to do to stop bringing them in and what do you need to do to get rid of the bedbugs.”

This is all familiar ground for us.

Fletcher seems a bit distracted by the idea that bed bugs primarily affect a certain region of Toronto:

The bedbug problem seems to be concentrated in areas south of Bloor Street, says Fletcher.

“They might be north of Bloor, but the infestations and pockets are definitely south of Bloor. Right now tracking them is not a requirement but that’s one thing we’re looking at is how are we going to track and where are we finding them?”

While they may be more common in certain neighborhoods (and certainly spread more easily to those next door than to those across town), they will spread anywhere, and are certainly moving in all directions. And not just from neighbor to neighbor, but to workplaces, co-workers, people who frequent the same gyms, doctors, schools, and shops. Public transportation is likely to be affected. (David Cain tells stories of encountering this situation in London.)
Fletcher mentions the concern of people bringing in used furniture, and getting them to not do so is a public education issue. But her ideas about eradication methods are quite progressive:

“Sometimes people are bringing bedbugs into a whole building inadvertently and they are travelling unit-to-unit. I’d like to see a model where there are teams of people who go into a building to assist and not simply spraying, but cleaning, washing, getting rid of them and then when the spraying happens, you have a better chance to eradicate them.”

The article also quotes PCO and bed bug dog handler Michael Goldman of Purity Pest Control, who claims that “most hotels” have bed bugs, at least in one room. This is a far cry from the claims made by other companies.

The article also concerns itself with the need for notification of other tenants when bed bugs are found in a building.

Unlike schools that send home letters when lice are found in a school, superintendents rarely post a notice saying bedbugs were a problem in a unit, says Fletcher.

Finally, there’s a nod to Vancouver, which has some of the more progressive bed bug-fighting protocols in place (though we rarely get details of them).

Vancouver has launched one of the best pilot projects in its downtown east side as the city prepares for the 2010 Winter Olympics. “They’re vigorously trying to figure out what to do with bedbugs and they have a program set up but it’s very labour-intensive.”

The Vancouver pilot included tenant and landlord education, public education workshops, pest control and development of a health and safety protocol.

I hope politicians in New York City and other US cities with bed bugs (from Boston to Cincinnati) will take note, and that they’ll trade notes with their counterparts in other cities, from San Francisco to Toronto and Vancouver.

The number one complaint I’ve heard now from professionals (entomologists and PCOs) in several cities is that their local politicians will not listen to those with bed bug experience. This is a grave mistake.

Though it is not explicitly mentioned here, it’s clear Paula Fletcher is listening.

However, there was one small problem. This:

“The chemical approach isn’t necessarily the only way or best way to go. It’s one piece of a bigger puzzle,” says Fletcher, who would like the city to help people control bedbugs. “What people have to learn is that to control bedbugs they must become good at cleaning their bedding. People have to be taught how to do that.”

People do not get bed bugs, nor do bed bugs persist, because people do not know how to clean their bedding.

Reminds me of  when the chief medical health officer in Vancouver, John Blatherwick, implied bed bugs were spreading in Vancouver due to hanky panky in downtown eastside hotels.  Doing or not doing “naughty things” had no bearing on the spread of bed bugs.  What is it with politicians and their weird ideas?

Read the rest of the article here.

• bed bug news for 2007-11-16
• Reg Ayre of Toronto Public Health: bed bugs a “health concern,” not a “health hazard”
• Toronto Board of Health gearing up to fight bed bugs
• Vancouver official blames hanky-panky for bed bugs in nice areas

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