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Bed bugs found in San Diego State University library: second instance of infested chairs on campus

nobugsonme — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:50:31 +0000

According to independent student newspaper, The Daily Aztec, twenty-seven “comfy” chairs were recently removed from the lower level of the San Diego State University library after bed bugs were found there.

Bedbugs are back with a recent infestation in the library, specifically in the “comfy” chairs on the lower level of the Dome.

“Twenty-seven chairs from the lower level of the dome were removed,” Mark Lester, director, Access, Administrative Operations and Communication of Library and Information Access, said. “We resolved the problem in the best way we could think of.”

This article from the university’s independent student newspaper notes that bed bugs were found in SDSU dorms earlier this semester.

And we also reported back in January that, again according to the Daily Aztec, bed bugs had been found in the “egg chairs” in the Counseling and Psychological Services Office at San Diego State.

Since bed bugs do hitchhike on clothing and in people’s bags, these should not be assumed to be unrelated incidents. Bed bugs in chairs in multiple buildings around campus should be taken very seriously.

A campus that is seeing bed bug infestations in chairs around the campus should be taking a very proactive role in detecting bed bugs and treating them properly — both in student housing and in other facilities. If they are in the counseling office waiting room and the library, they could be anywhere.

Check out: The Daily Aztec – Bedbugs found in library.Similar Posts:

New (and inexpensive) passive bed bug monitors: Climbup ® Insect Interceptors

nobugsonme — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 05:40:57 +0000

2009 is the year of the bed bug monitor. While some are thinking high-tech, it is also important to know that low-tech monitors are being improved.

This month, the CDC 3000 is starting to be used by PCOs and a few of the luckier people with bed bugs. The Nightwatch is also set to ship soon, we’re told. The devices cost in the $500 – $700 range, and so they really are not aimed at the consumer market. These active bed bug monitors use kairomones, CO2 and heat to attract bed bugs into the monitors, and then trap them.

But passive bed bug monitors are also evolving. Traditionally, we have had the glue trap, which really is not very useful at catching bed bugs. Think about it: they’re usually rectangular, and they just sit there. They sit there covered with a thick coating of goopy glue, and people commonly report waiting patiently and nabbing no bed bugs. There’s no easy way to surround the legs of your bed in glue traps.

Enter Susan McKnight, who has designed the Climbup ® Insect Interceptor, a passive bed bug monitoring tool which can be used in homes under the legs of bed frames, chairs, tables, and other furniture.

This is a tool for finding out whether you have bed bugs. It is not going to treat an infestation, but can help you determine if you have bed bugs, and when they are gone.

It looks simple, but seems quite clever: first, it has two wells: a center well and an outer pitfall. So you can actually tell from where the bed bug is caught whether it is coming onto the furniture or trying to exit from it. (The idea is they can’t hop over the wall in between. Neat, huh?)

This is a photo of bed bugs caught in the Climbup ®:

Those bed bugs in the middle were trying to get off the bed / chair / etc. and the others were trying to get onto it.

You can imagine how some treatment plans could be improved if PCOs could see whether the bed bugs were coming onto the bed, or leaving from it.

Think also of the woman who reacts to bed bug bites, whereas her children and husband don’t. This monitor may allow a much better determination of who is actually being bitten.

The directions found in this PDF on the Insect Interceptor website note:

Climbup ® insect interceptor is ready to use with center well and pitfall ring prelubricated with talc to form slick surface to prevent bed bug escape. The talc will not kill bed bugs. With repeated wipeouts and prolonged use, relubrication with talc is advised. OPTIONAL: To avoid handling of live bugs, a dust (e.g. diatomaceous earth) or nonrepellent liquid (e.g. soapy water, mineral oil) may be added to in center well and outer pitfall ring.

Some bedbuggers have long placed a bed bug-free mattress and frame on top of risers or inside of margarine tubs and filled these with diatomaceous earth or mineral oil in an attempt to keep bed bugs from getting into the bed. The moat of mineral oil in a cup around the bed legs can backfire if there are any bed bugs living in the bed, because they become trapped on the bed, and will keep biting you there.

The approach suggested on the Insect Interceptor site is not an entirely different idea, but in my opinion is theoretically a better one: this product is designed to trap live bed bugs and to show which direction they are traveling in, both of which would be very helpful, moreso than simply trying to avoid bed bug bites.

A Pest Control Operator could, as the directions also suggest, “Count bugs by developmental stage from each capture area to determine efficacy of control treatment.” A resident could simply count bed bugs, and know if they needed a follow-up treatment, or not.

Dr. Mike Merchant of Texas A&M wrote on his Insects in the City blog about a presentation by Dr. Changlu Wang at November’s Entomological Society of America conference in Reno. Wang tested the efficacy of various spray-based and dust-based IPM programs for bed bugs (using chlorfenapyr, diatomaceous earth and Climbup™ monitors). Merchant noted that:

The traps caught more bed bugs than were observed by the inspectors in all apartments. Another interesting observation was that 94% of the trapped bed bugs were in the outer bowl, indicating that they were off the bed. This shows the importance of treating off-bed locations when controlling bed bugs. These devices might be especially useful for clients with low budgets and a high motivation to help with the elimination program. Of course the effectiveness of the bowls depends on eliminating contact of the bed and bedding with the floor and walls.

I understand that Changlu Wang’s research will be published soon (and we’ll let you know when it is). In the meantime, you can download a brief but interesting PowerPoint of his presentation at the ESA in Reno, 11/2009 by clicking here.

The PowerPoint stresses the usefulness of the product for low-level infestations and where residents do not respond to bed bug bites. We are told that only “4 of 10 residents noticed bed bug bites,” and that while visual inspection detected an “average of 6.7 bed bugs per apartment,” the Climbup™ interceptor after being used for 7 days found an “average of 8.8 bed bugs per apartment.”

For this reason, it would not be a bad idea for everyone to have these under their beds and chairs, sofas, etc. Wang’s finding that only 40% of the residents had bed bug bites reminds us that everyone needs an early warning system that they have a bed bug infestation. Those receiving bed bug treatment need to know when bed bugs are gone.

My only concern is that this product might have to be used creatively to work for some — for example, people who have platform beds with broad bases, or big clunky sofas — I am not sure how the product would work with items of furniture which don’t really have “legs.”

We look forward to reading Wang’s research results and to hearing from people who have used the product.

Update 4/23/2009: This month’s issue of Pest Control Technology has an article by Changlu Wang, Timothy J. Gibb, and Gary W. Bennett detailing the study of the Climbup ® Interceptor. You can see the contents of the April PCT issue with a link to the article here.

Update 5/12/2009:

Climbup ® Interceptors are now available from US Bed Bugs (enter code BBFREE for free shipping) and other online retailers, as well as from Residex and Oldham Chemical. In New York City, you can get them from Standard Pest.

(Bedbugger has an affiliate relationship with US Bed Bugs, which means that if you purchase through our links, it helps support this website at no additional cost to you. We’re grateful to US Bed Bugs for offering our readers the best deals we know of on Protect-a-Bed AllerZip encasements and Climbup ® Interceptors, as well as free shipping with the BBFREE coupon code.) Please read our disclosure policy here.

Update 1/27/2010:

“Detecting Bed Bugs Using Bed Bug Monitors,” written by Changlu Wang, outlines options for detecting bed bugs, including tips on using ClimbUp Insect Interceptors and instructions on how to implement the active dry ice monitor Wang’s office developed. You can download it for free from the Rutgers website.Similar Posts:

Take a Seat project: a really bad idea where bed bugs are concerned

nobugsonme — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 01:22:22 +0000

When a representative from the New York City Housing and Preservation Department told attendees of a bed bug seminar last spring that five NYC subway stations had had bed bugs, Miss Heather blogged about it, and the story was picked up by the mainstream press as well as every blogger and her brother. (You can see links to some of the places the news was reported here.)

The MTA said they’d look into it and the HPD acted like they had no knowledge of this. Still, lots of people looked a little more suspiciously at those wooden subway benches, as well they ought. Experts tell us that bed bugs are prone to infest public transportation, as a general rule.

Now consider for a moment, the curbside refuse of this great city, which is also quite likely to be infested by bed bugs. Bed bugs are in every neighborhood and it seems like the incidence of tossed out mattresses and chairs has gone way up.

chairs

Originally uploaded by t. van gieson

People have always sought out “curbside bargains” like free chairs, tables, and mattresses. It’s considered frugal and green, and what could be better in the days of global warming and the crashing stock market?

I’ll tell you what’s better: avoiding bed bugs. Forget the discomfort of bed bug bites, for a moment, which many will never even notice. Those who’ve never experienced bed bugs have no idea how much money they eat up (even if you aren’t the one footing the bill for pest control) and how much of a strain the average infestation is on the environment when you factor in the extra laundry (electricity and water) and plastic bags alone. Before you even talk about replacing some of your stuff and having someone spray pesticides over and over and over.

So, I want to stress that I have mad respect for Idealist.org and their cool Idealist in NYC blog. But I have to stress, in the name of sanity, do not do as the Idealist in NYC blog ~~tells you~~ plans to, and try and help tired people find somewhere to sit in the subway by donating curbside chairs. Do not, as the Idealist in NYC blogger cellyham ~~pleads~~ says, “chip in by salvaging chairs from trash piles, cleaning them up and reusing them in one of the hundreds of stations across the city.” Idealist got the idea from this “Dude”.

Idealist in NYC blogger cellyham has apparently thought of and dismissed the potential for bed bugs:

Skeptics also point out the potential for bedbugs and other such creatures. I’ve had my fair share of experiences with creepy crawlers, and I’ll chance another encounter for a shot at comfort any day. But that’s just me. What do you think?

All I can say is, think again. Anyone who is willing to “chance an encounter” with bed bugs does not know enough about them or what they do, even in a small infestation.

Oh yeah, and the chance of bed bugs on those “donated” chairs in the subway? It doesn’t just amount to you bringing the bed bugs into your digs when you rescue the chair from the curb and clean it up at home.

It also stems from the danger of getting bed bugs that have crawled into a chair in someone’s home. The Take a Seat idea’s originator has a nice google map showing where people have placed these chairs so far, and they include some of the most bedbug-infested areas of Brooklyn and Queens, as well as many Manhattan stations.

Part of the problem with bed bugs is that most people really do not get (a) how easy it is to just “pick them up” somewhere, or (b) what a pain in the — they really are.

One thing you can do, dear reader with bed bugs, is tell all of your close friends, slowly and repeatedly, so they get it, that bed bugs are easy to get (in fact, you need do nothing, as they may come to you), that there are ways to avoid them, and that you would not wish them on your worst enemies. Tell them. Make sure no one you know thinks bed bugs are just another “creepy crawler.”Similar Posts:

Reader Question: how easy is it to spread bed bugs?

nobugsonme — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 04:34:32 +0000

A reader writes,

Hello,

I found your site and wanted to ask a question. I rent an NYC apartment and it has been confirmed by an exterminator that we have bed bugs. I am wondering about the transportation of bed bugs. For example, I work in a corporate office…What are the odds that I’ve transported the bed bugs to the office? Can they be living on my chair at work? Can they be transported through hugging or close contact with others? I check my clothing and have not seen any bugs walking around on myself or clothing, but can the eggs be transported by any of the above situations?

Thank you so much in advance for your feedback.

Best regards,
bugginINlowerNYC

Hi bugginINlowerNYC,

Sorry for your bed bug troubles. The bad news is that bed bugs can spread. They can catch a ride in your clothing or bag, and hop off somewhere else to start a new life. It’s worth considering this possibility, as you are. The good news is they don’t spread that easily, and it is possible to avoid this using some precautions.

It’s also worth noting that they can bite during the daytime, a fact which some people just don’t acknowledge. If bed bugs are in a school, a corporate office, or somewhere else where people are not sitting or lying down at night, they will bite by daylight.

Let’s take your questions one by one:

I am wondering about the transportation of bed bugs. For example, I work in a corporate office…What are the odds that I’ve transported the bed bugs to the office?

First of all, don’t panic. It happens, but I would say it is a small percentage of people who report this.

Though few people report this happening, we do also encourage people to take precautions against it. If it does happen, not only can you create a stressful situation at work, but you are also likely to reinfest yourself at home, even if treatment at home is going well.

Precautions might include carefully inspecting purses, shoes, etc. and treating them in appropriate ways if necessary; storing them in the home carefully; washing and drying clothing on hot and storing it in sealed containers (e.g. XL ziplocs) before use; showering and dressing in this cleaned-dried-sealed-up clothing directly before going out to work or anywhere else.

If, instead, you sit around at home, then hop up, grab a bag off your (possibly infested) sofa, hop in the car, and go to work (friend’s home, etc.) then you are more likely to bring bed bugs elsewhere.

And while few people have reported taking them to work, many people have reported giving them to relatives, friends, etc.

Finally, this is not your situation, but for others out there, some folks think they have bed bugs at home, where they might actually be bitten at work. Since bite marks and itching seem to appear after one is bitten (anywhere from a few hours to the next day or longer), it is possible to be bitten at work and think you are bitten at home. Keeping a log of when new bites appear might help you pinpoint this. Most people seem to first notice new bites sometime the day after being bitten: in the morning, afternoon, or evening, in many cases. Lots of Bedbuggers notice them after a warm or hot shower, or exercise, suggesting that heat can “bring them out” somehow. That is based on anecdotal evidence; unfortunately, this stuff has not really been studied yet.

Can they be living on my chair at work?

Yes–or, for that matter, a chair at home. Sofas, soft chairs, desk chairs, anything really: if you sit there for long periods (working at your desk, zoning out at home in front of the internet or a movie), you can be bitten. And they are likely to hide out near where they feed.

But remember– in addition to beds or chairs, bed bugs can actually live in the room itself (under baseboards, in floor cracks, around edges of carpeting, even behind electrical plates).

Can they be transported through hugging or close contact with others?

It is possible, but not easy. As per the first answer above, they will “hitchhike” in your bag, or even an item of clothing. If you are wearing washed, clean clothes, and if you take care to store items like coats and shoes properly, then it would be difficult for them to do so. Also, even if they did hitchhike, say in a trouser cuff or bag, they would not likely ride around very long. They want to bite you and then run off and hide inside something that is not moving!

Again, this does not apply to your situation, but we have heard of extremely serious infestations of people who did not bathe or change their clothing regularly, who were walking around covered in bed bugs. This is a rare situation, but it can happen.

I check my clothing and have not seen any bugs walking around on myself or clothing, but can the eggs be transported by any of the above situations?

It is possible a bed bug could have left an egg in your clothing. However, eggs take 6-17 days to hatch according to this Cornell fact sheet.
So if you’re washing your clothing and storing it as we describe during your infestation, this should not be a problem. Washing and drying on hot will kill bed bugs and eggs. If a hot wash will damage your clothes, Dr. Michael Potter has done some research on drying dry items on hot (which should be safer for items not suitable for machine washing and drying together). These FAQs about dealing with clothing should help.

For the benefit of others, I should point out that the precautions are not difficult in and of themselves, but they become moreso if you a lot of people in your home, or live with elderly people, children, people with various disabilities, or even adults who do not want to participate. I do not discount these difficulties, but am simply suggesting what has worked for others.

I hope other readers will comment with additional suggestions, questions, or comments.Similar Posts: