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.

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They’ve started a bed bug hotline for “tips and information,” and people are asked to completely encase infested items in plastic before disposing of them. Residents can call to have infested items picked up curbside by a dedicated sanitation crew that knows what they’re picking up.

Dale Grigsby, Cincinnati Health Department: “Get the stuff as clean as you can, cracks and crevices of the mattresses and box springs, the best thing you can do is wrap them, completely encase them in some sort of a plastic, zippered liner, bed bugs can’t feed if they can’t get out, and that’s where they harbor.”

I note that even though Cincinnati officials remind us that bed bugs do not spread disease, the Cincinnati Health Department is a key player in this campaign.

Residents are also being warned about the dangers of used and rented furniture.

And one woman’s story reminds us how easily bed bugs may travel home with us. Pamela Mackey believes she got them from a hospital where she spent two days at her husband’s bedside; apparently, it came home in a sealed envelope:

After staying by her husbands bedside for a few days at University Hospital recently, Pamela Mackey says she returned home, and opened the admissions packet to find something she didn’t want to see.

Pamela Mackey, Bond Hill: “Took out a letter and unbeknownst to me there was a little critter…and my dismay I crushed this little critter and blood everywhere.”

Mackey says the critter was a bedbug, and while she contacted the hospital to tell them she’s still…

“Angry because I had brought something into my home that previously had not occupied my space.”

Click to view the video. For anyone in Cincinnati who’s reading this, you probably know more than we do! But just in case, the bed bug hotline for Cincinnati residents only is (513) 591-6000. (If you’re not in Cincinnati, please don’t use that number. Seek the services of a qualified PCO, read our FAQs, and come to the forum if you have questions!)

I am very impressed with the way the government in Cincinnati is trying to work on this. I seriously hope that the news reports will focus on treatment options, as well as furniture disposal, which seems to be a major focus. It is essential to get a hold on bed bug refuse in order to halt the spread. However, good bed bug treatment, from experienced PCOs who know bed bugs, is also essential. It’s important that people know how to find a good PCO, and also know about the dangers of self-treating this difficult pest situation. Other tips might also help Cincinnati residents solve their bed bug issues more swiftly.

Cincinnati is still the only city in the US that is taking action on such a large scale. And there is still so much more that can be done. Mayor Bloomberg, are you listening? I’ll bet you a bucket of diatomaceous earth that New York City’s got more bed bugs per capita than Cincinnati. It’s a bet I hate to win, but I think my odds are good. Why are we waiting, New Yorkers?

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I have not a hint, however, but a query:

Reader sojo wanted to know about this item, Skubb, as a way of storing clothing during a siege of bed bugs. It looks to be made of nylon, and is zippered clothing storage which hangs directly on a closet rod.

Nobugs pointed out that it was not fully sealed (since we know bed bugs can get through zippers, for example, in suitcases). Nobugs suggested it might not be a great idea, also, that it was nylon, and probably had seams which bed bugs might nest in. Doug pointed out that, unlike mattress protectors, bed bugs won’t be attracted to food inside the hanging bag. So why would they go into it?

Since the Skubb’s seams are still a concern, and something a bit more sealed up and without cloth seams might work better, Nobugs tentatively suggested considering instead this item from the Container Store, Clear Vinyl Garment Bags, which are vinyl, and also fully enclosed except for the zipper, assuming it does not have gaps where the hanging rod enters at top, or anywhere else for that matter.

Since it is essential that you inspect an item like this for any obvious gaps or hiding places on the outside, I would absolutely advise not purchasing it online without a close in-person inspection. Since Bed Bug Helloise and Bed Bug ‘Elmer do not live near a Container Store (and frankly, we don’t even like leaving our Retirement Compound), perhaps a Bedbugger delegation could be dispatched, with the relevant product number (to be sure of a correct match) to inspect one of these in person.

What do you think, experienced bed bug sufferers and bed bug professionals?

I also stress that I would not even consider something like this for use during the day of treatment, if the PCO tells you to “seal everything in bags” first. “Sealing” means “airtight.”

However, I think clean / certified bed bug-free clothing (ie that washed and dried on hot) stored in the vinyl version (assuming no gaps) might make sense.

Bed Bug Helloise is decidedly not recommending this solution yet. She is also very skeptical about the polyester Skubb. But she solicits your reactions on the vinyl Container Store item. Helloise tries to look her best, and understands the concerns of people trying to live with bed bugs.

Bed Bug Helloise writes an occasional advice column on products to make life during and after bed bugs more bearable. She does not fully understand this technology, however, Nobugs transcribes her jottings, and can also pass on any comments left below.

• Hints from (Bed Bug) Helloise: your bedbug-opinions on hanging Space Bags, Space Bag Totes
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The Windsor-Essex County Housing Association, which owns John Fontaine’s building, is taking action. But not very swiftly, in this reader’s opinion.

Fontaine said the problem surfaced several months ago when management posted a noticed advising tenants to stay out of the disposal room where refuse and old furniture is put handled. He said he started noticing the odd insect in his apartment six weeks ago, but didn’t realize they were bed bugs until Labour Day weekend when he spoke to someone who told him they were in the building.

If the disposal room was off limits several months ago because of bed bugs (which I understand to be a reasonable bit of speculation), then the building was aware of the presence of bed bugs but did not warn residents. Fontaine reported his bed bugs on September 4th (the day after Labour Day) but was not told he was on a “spray list” until September 18th, two weeks later. What’s more, there was a presentation for residents on bed bugs and cockroaches two weeks ago, according to the article, implying that by the time Fontaine reported the problem, the building managers knew enough about the spread of bed bugs in their building to have planned a presentation about the insects.

The housing officials had this to say:

Kari Schofield, communications officer for the housing corporation, said Fontaine’s apartment would have been sprayed immediately had they known he was sleeping on the balcony.

“If we heard somebody was sleeping on a balcony for three weeks we would definitely be there,” Schofield said. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

It sounds like Schofield thinks that sleeping on a balcony is a real hardship. Why wouldn’t sleeping indoors with bed bugs prompt the swiftest possible service?
While the apology is refreshing, this statement tells me that the housing corporation officials simply don’t understand bed bugs.

Schofield said a presentation was made to tenants several weeks ago on bed bugs and cockroaches, but said it is a very difficult problem to get rid of. If a unit is sprayed and clean and someone with bed bugs walks into it, the problem re-occurs, she said. The corporation’s Glengarry units are also experiencing the problem, which is compounded by the fact some tenants are old, disabled or have mental health issues and may not be able to keep their units clean enough, or prepare them properly for complete spraying.

“I can totally understand how these tenants are getting frustrated,” Schofield said, adding that a task force has been formed to deal with the issue of infestation.

Fontaine said he works long days and was not aware that any such educational sessions were offered.

Schofield is correct that a mojor factor is preparation. Bed bugs are not attracted to dirty or cluttered spaces. But clutter allows them space to hide, and makes treatment tricky. Tenants who are old, or who have mental or physical disabilities, will have trouble with preparing for treatment. I firmly believe the government social service agencies need to provide assistance in this area.

Leaving aside those with physical and mental barriers to doing the prep work needed for treatment, it has to be said that still other tenants will simply not get the point of preparation or even the point of treatment, or may not want to bother. This is a really common problem–especially among those who are not allergic to bed bugs and don’t feel or see evidence of bites. Public education is key. And forums where tenants are invited are not going to do it, because some people won’t hear, some people won’t make it, and still others won’t think it’s “for them,” and won’t care. We need a public education campaign of advertisements to raise awareness about the bed bug epidemic, and the difficulties of detecting and fighting bed bugs. People need to learn how to avoid bed bugs and what not to do at the first sight of them.

Besides spraying, [Deb] Bennett [of the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit] said, people must wash bedding and thoroughly vacuum crevasses in furniture and mattresses where the blood-sucking bed bugs like to hide out. Although more of a nuisance than anything else, their itchy bites can result in infection if the skin is broken during scratching, she said.

“When you have a lot of people, everybody has to practice that … or the problem does not go away.”

I hope Bennett also tells people to wash and dry (on hot) and seal in bags all clothing as well as bedding.

And I hope the 920 Ouellette apartments are going to get multiple treatments until the problem is gone. I am not a pest control operator, but I would venture a guess that a thoroughly infested building will need many treatments, spaced 2 weeks apart.

And let’s remember, it’s six weeks since the bites started, and Mr. Fontaine has not yet had his first treatment. And every time he’s bitten by an adult female, she can produce another set of eggs.

• from London
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• Spraying is just the beginning…
• 25 Grant Street in Denver, Colorado: bed bugs for two years

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First, learn a little bit about the enemy. Read the Bed Bugs 101 FAQs on this site, and use the links to bed bug photos to learn what bed bugs look like at different life stages.

Click to download this PDF of this comprehensive article by entomologists Steven Kells and Jeff Hahn of the University of Minnesota, which describes the steps you should take if you’ve been exposed to bed bugs. Remember you have the most chance of avoiding bringing bed bugs home if you take the necessary steps before getting in your car or going to your home or anyone else’s home. It is possible to spread bed bugs to your car as well as to other locations. Following the steps in the PDF carefully as soon as you realize the exposure to bed bugs means you probably won’t bring any with you.

If you already are home before you realize the problem, do follow the same steps listed in the PDF regarding inspecting luggage (do it over the bathtub so you can see the bugs and kill them easily) and cleaning luggage, clothing, and other items. If you are home before you realize the problem, and you brought possibly infested items in (including the clothing you’re wearing as well as any luggage), then you should quickly do some major cleaning where the luggage has been brought in and where you sleep (vacuuming, steaming, etc). If you brought home a bed bug or two and have not found them, it is sometimes possible to get rid of them before they take root. Even if you don’t find any bed bugs, and you’ve done all the cleaning and followed all the other steps in the PDF, you might consider taking some time to declutter, so that if you do have any bed bugs, the signs will be more visible. You should be on the alert for several months.

Once home, if you do find bed bugs or signs of bed bugs in your luggage, clothing or in any rooms, call a PCO right away (we have a FAQ on choosing a good one who knows bed bugs). Save any samples to show them.

Finally, if you got your bed bugs in a hotel, hostel, or other accommodations, please do leave a review on Tripadvisor.com, to warn others of your experience.

A note about using freezing temperatures to kill bed bugs: Kells and Hahn and Michael Potter have slightly different ideas about the temperatures and length of time needed to kill bed bugs. According to Michael Potter’s article from the January 2007 PCTOnline, Steven Kells is apparently researching the method of “leaving things out in cold weather,” with the inevitable fluctuations in temperature. For now, until we have definitive data, I’d err on the side of caution and go for colder temperatures and longer time frames wherever possible.

• FAQ: How can I avoid bedbugs while traveling?
• More bed bug research: Stephen Kells at the University of Minnesota
• FAQ: Leaving stuff out to freeze, walk-in freezers, etc: how cold and how long?
• Possible travel solution for bed bugs?

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Amanda has now had (apparently) one treatment and one follow-up treatment from Metro Pest. (Their protocol is listed here.)

Apartment therapy’s Maxwell has the idea that “you have to keep the clothing out” of the apartment “for three weeks.”

This was my response to the notion of putting back clothing:

I don’t know about keeping clothes out of the apartment. On http://bedbugger.com we tell people to wash and dry on hot, bag in XL ziplocs, and keep those ziplocs in the apartment. But don’t return stuff to closets and drawers.

I am not sure where Amanda sent her stuff for three weeks, and I’d be really interested to know. But her PCO’s protocol appears to require stuff be not just bagged but out of the way, making treatment easier.

People should be aware that washed clothing should stay bagged and out of closets and drawers until bed bugs are LONG gone. Many people require more than two treatments, so be warned. Needing 3-4 is not uncommon. And the stuff should be bagged until there are no further signs of bed bugs, bites, fecal specks, etc.

Richard Cooper, a pest control expert in NJ, says in this article that it takes 55 days of “bug-free, bite-free time” to know the bed bugs are gone for good. It sounds extreme, yes, but if Amanda is already putting clothing and stuff back in drawers and closets, three weeks from the beginning of treatment, I personally think that doing so is foolhardy.

Maxwell also shared this scary story:

Meanwhile, in other bedbug news, we recently heard that another friend and her boyfriend lost their apartment in Brooklyn due to bedbugs. Away in Vancouver for the summer, they had sublet to folks for 4 months, but had pulled a rug in off the street just before leaving that let bedbugs out on the subletters.

Freaking out, the subletters fled the apartment and our friends lost the rent and were then liable for the cleanup cost. Needless to say, they are now considering staying in Vancouver for the long haul.

Yikes!

Subletting is hugely popular in NYC, especially in the summer. Artists, students, people with summer homes or travel plans, commonly rent out their apartments for one week to three months in the summer. Some people rent theirs to multiple subletters in one summer!

I regularly get forwarded offers via email to rent people’s apartments. And I gotta tell ya, lots of people are going to be coming home to bed bugs or unknowingly taking bed bugs home with them. Subletting in this city is not going to slow down, but it is a great way to spread bed bugs. And you don’t even have to drag an old rug in off the street to get them. Remember, the neighbor who dumped the rug in front of your friend’s building had bed bugs. If they live in the same building, your friends could have got them anyway!

• Amanda at Apartmenttherapy.com, part 5
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• FAQ: How can I avoid spreading bedbugs to others when I visit their homes?
• ApartmentTherapy.com still does not quite get the bed bug thing

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According to News Channel 8 (WTNH) in New Haven, University of Bridgeport’s North Hall has bed bugs.

Graduate student Li-Wen Chen had so many bites she sought treatment at St. Vincent’s Medical Center.

The school has fumigated the building, but students say another problem occurred when it came to their clothing. Clothes inside the dorms were sent to the cleaners courtesy of the school, but the students say when the clothes were returned, they were dumped onto tables in the lobby, damp, damaged or ruined.

Students also claim that their rooms were left in disarray following the fumigation. Georgia Chiang, a student from Taiwan, says the poor treatment from the University may stem from their ethnic backgrounds.

“It’s very disturbing. We feel insulted and discriminated against. I do not believe Americans live like this. We do not live like this back home,” said Chiang.

School officials were not available for comment.

Obviously, we don’t know what the full story is here. But it’s a helpful reminder that residents (of dorms, co-ops, apartments, hospitals, etc.) need to be fully informed about treatment and required preparations, and that universities and other management bodies need to make sure their residents’ posessions are treated with care. If residents feel this is not happening, it might make them hesitant to seek treatment if bed bugs persist or return later.

It’s also disturbing to note that bed bugs are making their way around New Haven.

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A reader asked,

Did you have problems finding dry cleaners to accept your clothes?

I personally did not, but I did not have much stuff that needed to be dry cleaned. If your things can be washed and dried on hot (until seriously, seriously dry and hot), that’s probably better, cheaper, and safer.

If it can’t be washed and dried but can be put in the dryer when it is already dry on hot for a shorter period of time, then this is probably also a good option. Bed bug researcher Dr. Michael Potter says dry for hot for 5 minutes, if the item is already dry, and he seems to know his stuff! But if that skeeves you out, 20 is probably even safer for many clothing items that may be thicker than a sock. If drying only does not seem “clean” enough to you, you can always dry in this way, then bag the item until a full dry cleaning were possible, say in a few months when the bed bugs seem to be long gone (hopefully).

I’d be interested in hearing from others about their dry cleaner experiences.

I don’t doubt that many people simply take the stuff in to be cleaned, and say nothing, but I think that’s very dangerous. Better to take them in in a sealed bag and explain that they had been exposed to bed bugs and should be kept separate from other items until dry cleaned.

I could fully understand some dry cleaners not wanting to deal with that, but there will be others who will want your business regardless. I’d expect some careless others to say “sure,” but if they don’t much about bed bugs, they might not pay much attention to what happens. If you’re lucky, they will agree and they’ll care.

While we’re at it, wash and fold services are very popular, especially in cities like New York. I seriously don’t recommend using them. The risk of transmitting the bed bugs to the business and to others–both workers and other people via their laundry–is too great.

If it seems like a good time to weed out which clothing items you can give to charity, wash, dry and bag them first–at least they won’t be sitting around your house in bags for weeks.

You may also want to just throw things away, but think about it carefully; here in NYC, seeing people pick through other peoples’ garbage is a daily occurrence. Even if you don’t see it, it happens at night, everywhere.

Okay, I’m off my soapbox.  Anybody got dry cleaning stories to share?

Update 12/07:  a word of warning.    In our forums, Doug Summers wrote:

I think we need to be careful when we discuss dry cleaning. Traditional dry cleaning uses perchloroethylene or “Perc” instead of water. Dry cleaning used to mean a wet cleaning method that does not use water.

Some newer “environmentally friendly dry cleaning” methods utilize water in the process to eliminate the health issues that are associated with exposure to Perc. These methods are essentially a mechanical method using a cold water delicate wash approach. I don’t know if the “No Perc” methods will actually kill bed bugs.

So you might want to make sure your dry cleaner uses PERC.

I think this is another reason to try and use wash/dry (drying wet items on hot until really dry and really hot) or drying dry items on hot (see above).

I also would not rely on dry cleaning or even wash/dry or dry/dry methods with thick items like pillows, comforters, and sleeping bags.  It can’t hurt, but I would not be very confident.

• FAQ: how do I deal with clothing during treatment for bed bugs (and for a while later)?
• FAQ: How do I prepare for pest control treatment? Should I put everything in bags?
• Case study: bed bugs survived dry cleaning… and resurfaced 6 months later (update)
• bed bugs and thrift stores

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Hello everyone!

You know, besides reruns of Green Acres, and occasionally speaking of herself in the third person, there’s nothing Bed Bug Helloise enjoys more than sturdy, useful bed bug-fighting products.

So believe me when she tells you she has exciting news: XL Ziplocs are now being constructed with two zippers, not one (as previously). This means they’re less likely to come open, which used to be a problem. We had this happen several times last summer, as did several readers. Perhaps it was the construction, or perhaps the humidity played a role.

Bed Bug Helloise also just saw large Hefty XL and XXL Big Bags at Target, next to the XL and XXL ziplocs. At first glance, we are skeptical. The Ziploc brand bag’s zipper provides a definite airtight seal, especially now there are two zippers. The Hefty bags have a different style zipper that slides along to seal the bags. We have not obtained any, so if any readers have tried them, we’d be glad to hear whether they, too, are airtight and if the seal seems sturdy. Our own experience with smaller 2 gallon bags with the Hefty zipper was not good–we found those sliders broke easily. Let’s hope that’s not true with these larger bags.

Editor’s note: this is what you might call a slow news day.

And what’s with the woman on that ziploc box? If she read Bedbugger, she’d know the balls could all be washed thoroughly. Only the baseball mitt and the skates would have to be treated somehow with a cleaning product, frozen, heated, or (if you really like having stuff sit around for no reason) stored for 18 months. Why is she so gleefully carting that stuff off to storage. What? She doesn’t have bed bugs?!?

• Queries from Bed Bug Helloise: hanging clothes storage?
• Hints from (Bed Bug) Helloise: your bedbug-opinions on hanging Space Bags, Space Bag Totes
• FAQ: how do I deal with clothing during treatment for bed bugs (and for a while later)?
• FAQ: How do I prepare for pest control treatment? Should I put everything in bags?

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Laundry

This FAQ started out with the title: “Heat and bed bugs: 5 minutes in a dryer– really? Say it’s so!” The first part outlines my reaction to a brief article, and the second answers many of my questions with a more detailed article. I realize this is kind of roundabout, but I did not want to delete the original post entirely.

I started out by considering a fascinating brief article in PCT Online (Dec 2006) that rounds up information provided by bed bug researchers in a panel at the 2006 National Pest Management Association Conference. What’s interesting is that the researchers cover a wide variety of topics (from the efficacy of various pesticides to the usefulness (or not) of vacuuming, steaming, and hot dryers.

Personally, I was intrigued by University of Kentucky entomologist Michael Potter’s assertion that a normal machine wash would kill bed bugs (”normal” as in, not hot ?), and five minutes in a hot dryer would kill bed bugs and eggs. I said I’d like to see more data on this–I did not doubt it at all, but is it really so? Since a wash won’t kill eggs, this must be why the hot wash / hot dry combo are always recommended in university fact sheets. We’re told the dryer is what kills the eggs. But I think I’ve only seen Dr. Potter being quoted as saying five minutes drying was enough.

A hot dryer apparently runs at about 180 F. I doubt this temperature is achieved after five minutes, though. Can five minutes on a temperature somewhere below 194 F be enough, when companies providing thermal treatments do so at a core temperature of 140 F for four hours? (Winston clarifies this in the comments.)

But this is the only source I’ve seen on “five minutes being enough” (though it has been quoted in newspaper articles). Personally, habit and skepticism have had me recommending drying for over an hour. I always say, “dry on hot till it’s bone dry, then add 20 minutes.”

But then, dear Reader, I confess, I dotted my bed with lavender oil for months, hoping its reputed repellent properties would keep bed bugs away. I figured it probably wouldn’t, and it didn’t. But it was hard to give up this habit, since I believed it might be helping. That is kind of irrational, but I guess that’s what sleeping 4 hours a night does for you.

Since washing and drying and storing clothing properly can make such a difference to bed bug treatment, I emphasized that we want to be sure we’re doing it right. It would be such a blessing for people to only have to dry things on hot for five minutes. It would save not only time, but lots of clothing items that simply can’t handle washing on hot and drying for an hour on hot. For those reasons, I hoped we could get more information on the research that was done.

So then, I remembered one motto here at Bedbugger Ask, and ye shall receive. (Information, people, only ask for information. If you need $500, it ain’t gonna happen.)

And lo and behold, Hopelessnomo pointed me to more information that is available from Michael Potter (and colleagues) in another PCT article, this one from January 2007. SO I have re-titled and re-written this post, since it now is a whole lot more useful and contains a whole lot more tidbits.

I’ll quote the section on laundry in full:

Bed bugs often infest bedding, clothing and other personal belongings which cannot be treated with insecticides. An oft-mentioned way to de-bug such items is laundering — yet to our knowledge, no testing has been done to verify effectiveness. A simple experiment was conducted to study this question. Three groups of live bed bug adults, nymphs and eggs were placed in small nylon mesh pouches which were then placed inside cotton socks. The bed bug-provisioned socks (along with a full load of clothing) were then run through a standard wash cycle using hot water. A second trial was run with similarly infested socks placed only in a clothes dryer. The bed bug-laden socks were accompanied by a load of unwashed clothing and subjected to high heat (greater than 175° F) for five minutes. No bed bugs or eggs survived the washing or drying cycles, suggesting that either regimen, alone or in combination, is effective.

Clothing, footwear, area rugs, toys, stuffed animals, backpacks and other non-launderable items can conveniently be de-infested by heating them for a period of time in a dryer at most settings. For reference, a typical clothes dryer run for five minutes at low, medium or high heat produced temperatures of about 140, 150 and 180°F, respectively, amongst a bundle of dry clothing– plenty hot to kill bed bugs. While certain items may require professional dry-cleaning, utilizing conventional washers and dryers may help limit the spread of bed bugs to these establishments.

This information suggests that either a hot machine wash, or a hot dryer running for five minutes with already dry clothing, will kill bed bugs and eggs. As Nomo suggests in the comments below (written before I added this update) “five minutes with dry items” is not so different from what we’ve been recommending at Bedbugger all along: “bone dry plus 20 minutes.” Well, make that “bone dry plus five.” I don’t blame if you if, like me, you’re a bit skeptical and want to stick to “twenty minutes past dry”– we won’t call you neurotic.

As John sang, “Whatever gets you through the night, it’s alright, it’s alright.” For Bedbuggers, that’s another motto around here. The promise of a good night’s sleep is the grail.

The rest of the information from the January article is also more detailed and informative than the summary from December. Let me give you the highlights from what Dr. Potter et. al. recommend:

Discarding infested stuff: yes, but only if necessary. Seek a qualified PCO’s advice (qualified = knows the enemy well). If you are tossing it, wrap it well (and mark it!) and realize that if your neighbors or surrounding community pick up the item, they may come back via a crack in your shared wall, a visit to a dry cleaner’s, or the local diner. That should make anyone think twice and thrice.

Encasement: use high quality encasings that won’t tear.

Vacuums: harder to pick up bed bugs and eggs than you think; doesn’t really help unless you hit their harborage areas in a targeted way. Discard bags carefully (bed bugs can survive the trip down the hose), and do not use vacuum brushes, since they can lodge in the bristles. The dirty little so-and-so’s.

Steam

Steaming: it works, but commercial steamers only. Must be deadly hot and applied carefully (read the article!)

Collette, a reader, shared her success story here: she used steam to get bed bugs out of her home.

Readers and PCOs have recommended the following dry steamers for home use:

This is the White Wing steamer that S mentioned in this thread.

This is the Reliable T730a that reader pleasehelp had seen recommended by a PCO:

Seasonal temperatures (”putting stuff outside”)

Regarding seasonal temperatures, backpackers take note: We get a lot of questions at Bedbugger about whether “leaving stuff outside” works–and occasionally hear from people who tried it and failed. I think it comes down to the temperature, the length of time, and what you provided the bed bugs to nestle in. (The last complaint I heard was someone whose down comforter had bed bugs surviving the cold — well, perhaps it was a very warm down comforter, and maybe it just was not cold enough outside to freeze them within it.) The article says:

Lethal outdoor temperatures have long been employed in the battle against bed bugs. In the tropics, infested bedding is often left out in the sun and such methods can also be used during warm seasons in this country. It’s risky, however, to rely on ambient heating to achieve lethal temperatures in all harborage locations. Wrapping items in plastic before placing them outdoors in a sunny location (preferably on pavement), produces higher internal temperatures. It also pays not to over pack — more trash bags with fewer items make it harder for bed bugs to find cooler places to hide. Monitoring with a thermometer is also prudent, with a target internal temperature of at least 120° F.

In colder climates, freezing might be a way to de-infest furniture and other belongings. Bed bugs and their eggs can be killed by very low temperatures, but it is difficult to achieve them without using a deep freezer. Temperatures below 0°F for one to two weeks are generally believed to be needed to reliably kill all life stages. Fluctuating winter temperatures which often extend above this level are probably less effective and are currently being studied by Dr. Steven Kells at the University of Minnesota. Overall and throughout much of the country, heating tends to be a faster, more reliable option than chilling.

Well, that’s all for now. I greatly appreciated reading this research. Thanks to Dr. Potter and his team.

And special thanks to Hopelessnomo, who mentioned the article in the forums, and directed me to further sources.

Update (7/19/2007):

Additional information on thermal, cold, steam, etc. is included in Stephen L. Doggett’s Bed Bug Code of practice. See the table of contents.

Frank, at the War on Bed Bugs, also did an interesting post on hot and cold treatments. Check it out.

Update (10/4/2007):

Some people have recommended something like this for drying shoes in the dryer:

Update 12/07:

If you are thinking of using a dry cleaner for some or all of your clothing, read this FAQ first!

Update 1/08:

NotSoSnug points us to a library protocol for getting bugs out of books:

I should add that there is a librarian protocol to heat paperwork at 130degF for 3hrs to kill insects (remember to include a pan of water to keep some humidity). Any longer will melt binding glue (I know I forgot one night and it did). Also, till tape receipts are heat sensitive so they will turn dark. Annoying if you need the receipts for business!

See the ‘Bookworm’ section, Paragraph #7:

http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r8820e/r8820e07.htm

Thanks, NotSoSnug!

• FAQ: dry cleaners and bed bugs
• FAQ: Leaving stuff out to freeze, walk-in freezers, etc: how cold and how long?
• Tales of bed bug woe: Allergicgirl’s questions
• FAQ: I stayed somewhere that had bed bugs. What do I do to keep from taking them home?

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