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

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

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

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

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

Sheperdigian suggests apartment managers need to try to develop

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

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

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

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

Other recommendations Shepherdgian outlines for apartment managers include

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

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

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

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Today’s Room for Debate, entitled Bedbugs (Itch, Itch, Scratch, Scratch)! (hosted by the New York Times) has an excellent virtual roundtable, including posts by fabulous entomologists Lou Sorkin, Michael Potter, and Susan C. Jones.

Although Bonnie Friedman’s contribution waxes nostalgically for DDT (which isn’t going to happen, for all kinds of good reasons), we did also appreciate the presence of a former bed bug sufferer among the respondents.

As Renee said on New York vs. Bed Bugs today, the posts by Sorkin, Potter and Jones in particular would be a great resource for people anywhere trying to educate others about bed bugs.

Bookmark and share them with your skeptical, under-responsive or unresponsive landlord, health department, or legislator!Similar Posts:

• Bed bugs in the media: David Cain on British radio, Dr. Susan Jones in the Plain Dealer
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Bed bug specialists David Cain (of Bed-bugs.co.uk and active in our Bedbugger Forums) and Dr. Susan C. Jones (of Ohio State University) have been in the press this week, spreading good information about bed bugs.

David Cain was interviewed by BBC Derby’s Aleena Naylor on her morning show today. The approximately ten-minute interview starts at 1:42:35, so you can scroll through to it once the player loads.

It’s basically “bed bugs for beginners,” covering the basics, including these facts:

• bed bugs are not spread by lack of hygiene,
• they’re visible but you might not see them,
• they bite, but you may not react to bed bug bites,
• bed bug problems “can and should be controlled,” and
• people need to learn to inspect for bed bugs and their signs.

Have a listen before it disappears!

Also, last week, entomologist Dr. Susan C. Jones warned readers of Cleveland’s Plain Dealer about the spread of bed bugs.

Jones’s article focuses on the spread of bed bugs via people traveling and college students returning home.  It gives extensive advice about avoiding bed bugs while traveling, how to search a hotel room for bed bugs, what to do if you spot them in a hotel room, and key treatment advice:

If you suspect an infestation in your home, immediately contact a pest control company with experience in dealing with bed bugs. Don’t wait, because the problem will just get worse. And don’t use bug bombs. They rarely kill bed bugs but instead cause the bugs to scatter into areas you wouldn’t usually find them, such as your bathroom or kitchen.

Dr. Jones also recommends against boric acid, which we know does not work against bed bugs, and stresses that people should have their pest professional inspect a sample to ensure it is a bed bug (bat bugs and other creatures need different or additional kinds of treatment and action).  Dr. Jones also gives this excellent advice:

Always report bed bugs, although it may be difficult to know where to report such infestations. Start with your local health department, and if that’s not the right agency, ask who is responsible.

Not knowing who to report to is confusing and exhausting, readers tell me, but we have seen many instances reported in the media where health departments or other authorities took action and monitored situations, improving and speeding treatment to heavily infested properties.  It certainly cannot hurt, and it can definitely help.

Making these phone calls also reminds health department officials (and others they may pass you on to) that bed bugs are a problem where you live.  Your local officials need to understand this.

Thanks to David and to Dr. Jones for their tireless and valuable work in educating the public about bed bugs, their behavior, and how to spot and react to their presence.  The first battle in the fight against bed bugs is the battle against ignorance.Similar Posts:

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Why?

Because she’s one of those entomologists who’s telling it like it is, to public officials who want to ignore the bed bug problem. The Columbus Dispatch quoted Jones Tuesday as saying,

“If you bury your head in the sand, you’re going to get bitten, and it’s just going to get worse and worse,” said Susan Jones, an entomology professor at Ohio State University.

And because she’s trying to convince public health officials that bed bugs are a health problem, something many health officials don’t seem to get:

“The question is: Is it a public-health issue or not?” Columbus Health Department spokesman Jose Rodriguez said. “Bedbugs are really looked upon as a nuisance issue.”

OSU’s Jones, however, said scabbing, secondary infections and the anxiety caused by fearing your own bed are serious health concerns.

Amen. It’s not just about the bed bug bites, for crying out loud.

Those alone are often more than a nuisance, but the loss of sleep, anxiety, and loss of money due to treatment or preparations for treatment (which can mean people do not get the food, health care, or other resources they need) can have even more serious health consequences for many.

Susan Jones is involved with the Cincinnati/Hamilton County Joint Bed Bug Task Force.

Code enforcement handles individual complaints, but Jones recommends a centralized master plan.

She suggested a task force that combines the expertise of pest-control, health, code-enforcement and housing agencies. Trends would be easier to spot with all the complaints and treatment numbers in one place, and a task force also could coordinate a publicity campaign to tell people how to stop the spread of bedbugs.

People should seal infested furniture in plastic before disposing of it; travelers ought to check hotel beds for pests; and exterminators need to know that bedbugs are harder to kill than most insects, experts said.

Jones works with a similar task force in Hamilton County. The group was launched after the Cincinnati Health Department received 737 bedbug complaints in 2007 – the same number as for mice, rats and roaches combined.

I wonder how New York City’s bed bug complaints stack up against our complaints for mice /rats / roaches?

The article’s basic focus is on how Columbus / Franklin County, Ohio need to step up their own response to bed bugs.

Well, you know what they say: admitting your city or county has a bed bug problem is the first step towards solving it.
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It’s a week later, but I did want to comment on the media’s follow-up from last week’s Town Hall Meeting in Cincinnati, about the bed bug problem.

WCPO.com’s Lynn Groud reported on the event last Monday. Hundreds of bed bug sufferers turned out. One speaker said:

“For many older adults, they are a 24-hour a day problem. Their homes are so infested they are visible during the day, crawling on the older adult, crawling on the walls,” said one speaker.

City, county and state leaders answered questions, acknowledging that bed bugs are multiplying and moving in to more and more homes at an alarming rate.

“Some of the bed bugs will go into the mattress, they will put their eggs into the mattress,” said Ken Hippner, of Command Pest Management. “So, we go out and kill what we can see – then go weeks or months later – and the eggs hatch and have new bed bugs emerging.”

But hiring an exterminator can cost hundreds of dollars – and many at the town meeting were hoping the city would offer more help.

“That’s what I want to know,” said Collins. “Are they gonna come out and do this free, because I can’t afford it and neither can these poor people.”

That’s what we want to know too!

WCPO reports that the Cincinnati Bed Bug Task Force “are planning an emergency meeting and hope to come back in December with more solutions.” Lets hope financial assistance for landlords and homeowners is at the top of the list.

Click to watch WCPO.com’s video or read the article.

However, one reader, entoman, apparently attended the event, and had this to say:

entoman said:

November 6th, 2007 at 10:19 am edit

The Bed Bug Town Hall meeting was very confusing. Obviously the people on the Bed Bug Task Force did not compare notes before they presented their information. The Commissioner of Cincinnati Health Department stated you do not need a professional, you need an integrated plan that would include the use of soap and water. Another official stated temperatures of 98 degees will kill all bed bugs. Even another stated that pesticides do not work. Hamilton County Health Director said to sleep with the lights on (this would prevent bed bugs from biting). He also said to use 90% isopropyl alcohol (there are legal issues with this in Ohio). The information pamphlets that were handed out contradicted all of this and said home remedies do not work.

The only positive thing is that Susan Jones from Ohio State is on the Task Force. Dr. Jones is known for her research with termites but is starting to get into bed bugs. Hopefully she will be the voice of reason.

As I said in the other thread, I really appreciate having the perspective of an actual attendee (and one who is, judging from his pseudonym and his comments, an entomologist). The recommendations quoted above are a reason why government officials need to have all their ducks in a row, when it comes to speaking to the public about bed bugs. Bed bug experts need to be involved in the planning, and officials need to get their story straight as far as what to recommend and what not to recommend. Having pamphlets that recommend one thing and speakers suggesting the opposite is not going to help attendees fight their bed bugs.

Public education around bed bugs is needed for consumers, but to make a difference, and avoid confusion, we have to start by educating the people who are working in government and social services. Similar Posts:

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