Myrtle Beach, SC Spring Break 2007 27

Originally uploaded by Curtis and Eric

Articles are now starting to appear warning students traveling over spring break that bed bugs are something to try and avoid. This article from the student paper the Daily Kansan, and this one in the About.com Student Travel Blog.

And remember Winston’s advice to us last November — even visiting friends or parents, you need to be cautious. You might be taking bed bugs from school or motel to someone’s home. Since Michael Potter tells us as many as 50% of folks do not react, it’s worth being cautious and inspecting your dorm room (or other places you stay) carefully.

Note to Kansas students: even if your school claims no one at the school has had bed bugs, they may have. The problem just has not been detected yet. No, I am not being alarmist. It’s just that that’s too rich a claim to be making when bed bugs are spreading all over the country and around the world. Someone there has probably been bitten. The same goes for About.com travel blogger Kathleen: I hate to say it, but if you travel that much, you may well have been exposed; you may be one of those who is not allergic.

Bedbugger’s FAQ on how to avoid bed bugs while traveling.
How to avoid spreading bed bugs if you have been exposed.

• Stanford still fighting bed bugs
• Eastern Nazarene College: students cannot bring in ANY used furniture
• Bed bugs lurk in hotel rooms, says ABC news
• bed bugs at University of Bridgeport

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The MSNBC advice on avoiding bed bugs while traveling has been around since June 2006. We added our FAQ on how to avoid bed bugs while traveling in October of that year (just two weeks after Bedbugger.com was born). Lots have sprung up in the interim, including the wonderful CBC video which shows one how to inspect a hotel room for bed bugs (clicking here loads a movie).

And then last week an article appeared in Smarter Travel, and today, one in Gadling.

The NY Times Health Blog post on bed bug dogs also sent people to the Gadling page today.

If more people learn how to search a hotel room (or even learn they should), then perhaps more people will discover bed bugs before they are bitten, and more will avoid bringing them home.

LAX Sunset Airplane Landing

Originally uploaded by felibarrientos

• Disney guests paid off to keep quiet about bed bugs
• FAQ: How can I avoid bedbugs while traveling?
• 25% of hotel rooms have bed bugs? I don’t think so.
• bed bugs in the media: the Today Show, Tuesday morning

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