Interestingly,

The bed bug infestation came to light last week after the Pinellas County Health Department received an anonymous call about the problem.

So do call those health departments to report bed bugs in public spaces, or your workplace, people.

Even more interestingly,

Unlike roaches, which can be spotted easily, bed bugs hide, so “we don’t even bother looking for them,” said Charles Minor, a supervisor with the health department’s environmental division. “If we get a complaint, we assume that they’re there. We focus on getting rid of them.”

We’ve heard some pest control operators treat bed bugs the same way, even though in many places, it’s illegal to treat without evidence. Yes, bites are a form of evidence, but they can come from other sources, and so don’t definitively indicate bed bugs.

Still, I appreciate the Pinellas County Health Department’s enthusiasm for treating bed bugs.

PEMHS stopped taking new patients, moved those in the facility elsewhere and tented the building for fumigation, said Erin Gillespie, a spokeswoman for the Department of Children and Families, which oversees PEMHS. The building remained closed until Monday when employees and residents began moving back in.

It sounds like the building was treated with vikane gas fumigation. The facility may wish to educate employees and clients about bed bugs, since we can assume the bed bugs may have both been brought into the center from someone’s home, and may have been taken home by others, infesting their homes.

If employees or clients have bed bugs at home and do not get proper treatment, the facility can easily become reinfested.

• bed bugs clear Port Jervis, NY Hospital’s mental health unit
• Bed bugs in hotels: how to report (and check up on) bed bug infestations
• Freehold, NJ Social Service agency asks county for money to treat bed bugs
• Rockford, IL: half of Red Roof Inn shut down due to bed bugs

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UPPER WEST SIDE—It seems there is a little detail about the condo conversion at 30 Lincoln Plaza that may have been overlooked: “You failed to mention that the building is infested with bed bugs…the management has confirmed this and is handing out pamphlets and they have even had a bedbug sniffing dog in some apartments..who knew! I would think this situation is going to really boost sales on those $1,185,000 647 sq/ft one bedrooms.” Bedbug sniffing dogs?!? Excellent. [CurbedWire Inbox]

While it’s always surprising to find out another building has bed bugs, it’s a good thing that the building management is aware and is taking action. I hope they undertake aggressive treatment throughout. (Imagine, hypothetically, the legal activity that would ensue if some units were infested but did not identify the presence of pests, were not treated, and were sold infested.)

This item from Curbed.com reminds me that a lot of the interesting bed bug “news” in the last four days has been leaked via gossip blogs: legal gossip, real estate gossip, ivy league college gossip (although this one probably had another itchy culprit).

Unlike “real” news–which is covered in the newspapers, and on TV and radio–like the spread of MRSA drug-resistant staph bacteria, which tragically killed a 7th grader in Brooklyn, bed bugs aren’t yet confirmed to cause disease and death. They have been unofficially confirmed to cause distress, stress, anxiety, sleeping trouble–and in rare cases, allergic reactions so severe they can kill. But nothing compared with the threat of deadly MRSA. I saw an ABC news segment here in NYC Friday night–kids at the school that youngster attended, were carrying bottles of purell, and startled parents and teachers were looking on in amazement as they reported washing their hands after using the lavatory (ABC7 produced multiple clips in which the students admitted this was new behavior.) The segment also featured a poster on the door of the school, and though it was not shown close-up, I am pretty certain it warned that the school had been exposed to MRSA and that people had to take precautions not to catch it.

Since bed bugs aren’t on the same level of threat, the reasoning seems to go, we don’t need to actually warn people about bed bugs in specific locations. And so “bed bug reports” are confined to the realm of gossip blogs.

Yes, it is true that hotels, real estate developers and brokers, restaurants, theaters and other businesses that are reported to have bed bugs in the mainstream media, will face worried customers and may lose business. The hotel industry in NYC, in particular, will be hard hit. One can only assume Mayor Bloomberg chooses to avoid confronting and admitting the true number of infested homes and businesses in this city (which I first considered in this post), because it would scare off tourists, who contribute so much to the city, as well as negatively affecting real estate, and maybe even how people spend their leisure time (and money).

But it does not follow that if we do not discuss bed bugs, publicly, then they will go away. The opposite is true: as long as businesses are in denial, or putting up a bed-bug-free front, the problem will keep spreading at an alarming rate, and eventually, I believe, the hit on businesses will be greater.

• Maya Rudolph’s former loft (again): bedbugs ADD value!
• Bed Bug Helloise is shocked…
• The strange case of bed bugs in Bushwick
• What means this *TIPPING POINT*?

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Keith Hamilton said that bedbugs have returned to some local social-service facilities and asked if the county can make money available to help smaller organization exterminate them. Hamilton said his employer, SERV Behavioral Health System Inc., must spend $200,000 to exterminate the insects at one facility after they were brought in by someone who stayed at another facility.

Hamilton said the extermination costs may be too much for smaller organizations. He noted that bedbugs can return after exterminations if they continue to live in other local facilities. Mair said county legal staff would review the county’s options.

That’s all they wrote. And you have to scroll right down under the article on fireworks to read it.

But it’s important news. Governments will have to assist both social service agencies–and, in my opinion, landlords and homeowners–because otherwise, bed bugs will continue to spread at an alarming rate.

And remember, an infested social service facility does not just spread bed bugs to other facilities (via clients who move around). It spreads them to workers and their families.

I am not sure if what kinds of facilities are included in SERV’s work, but consider this: when people who are homeless, or in need of a detox center (or in need of health care of other kinds) hear that the facilities are infested with bed bugs, they are less inclined to seek assistance there. This means, for example, more homeless people sleeping out, at greater physical danger to themselves, or people who need mental health or drug treatment services staying away from treatment. It hurts them, and it affects everyone else.

Remember, with bed bugs, we’re living in a matrix, a web. We’re all interconnected and the bed bugs are going to show just how closely, by moving from one place to another. If we don’t make sure everyone can pay to have their bed bugs eradicated, more and more of us will end up becoming infested.

• Brown student wants to provide free bed bug treatment to those who can’t pay
• Tampa Bay mental health facility closed for bed bug treatment
• Nova Scotia home help nurses stop visiting client with bed bugs
• Bed bugs & tenant organizing: don’t take this lying down

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A friend from the blog whose bed bugs are hopefully gone for good called me today. She just bought a bunch of new lingerie. Woo hoo! For the gents who are blissfully unaware (if I have not already sent them running with my choice of topic), lingerie is generally a strictly “wash on cold and hang to dry” sort of thing. Remember Richard Dreyfuss in The Goodbye Girl?

“No! More! Panties! Drying! On! The Rod!”

The ladies here know– having bed bugs means you wash everything on hot and dry it on hot. Unless you send your “unmentionables” to the dry cleaners (do people do that?), they’re going to be subjected to treatment forbidden on every garment care label.

Most female Bedbuggers quickly start finding out what happens when you flout those directions, and toss the delicates in with the whole kit and kaboodle. The results include shrinkage, discoloration, and expensive nice things wearing out very quickly. And don’t get started on nylon hose and tights, which don’t go in the dryer, and so are pretty much disposable, if you’re a Bedbugger.

And then there’s the inconvenience and the cost and the work. Most Bedbuggers–male or female– start washing everything after one wearing. This means much more laundry than ever before. And your clothes wear out faster–being washed so harshly on hot and dried on hot, and then washed this way much more often, in many cases. Some try to cut down on laundry by changing into “indoor clothes” and sealing up their “outdoor clothes” for another use. But this can lead to wrinkles and mustiness (sealing worn clothing in a bag leads to very different effects from airing it on a hanger.)

Those hit during the summer have the advantage of not having to wash winter coats and bag them between wearings. They do, however, have to deal with bed bugs that breed more quickly, and the effects on bites of heat and humidity, which can increase the itching considerably.

People stop sitting in soft furniture, walking barefoot at home, and resort to checking sheets and other bedclothes obsessively before getting in, and worrying about taking anything from home to car, work, or anywhere else. They shower, dress in fresh clothing, and rush out to work and appointments, because lingering at home means things might crawl into their clothing and be moved elsewhere.

I hear some entomologists and PCOs say that this sort of “hitchhiking” is a rarity and not something to worry about. But we all know people whose workplaces, cars, friends, relatives were infested under similar circumstances. And how else could the NYC public schools have bed bugs in them, if people were not bringing them in and out? (Last thing I checked, they weren’t brought in on used mattresses: politicians take note.) So even if it’s a slim threat, anyone with an awareness of the danger and any kind of conscience becomes concerned about it.

If you think about the people in your life who are elderly or suffering an illness, who are disabled, who have infants, who just plain don’t need to deal with all this (I think I covered everyone there), you consider what might happen if they were the ones exposed.

These behaviors we go through to try and avoid spreading bed bugs may look like an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), but they’re surely not a disorder. Nevertheless, like OCD, they take up a lot of energy, and a lot of time, and they make people look at us strangely (if they see what we go through).

Most frequently asked questions here are about how to avoid or get rid of bed bugs, but since we’ve had more visitors lately, I want to do something to convey for those who don’t know, what this can be like, for months. At least. But this one is also for the Bedbuggers who are somewhere on the “road to recovery” from bed bugs. Even when the bed bug crisis is over, it takes a while for people to stop doing things this way, because the new habits become ingrained. At some point you need to realize the crisis is over and take some ceremonial steps towards the “normal” way of doing most things. Most of them, I stress: do continue to leave the cover on the mattress, and do not sit on the wooden benches on the NYC subway platforms!

There’s a scene from the movie Road Warrior, the dystopian film about a future where the hardy and haggard survivors of some apocalypse battle for survival in armored vehicles. Another unwashed fellow in rags and with rotten teeth exclaims to Mel Gibson’s character,

“Lingerie! Remember lingerie?”

Now this guy not only missed lingerie, he missed all the comforts of their pre-apocalyptic state (and, I assume, the inhabitants of said lingerie). That question rings in my mind, as I remember musing to a friend about how many months I went without sitting in my sofa.

“Comfort, remember comfort?”

The point is, you take a lot of things for granted in a modern, “technologically-advanced” country, and a lot of these are things you have to do without when you’re trying to rid your home of these vermin: pretty and comfortable clothing and furniture, free time, relaxing at home, a good night’s sleep.

To add insult to injury, the stigma is such that it’s hard to tell others, and if you do, they often still won’t understand. And often, some of those who don’t get it may be right there in your home, not being bitten, denying there’s a problem or unwilling to understand it, rolling their eyes, refusing to participate–after all, they too may think you suddenly developed OCD. I feel for them also, but that’s for another day. (Remember, they miss you, the way you were before: in nice clothes, not worried about little things, smiling.)

I was thrilled my friend bought new lingerie. It might sound silly, but it’s symbolic. Good for her. And I hope she does not ever have to go through all that again.

Bedbuggers: what’s the worst “new habit” you’ve had to develop in your fight against bed bugs?

And what’s the one thing you most look forward to doing again, when your home’s bed bug crisis is over?

• For friends and family of bedbuggers
• FAQ: how do I deal with clothing during treatment for bed bugs (and for a while later)?
• FAQ: How can I avoid spreading bedbugs to others when I visit their homes?
• Reader Question: how easy is it to spread bed bugs?

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Port Jervis – Patients in the mental health unit at Bon Secours Community Hospital were relocated last week amid a bedbug outbreak.

Two patients complained to doctors about skin rashes caused by bedbug bites, hospital officials said.

Following a doctor’s examination, all patients on the floor were relocated to another unit and an exterminator was called. There are about 12 patients on the mental health floor.

No other bedbugs have been found in any other parts of the hospital, according to hospital spokeswoman Mary Decker.

But perhaps the hospital is overly optiistic about how easily treated the problem is:

All the rooms have been exterminated and are in the process of being reassembled, Decker said. The patients will be moved back to their rooms tomorrow.

“We’re happy we discovered it when we did and are able to treat it appropriately,” Decker said.

Decker said the hospital consulted with several agencies, including the Orange County Department of Health and the Mental Health Department, about the bedbug occurrence. Decker said there was no risk to others in the hospital.

“Each patient was showered and given new clothing before being transported to the other unit,” Decker said.

A hospital is probably an easier place to treat than most homes (due to clutter, furniture, and the way homes are set up), but if the hospital was only treated once, they may need to treat again. They should also inspect the entire hospital for bed bugs.

Patients, families, and other patients may want to know that the patients’ belongings may still be infested, if these were not treated or removed. Employees should be aware that they, too, could have moved the problem around to other rooms or to staff areas (even possibly taking the bugs home).

My heart goes out to those patients, who have enough to worry about without bed bugs.

Thanks to Bugalina, who mentioned hearing about this infestation on the Curtis and Kuby AM770 radio show today.

• Tampa Bay mental health facility closed for bed bug treatment
• Alton, Illinois, motel: blaming the bedbug victim
• FAQ: Are bedbugs a health issue?
• News round-up: UK’s Daily Telegraph on bed bugs; Cincinnati’s finest are working to avoid bed bugs

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