At Rose Pest Solutions in Troy [Michigan], where Sheperdigian reigns as vice president for technical services, the number of bedbug jobs has risen from one or two in 2001 to about 160 last year, with continued rapid growth expected in 2008.

The article goes beyond the standard “bed bugs are in our area now” articles which are popping up weekly, delving into the origins of the problem, as well as various ways to get rid of bed bugs.

Interestingly, Rubin cites Sheperdigian as challenging the theory that bed bugs came back due to increased travel:

One theory says that bedbugs have reemerged because Americans are traveling more to countries where they never quite went away. The problem is, Sheperdigian says, his research shows we were traveling more in the ’80s and ’90s.

“This isn’t a matter of reintroduction,” he says. “There’s something deeper happening that we don’t understand.”

Rubin also cites Sheperdigian’s opinion on Cryonite:

. . . Sheperdigian’s opinion of one of the trendy new methods of bedbug-whacking, an icy carbon dioxide spray that’s supposed to freeze them in their creepy little tracks. He says it mostly blows them around.

As far as I am concerned, the jury is still out on Cryonite, but I have not personally seen any effectiveness studies yet.

For good measure, the article also notes that, as far as treatment is concerned,

Rose Pest Solutions uses a combination of vacuums, steam and insecticides. Others favor bedbug-sniffing dogs or the equivalent of gigantic hair dryers.

None are foolproof.

• The iceman cometh.
• Ellen’s theory as to how bed bugs came back
• The Wall Street Journal on “new” bed bug-fighting tactics
• Given that they spread like wildfire, why did bed bugs take 30 years to come back?

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Edward Higgins, the defense lawyer, tried to kill the suit, claiming it’s impossible to know how and when bed bugs arrived in the home, but the judge did not dismiss the civil suit:

Circuit Judge John McBain said there’s no evidence the YMCA camp knew of the blood-sucking insects in 2005, but a jury or judge could decide whether officials should have suspected bugs and used routine pest control.

Higgins’ response?

“No one in the Midwest had a clue there were bedbugs here,” Higgins said. “Most people thought it was the subject of a nursery rhyme.”

The bed bug blame game is a difficult one to win, as Higgins knows. In most cases, we have to admit a lack of definitive evidence as to the source of an infestation.

On the other hand, whatever the climate in 2005, the days of denying responsibility because you never heard of bed bugs in your area are now kaput.

Nevertheless, detecting bed bugs is no picnic even when you are aware, as many Bedbuggers will attest.

And it is true that you have to be aware in order to detect them. Still, the article asserts that

While bedbug population has been on the rise in the United States in the last five years, it is not true that no one in the Midwest knew of their existence before that.

“Bedbugs and people have been together since we lived in caves,” Michigan State University entomologist Howard Russell said.

Bed bugs have been here all along: we keep hearing this. Many entomologists and PCOs will assert they saw bed bugs (albeit more rarely) throughout the golden years of 1972-1999 (after DDT was banned in the US but before the current epidemic “began”). And yet others date the resurgence of bed bugs to circa 1999.

On the other hand, Russell does not see a clear link in the YMCA infestation and the home infestation:

“I would argue it was a coincidence because bedbug populations are on the rise, and there are many sources,” Russell said. Also, only DNA testing could prove the bugs hitched a ride from Storer Camp to the plaintiff’s house, he said.

Now, about that DNA testing: does he mean testing the home bed bug’s DNA (against that of the bed bugs found at the camp?) Or does he mean testing the client’s DNA being compared with that found in blood eaten by bed bugs at camp? Even if it’s proven that the bed bugs at camp and the bed bugs at home are from the same strain, or bit the same boy, how would either test prove definitively that bed bugs did not travel in the other direction?

Yes, I know a lot of readers will be really frustrated with me. Of course he got bed bugs from the camp, people will say. The same way that when someone first notices bed bug bites after a trip to a hotel, or the purchase of a new mattress (delivered in a truck), they will assume they know the source of bed bugs. And make no mistake, these are all probable sources. But it is also true in these cases that bed bugs could have been present in the home–undetected–before the incident in question.

That’s why the blame game doesn’t usually work.

I’m not a lawyer, but it seems like more than probability is needed to win a lawsuit.*  Perhaps that kind of evidence is available to the judge and jury.

Not enough information is available from the article to call this a coincidence, nor to place blame. We don’t know what the kid saw or experienced at camp vs. at home. We don’t know if he was bitten at home first, or at camp. And even if we did, this moment (the first bite) is often hard or impossible to identify: it appears you can be bitten for months without reacting. People sometimes report a large number of bites appearing at once after many bites not causing an immediate reaction; entomologists who feed bed bugs have reported this occurrence.

Because bed bug bites are allergic reactions, and vary so widely, it is very hard to say when the cause is introduced, or removed.

*Update (3/10/2008):  a reader who happens to be a lawyer responded to my comment above that, “I’m not a lawyer, but it seems like more than probability is needed to win a lawsuit.”

Actually, the standard for a civil case is
“preponderance of the evidence” — more probable than
not — basically more than a 50% chance.

http://www.answers.com/topic/preponderance-of-evidence?cat=biz-fin

Thank you, anonymous lawyer, for that correction.

• FAQ: Where can I read about bed bug lawsuits? Can you help me find a lawyer?
• Apartment Managers attend bed bug conference in Cincinnati
• NYC office of Very Important International Law Firm has bed bugs
• World exclusive: Bedbuggers experiment with being bitten, on purpose!

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First, WLNS of Lansing, Michigan warns that bed bugs are the pest of the 21st century, that they “wreak havoc on your skin and your life,” their incidence has increased 75% n five years (oh, I’d say much more than that), and fighting an infestation is costly, upwards of $300 per room. After scaring the living bejaysus out of the good (Lansonians? Lansineers?), what one, tiny pithy nugget of practical advice do they give?

When returning from a trip, experts say it’s a good idea to vacuum out your suitcase.

Well, it’s not bad advice, but is that the only thing you’ve got for us WLNS? Looks like your readers might need them a few Bedbugger FAQs.

WVLT in Tennessee also seems to have latched on to the phrase “bug of the 21st century.” (All right, which entomologist let that one out of the bag? Well, if it replaces that nursery-rhyme mumbo-jumbo, then we’re on to a good thing, I guess.)

More suggestions here, including suitcase-vacuuming (again, I’m sensing a pattern here), and the warning to those who are thinking it’s a bedsheet issue,

If you’re leaving for a trip, don’t think taking your own bedding will help. They live in the mattress.

Just make sure and check the bed before bringing your stuff to the room.

Well, sorta, but not quite: they also live in the baseboards, bed frame, electrical sockets, light fixtures, ceiling, floor, and sofa, among other places. The information is more plentiful for Tennessee than for Lansing, Michigan, but the quality is a bit hit-or-miss. They’re obsessed with bed bugs being “in the mattress,” but they also warn people not to toss vacuum bags in the trash, and so on. (Tennesee is also playing a bit fast and loose with the rules of punctuation, spelling, and grammar, so compulsive proofreaders and your high school English teacher should steer clear!)

OSU’s student paper The Lantern reports that an infested grad student dorm at Ohio State University is getting some serious “fumigation” in response to bed bugs. The collection of all students’ non-washable belongings—isolated, bagged, placed in red carts—sounds promising. It’s a bit mysterious what will happen to that stuff (in the red carts, they have to be red carts!), but hopefully it will be picked through with a fine-toothed comb by PCOs with bed bug knowledge, and returned.

If this is so, and if OSU also follows up at 10-14 day intervals (follow-up was not mentioned at all in the article), this would not be unlike the Stanford bed bug protocol, which we believe to be the best reported in any response to college dorm bed bugs. (You can scroll down this list to see past coverage on Bedbugger of Stanford bed bug cases, and gawk at the love fest I’ve put on for Stanford upon hearing the descriptions of how San Francisco’s Crane PCO and the Stanford admin dealt with those cases. It’s beautiful, really.) I only note this because reports have also come from many other colleges of poor bed bug procedures.

Update 5/25: 100 rooms on 3 floors are being treated. Bed bugs were found on the 9th and 11th floors, and they’re treating the 10th as well. (What about the 8th?)

Finally, Australians appear to have been battling bed bugs a wee bit longer than those of us in the US. (Canada, too, a bit ahead in the Bed Bug Olympics.) So no surprise that they’re at the forefront of innovation: this dry steamer does the bed bug killing job, without getting your stuff all wet (that’s dry steam, i.e. no mold!) Their website says,

Duplex Cleaning Machines has a variety of industrial and commercial strength steam products to tackle bed bug epidemic including the Jet Steam, Tosca and JetVac range.

The JetVac Professional Plus is an ideal solution to the bed bug problem as it delivers 160°+ Dry Steam with a tool which applies the steam evenly without blowing the bugs away and then also vacuums away the dead bugs and their eggs.

Wait, they have a steamer named Tosca? Puccini must be tossing in his grave.

But the question on everyone’s mind: when will my PCO have one? I can just see it now, integrated pest management: first, they bring in the bed bug dog. Then the dry steaming and caulking. And finally, the chemical and mechanical onslaught begins. Well, the bug of the 21st century needs the PCO of the 21st century, no?

• Stanford bed bugs: university fights back
• Stanford still fighting bed bugs
• Stanford U bed bugs: being fought with enthusiasm and wisdom
• bedbugs at Stanford University dorms (again)

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For those of you who don’t know, webpages can tell where you’re coming from (though not very specifically). They know the location of your ISP. For most people, this comes up as somewhere near where they live, though it’s not always precise and sometimes it’s just the country. It also tells the webmaster what internet browser you use (Go Firefox!) and whether you like Macs or Windows machines. No, I do not know your name, or where you live, don’t worry!

This may all seem very “meta,” so far, but we know that our readership consists of four kinds of people:

a) People who have, or think they have, or recently had, bed bugs.
b) People whose work makes them concerned about bed bugs (pest control professionals, entomologists, politicians, landlords, hotel managers, social service agencies, government officials, are just some sectors that I have heard from).
c) People who have heard about bed bugs and are concerned, and want to know more.

I think that group (a) is in the majority, and although most people don’t comment, most commenters fit in group a. In any case, the Bedbugger.com readership is a map of bed bug concern, and you’d be pretty safe betting its a map of where bed bugs are popping up–with the caveat, of course, that our site pops up more in US search engines than those abroad, and also that our readers are overwhelmingly English-speakers, though we have dreams of breaking down those linguistic barriers!

This is where the last 89 readers were reading the blog (circa 6:30 this evening):

1. San Diego, California, United States
2. Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom
3. Walden, New York, United States
4. Long Island City, New York, United States
5. New York, New York, United States
6. Plattekill, New York, United States
7. Hull, Quebec, Canada
8. Durant, Iowa, United States
9. Miamiville, Ohio, United States
10. Gibraltar
11. Calgary, Alberta, Canada
12. Boston, Massachusetts, United States
13. Humble, Texas, United States
14. Germantown, Maryland, United States
15. Rowland Heights, California, United States
16. New York, New York, United States
17. New York, New York, United States
18. Hadley, Kentucky, United States
19. Buffalo, New York, United States
20. Hveragerði, Arnessysla, Iceland
21. Pine Falls, Manitoba, Canada
22. Livonia, Michigan, United States
23. Bayside, New York, United States
24. Woodhaven, New York, United States
25. Denver, Colorado, United States
26. New York, New York, United States
27. United States
28. Waterloo, Quebec, Canada
29. Los Angeles, California, United States
30. Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
31. Santa Maria, California, United States
32. Beamsville, Ontario, Canada
33. Kansas City, Missouri, United States
34. Corona, New York, United States
35. Barker, Texas, United States
36. Readville, Massachusetts, United States
37. Palo Alto, California, United States
38. Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
39. Mill Valley, California, United States
40. Ridgewood, New York, United States
41. Mehama, Oregon, United States
42. San Francisco, California, United States
43. Feeding Hills, Massachusetts, United States
44. Swedesburg, Iowa, United States
45. Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
46. West New York, New Jersey, United States
47. Lancaster, Blackpool, United Kingdom
48. New York, New York, United States
49. Miami, Florida, United States
50. Anaheim, California, United States
51. Harrow, Harrow, United Kingdom
52. Wilsonville, Oregon, United States
53. Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
54. Forest Hill, Ontario, Canada
55. Wayne, New Jersey, United States
56. Kecskemét, Bacs-Kiskun, Hungary
57. Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada
58. Short Hills, New Jersey, United States
59. Seattle, Washington, United States
60. Jackson, Mississippi, United States
61. Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States
62. Secaucus, New Jersey, United States
63. Long Island City, New York, United States
64. United States
65. Tranbjerg, Arhus, Denmark
66. Naples, Florida, United States
67. San Francisco, California, United States
68. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
69. Gainesville, Florida, United States
70. Edmond, Oklahoma, United States
71. Hempstead, New York, United States
72. Everett, Massachusetts, United States
73. United States
74. United States
75. São Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
76. Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
77. Bismarck, North Dakota, United States
78. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
79. Downers Grove, Illinois, United States
80. United States
81. Bend, Oregon, United States
82. Henderson, Nevada, United States
83. Montréal, Quebec, Canada
84. Sunnyvale, California, United States
85. Arlington, Texas, United States
86. United States
87. New York, New York, United States
88. Fairfax, Virginia, United States
89. Rochester, New York, United States

You might expect that most of these people came from the bed bug hot spots. We get lots of readers from Chicago, Boston, NYC, San Francisco, Vancouver, Toronto. So it’s surprising that 89 people came from such a wide variety of places:

68 from at least 33 states (only 12 of these from NYC, San Francisco or Boston);
11 from 5 provinces in Canada;
4 from 4 cities in the UK (none of them London);
1 person each from: Hungary, Ireland, Denmark, Brazil, Iceland, and Gilbraltar.

In New York state, 10 of the 17 visitors were from NYC. And of the 10 in NYC, 60% were in Queens, where, unlike Staten Island, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Manhattan, each neighborhood has its own name used for the purposes of the postal service: Ridgewood, Corona, Long Island City, Woodhaven, Bayside, New York, are all in Queens, and part of NYC. Remember the Queens Gazette speculating that Queens was the “ground zero for NYC’s bed bugs? Well, I am still not sure it’s true, but it seems plausible: we certainly have a lot of Bedbuggers in Queens.

I peeked at the traffic report for the site because I have a geeky side and I find it interesting to know where you’re coming from. However, looking at it can tell us something about the bed bug problem. This is not a scientific study, but just a snapshot of our site’s traffic does tell you who’s worried about bed bugs (and, we can assume, many are worried because they have bed bugs).

Most of those cities were not capitals or the biggest cities in their regions or countries. A small percentage are from those places you think are hot spots. It should serve as a warning sign that bed bugs, like Bedbuggers, are everywhere, and way more spread out than you thought.

• California fights bed bugs: good news from the golden state
• Comedian moves into NJ Ikea store
• Tracing the path of the epidemic
• Portsmouth NH’s Health Officer proactive about bed bugs

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