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Bed bugs and the elderly: a story from St. Paul

nobugsonme — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:00:32 +0000

This article from TwinCities.com tells the saga of Evie Kelly, of St. Paul, Minnesota.

She has bed bugs in her apartment in a building for senior citizens:

“It’s hard. I hate it,” a resigned and visibly worn-out Kelly said last week while she sat in her public senior citizen high-rise apartment on Ravoux Street. She is forced to sit and sometimes sleep on a lawn chair in her living room because the little buggers have taken over the bed, couch and recliner.

It would not be so bad, however, if her building management were more proactive about getting her help:

Adding salt to the bites Kelly has endured, her efforts as well as those of relatives and others the past two weeks to get someone to address the bedbug infestation have mostly fallen on deaf ears.

“The (building site manager) came up here, looked around, found nothing and told my aunt that if there were bedbugs here, he would eat his shirt,” said Louise Sebesta.

Actually, he will need to do that. The article’s author, Rubén Rosario, suggested Sebesta, Kelly’s niece, take some samples to be identified by bed bug researcher Stephen Kells, at the University of Minnesota, and she did.

Kells confirmed they were bed bugs. And he said,

“We are seeing more problems with people in assisted-living facilities and low-income areas, and it’s not because they are dirty, and it’s not because they are unclean,” Kells told us. “Bedbugs will feed on me. They will feed on anyone in this lab. The problem is that people who are in assisted living do not have the resources to adequately control them once they do get them. Money is a big reason.”

Kells explained that it could take $500 to upward of $3,000 to effectively treat one apartment and $50,000 to $80,000 to treat a whole building, as has been done in major urban areas.

Even though Kelly and Sebesta had found bed bugs, and a bed bug expert had identified them, it took weeks of phone calls from Sebesta as well as Kelly’s public health nurse, to get the problem addressed. Rosario writes:

Sebesta called public housing officials and a slew of city, state and federal agencies in the past two weeks to relay her aunt’s plight. She had received no return calls when I spoke with her last week.

Jeanette Buckley, Kelly’s county public health nurse, confirmed she has also called similar numbers since May 14 with similar nonresults.

She finally got a return call Tuesday from Cheryl Hawley, who works as a human services coordinator for the St. Paul Public Housing Agency. The federally funded organization owns and operates 16 senior public high-rises in the city.

According to Buckley, Hawley mentioned that the site manager had already gone to Kelly’s place and found nothing. She suggested that the manager might be sent back for another look.

To make the long story short, Kelly’s apartment has now been inspected (again): bed bugs were confirmed and the unit is receiving treatment.

But I can see some problems that this scenario highlights.

First, many people with bed bugs do not react to bed bug bites. Others will react but not see bed bugs. Fewer will react to bed bug bites, see bed bugs, and report them.

Those who do need careful and thorough responses, to be sure. And we can hope St. Paul Public Housing Agency officials will be reviewing their procedures to make sure things run more smoothly for the next Evie Kelly who reports bed bugs.

However, given the difficulties of recognizing the problem and of detecting bed bugs, I hope that city agencies will become more proactive — especially when it comes to housing for senior citizens.

Although bed bug dogs are not foolproof, they could be a very useful tool in helping detect bed bug infestations in apartment buildings before they get out of hand.

And seniors in buildings like Kelly’s need to be educated about the resurgence of bed bugs and the signs of bed bugs.

They need to know that they may not feel any bed bug bites or see any bed bugs (and their building managers need to know this too!)

Finally, they need to be reminded that bed bugs spread easily and don’t have anything to do with cleanliness, and that they should not be afraid to come forward when they suspect a problem.

FAQ: what is Vikane gas fumigation?

nobugsonme — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 19:57:22 +0000

Given that bed bugs are so hard to eradicate, and how long it can take to treat using traditional methods, we’re always on the lookout for better options.

Those of us in multi-unit dwellings often daydream about having our whole buildings tented and fumigated with Vikane (TM) a.k.a. sulfuryl fluoride. It’s one way to get rid of bed bugs in a building (large or small) that’s out of control. You can do it to your house, or your whole building, but you can’t do it in a single apartment (hence the daydreams). It’s not legal everywhere, from what I gather, but is worth looking into. Everyone (humans and pets) must be evacuated before treatment, and the unit is covered in a tent so that the gas does not escape.

Only a trained and licensed professional can or should use Vikane gas. You should never try to replicate this kind of treatment using any kind of substance. It is extremely deadly.

Here’s Dow’s brief article on vikane gas fumigation for bed bugs, and Bowman Termite and Pest of Hawai’i on Vikane fumigation for bed bugs (this one tells us that the procedure takes one day and kills all bed bug adults, nymphs and eggs, if done properly).

Pest Control magazine clarifies that three times as much Vikane is used for bed bugs as for termites. And they outline Vikane’s benefits:

“We have recommended fumigation with Vikane on several extensive bed bug infestations where we felt that conventional treatment strategies could not bring a resolution to the problem quickly enough,” said Scott Crowley, technical director at Lloyd Termite Control in California. “When we use other treatment methods, re-treatments are frequently necessary. However, when we use Vikane and take some extra precautions, we can be sure that all of the bed bugs in the structure have been eliminated.”

The extra precautions that Crowley recommends include inspecting all personal belongings which may have been involved in the transference of bed bugs, as well as proper laundering of bedding and clothing which may have been exposed.

Frank of The War on Bed Bugs on Vikane:

(A) Vikane chamber can also be used to treat furniture and possibly vehicles. The technique sounds promising and does not cause significant damage to human health or environment. However, the cost of Vikane gas fumigation is significantly higher, and it is impossible to treat a multi-family dwelling without the co-operation of every unit. The long-term effects of using Vikane gas are also not clear.

Like Frank, I’d like to know more about the possible long-term effects. I have a hunch that gas is nor harmful to us or pets, because we don’t re-enter the home until it has been aired out for a time and the gas has fully dissipated (which is an advantage of a gas over other substances which might be applied). But I’d like more information on that.

I’d also love to have a ballpark figure on the costs of Vikane gassing a 3-bedroom house, say, or a 3-family house, or a 35-unit apartment building. If anyone has done it or knows how much it would cost, please tell us (and include the region or rough geographical location, if you will).

We also seriously need details on anyone who is licensed and able to provide Vikane gassing of a moving truck full of bed bug infested items. If you know of anyone who does this, anywhere, please let me know. Entrepreneurs, do you realize how many people from this site alone would frequent such a service? It would open up “moving” as a viable option for getting away from bed bugs, which it really isn’t now.

(Update: a number of companies are now doing this, some even specializing, such as Bed Bugs and Beyond.)

Dow’s FAQs on Vikane for termites note that many real estate transactions now require homes to be treated for termites before the sale goes through. For bed bugs, no other treatments but thermal and Vikane can potentially offer 100% success (and I stress that thermal and Vikane have to be done by people who know what they’re doing). Vikane seems like a good option if you’re selling a home or building and have bed bugs. What’s more, if the provider guarantees their work, buyer and seller can have peace of mind on this issue.

Further reading:

This is the Environmental Protection Agency (USA EPA) page on Vikane gas fumigation.

This is one example of a success using Vikane.

This is a site for people concerned about pesticides, which suggests Vikane may be dangerous even when used correctly. The issue is likely to be controversial, but I wanted to share this link so readers are aware of it and can do further research if they’re concerned.

Update: a note about Phosphine

badbugs of Minnesota reports that in that state, phosphine fumigation is available, but not vikane. badbugs had commodity fumigation done with phosphine. Note from badbugs: “phosphine … tarnishes gold, silver, and reacts really badly with copper (which means you can’t gas electronics)”.

Update (2008): Commodity Fumigation, Guarantees, and User Reports

When this article was originally written, the primary use of vikane gas that we were aware of was the fumigation of homes and cars. The procedure is also being used for commodity fumigation: you fill a truck with your stuff, it gets driven to a service provider, and they tent and gas it with sulfuryl fluoride (the generic gas which is sometimes sold as “vikane”).

This method is often used by people moving from an infested home to an uninfested home. If you intend to use commodity fumigation but will return the items to the same home, you need to be absolutely sure the home is bed bug-free before bringing things back in. You also need to make sure you are not suffering continued exposure to bed bugs (e.g. through a neighbor or workplace).

Finally, with any treatment, get a guarantee in writing. And follow your service provider’s instructions to the letter (as far as how to prep, and what to leave out). One Bedbugger has had to have her home re-treated after it was fumigated with vikane gas and all bed bugs were apparently not killed. On the other hand, many others appear to have had treatments that were successful in one go.

Further discussions of vikane / sulfuryl fluoride fumigation in our forums.