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311 finally has bed bug category — New York vs Bed Bugs

nobugsonme — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 04:05:26 +0000

Renee of New York vs. Bed Bugs called to find out what it’s like to call the New York City 311 help line and report bed bugs, now that bed bugs are their own separate category in terms of 311 complaints. Renee writes,

I called 311 to see if anything was new in how the actual calls were handled and a nice guy named Joseph walked me through what they’re doing. Basically, it’s the same but there was a certain efficiency to this call and no more “bed bugs? did you say bed bugs?” It’s still a complaint process that’s routed to HPD or NYCHA, and a call transfer to the Health Department if the caller wants the bed bug fact sheet. Interestingly, they’re now also taking complaints for subways (it’s a script for rats, mice and bed bugs or conditions conducive to the same), and that call gets routed to the MTA.

That’s huge. Good to hear.

Now, can they meet the demand of bed bug inspections?

I know you’ll want to check out “311 finally has bed bug category” at New York vs Bed Bugs.Similar Posts:

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Man on #2 train with bed bugs: bed bug hysteria? Or fact?

nobugsonme — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 02:44:04 +0000

Paolo Mastrangelo of NYC the Blog reported yesterday that his roommate Aaron had a close encounter of the bed bug kind on the #2 train in New York City:

It seems the bedbug epidemic that has been building in nyc over the last few years has reached an apex. My roommate Aaron Howell explained he was riding the 2 train last night and a destitute gentleman was covered with little crawling translucent bugs. Himself and others surmised they were bedbugs. At home later, asked if he was sure they were bedbugs, Aaron replied, “no doubt.”

An MTA employee riding in the car first noticed the man and bugs, and notified police who then removed the bed bug hotel from the train at 96th St.

Mastrangelo also quotes from a string of tweets Aaron posted about the incident, the last of which, according to NYC the Blog (since I could not find it on twitter), reads:

I guess its illegal to ride train w/bugs since cops kicked the dude off. When guy rubbed hair one bug shot off him towards peeps across.

The City Room blog at the New York Times was quick to pick up the story.

Now, understand that I don’t doubt for a moment that there are bed bugs on the subway. I am pretty sure there are bed bugs on the subway. They travel with people, and lots of people in NYC have bed bugs.

However, a few things here make me question whether these were indeed bed bugs.

First, the man was, according to NYC the Blog, “covered with little crawling translucent bugs.”

Bed bugs are translucent — when they are unfed first instar nymphs. They are about 1mm long (1/32″), unfed.

As I said in the comments on the NYC the Blog piece, once bed bugs feed for the first time, they turn red, like this guy:

(Photos used with permission: American Museum of Natural History, L. Sorkin and R. Mercurio.)

Once bed bugs progress to later nymphal stages, and then their adult stage (6m long or 1/6 inch), they are no longer translucent.

(You can get a fuller sense of the bed bug life cycle here.)

Now, could this man have been covered in unfed first instar nymphs?

Even if the man was somehow covered only in bed bug first instar nymphs (without any later stage nymphs or adults present), it would surely only be moments before they would no longer be translucent. They would be hungry. They would feed and turn red.

Perhaps some entomologists will weigh in on exactly how long first instar nymphs would hang out on a body before feeding.

My hunch is, not long. Moments?

And then they would be filled in blood: red. Not translucent.

Again, I hope my entomologist readers will weigh in on this for us, but if the culprits truly were uniformly small and uniformly translucent, my guess is they were probably not bed bugs.

Could it have been some other critter? Body lice? Head lice?

Last year, I saw two people picking nits out of the hair of a third, on the E train, and flicking them across the train.

I am not sure if I was more disturbed by that, or by the fact that I was the only one who moved to another seat to avoid being hit.

Update (3/23): Gothamist is skeptical too, but not for the same reasons.

Update (3/24): thanks to the New York Times City Room Blog for picking up this story.Similar Posts:

Take a Seat project: a really bad idea where bed bugs are concerned

nobugsonme — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 01:22:22 +0000

When a representative from the New York City Housing and Preservation Department told attendees of a bed bug seminar last spring that five NYC subway stations had had bed bugs, Miss Heather blogged about it, and the story was picked up by the mainstream press as well as every blogger and her brother. (You can see links to some of the places the news was reported here.)

The MTA said they’d look into it and the HPD acted like they had no knowledge of this. Still, lots of people looked a little more suspiciously at those wooden subway benches, as well they ought. Experts tell us that bed bugs are prone to infest public transportation, as a general rule.

Now consider for a moment, the curbside refuse of this great city, which is also quite likely to be infested by bed bugs. Bed bugs are in every neighborhood and it seems like the incidence of tossed out mattresses and chairs has gone way up.

chairs

Originally uploaded by t. van gieson

People have always sought out “curbside bargains” like free chairs, tables, and mattresses. It’s considered frugal and green, and what could be better in the days of global warming and the crashing stock market?

I’ll tell you what’s better: avoiding bed bugs. Forget the discomfort of bed bug bites, for a moment, which many will never even notice. Those who’ve never experienced bed bugs have no idea how much money they eat up (even if you aren’t the one footing the bill for pest control) and how much of a strain the average infestation is on the environment when you factor in the extra laundry (electricity and water) and plastic bags alone. Before you even talk about replacing some of your stuff and having someone spray pesticides over and over and over.

So, I want to stress that I have mad respect for Idealist.org and their cool Idealist in NYC blog. But I have to stress, in the name of sanity, do not do as the Idealist in NYC blog ~~tells you~~ plans to, and try and help tired people find somewhere to sit in the subway by donating curbside chairs. Do not, as the Idealist in NYC blogger cellyham ~~pleads~~ says, “chip in by salvaging chairs from trash piles, cleaning them up and reusing them in one of the hundreds of stations across the city.” Idealist got the idea from this “Dude”.

Idealist in NYC blogger cellyham has apparently thought of and dismissed the potential for bed bugs:

Skeptics also point out the potential for bedbugs and other such creatures. I’ve had my fair share of experiences with creepy crawlers, and I’ll chance another encounter for a shot at comfort any day. But that’s just me. What do you think?

All I can say is, think again. Anyone who is willing to “chance an encounter” with bed bugs does not know enough about them or what they do, even in a small infestation.

Oh yeah, and the chance of bed bugs on those “donated” chairs in the subway? It doesn’t just amount to you bringing the bed bugs into your digs when you rescue the chair from the curb and clean it up at home.

It also stems from the danger of getting bed bugs that have crawled into a chair in someone’s home. The Take a Seat idea’s originator has a nice google map showing where people have placed these chairs so far, and they include some of the most bedbug-infested areas of Brooklyn and Queens, as well as many Manhattan stations.

Part of the problem with bed bugs is that most people really do not get (a) how easy it is to just “pick them up” somewhere, or (b) what a pain in the — they really are.

One thing you can do, dear reader with bed bugs, is tell all of your close friends, slowly and repeatedly, so they get it, that bed bugs are easy to get (in fact, you need do nothing, as they may come to you), that there are ways to avoid them, and that you would not wish them on your worst enemies. Tell them. Make sure no one you know thinks bed bugs are just another “creepy crawler.”Similar Posts: