The new report on Bed Bugs in Toronto which we mentioned on Monday can now be obtained from Woodgreen Community Services (click to download the PDF), who sponsored the study along with Habitat Services and Public Interest, with funding from the City of Toronto and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care.

Thanks to Renee Corea for alerting us to the availability of the report in this post!Similar Posts:

• New York Mayor Bloomberg signs Bed Bug Advisory Board legislation

Thanks to Renee Corea of New York vs. Bed Bugs, we have lots of reading and viewing to catch up on!Similar Posts:

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Check out this new and fascinating podcast from New York vs. Bed Bugs, where Renee Corea of New York vs. Bed Bugs and David Cain of bed-bugs.co.uk (and well known to our Bedbugger Forum users) talk about the recent Pestex 2009, new bbalert™ passive and active bed bug monitors, new treatment options (including oxygen depletion), and other fascinating topics.  Do take a moment to also watch the video of David demonstrating the new bbalert monitors.

We previously discussed bbalert’s passive monitors here.

You can read more about midmos solutions’ bbalert™ system of passive bed bug monitors, active bed bug monitors, and the O2PM treatment here.

Thanks to Renee and David!

Update (5/8):

Here’s a review from merlin on the UK PCO forum, from a firm that is field testing the bbalert™ Passive Monitor in a hotel with roughly 800 guests a month.

We have been making fortnightly inspections to check on progress and yesterday we had a result. In one room one of the monitors had spotting on the detection skirt, on closer inspection a bug could be seen in the monitor. The monitor was removed and dismantled, inside was a lone gravid female and two clutches of 4 eggs neatly cemented to the fill layer. A very thorough inspection was carried out in the infested room and surrounding areas with no further evidence found. We will be reinspecting again to ensure that no eggs had been laid elsewhere, but early indications suggest that the inoculating population was maintained within the monitor and was removed without chemical intervention.

Interestingly, merlin also notes,

The 8 groups of guest that used the room since the last inspection have been flagged on the booking system. One group are staying again in a weeks time, after their holiday and arrangements have been made for the increased risk they pose.

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Jane Brody reports in the New York Times Health section today about the spread of bed bugs, and their effects on health.  Of course, she mentions the recent JAMA report, and the fact that bed bugs are not yet known to spread contagious diseases.

Brody outlines the varying effects of bed bug bites:

Most people who are bitten by bed bugs do not react. Of the 30 percent or so who do, many mistake the small, pink, itchy bumps for mosquito bites, although people may become more suspicious and more sensitive with repeated bites.

People who are highly sensitive react with intense itching that prompts scratching and can lead to infections. One Brooklyn family did not know they were sharing quarters with bed bugs until a sensitive relative visited and woke in the morning with very itchy bites.

Still others may experience more extreme reactions, including asthma, generalized hives, and even a life-threatening allergy (anaphylaxis) that requires emergency treatment with epinephrine.

But most bed bug lesions can be treated with an anti-itch product like calamine lotion or a topical or oral corticosteroid and antihistamine. If bites become infected, a topical or oral antibiotic may be needed.

Brody also mentions that a “family living in a $3 million private house in Brooklyn discarded rooms’ worth of furniture” due to bed bugs.

The percentage of people reacting to bites is often cited as being anywhere from 50-70%.

Regardless, all bitten by bed bugs are hit financially, if not physically. (And I’ve said time and again, if you are short of money, this can have a clear and definite negative impact on your health.)

And anxiety?  Stress? Lack of sleep?

More or less ubiquitous among bed bug sufferers, along with the hole bed bugs bite through your wallet.

via Personal Health – Keeping Those Bed Bugs From Biting – NYTimes.com.Similar Posts:

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• Megan McArdle on Atlantic.com: bed bugs and Craigslist

Renee of New York vs. Bed Bugs alerted readers to this story from KARE11.com. It’s yet another response to the new JAMA report, but we appreciated this approach:

There is some good news. A new study this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) says when bit by a bed bug, most people have little to no reaction and bed bugs don’t appear to transmit human disease.

But Kells says, “Although they don’t transmit diseases, they could almost be considered like a disease themselves.”

He says because they’re tough to get rid of, bed bugs cause a lot of psychological stress.

He says, “We’ve had people who have become very sleepless or wake up regularly to see if they have bedbugs feeding on them.”

Thank you for conveying that, Dr. Steven Kells.

Sleeplessness, the itchy effects of bed bug bites, and anxiety: all part of the bed bug program.

You can watch the rest of the KARE11 spot here:

from KARE11.com.
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• Bed bugs — and bed bug legislation — in the news

Check out New York vs. Bed Bugs, where Renee gives the low-down on the tracking of bed bugs in Hawai’i:

A bed bug survey in Oahu.Similar Posts:

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The web is buzzing about a new pyrethroid-resistance study of New York City bed bugs by researchers at the University of Massachusetts and Seoul National University. Pyrethroid-resistance is just one reason it is often so hard to get rid of bed bugs.

Two of the many articles picking up on the study’s results included this item in the U.S. News and World Report Health Blog today, and this article from Monday’s LiveScience.

As the U.S. News Health blogger reported,

Bed bugs in New York City, where infestations have grown in recent years, appear to have developed nerve cell mutations that weaken the effect of the pyrethroid toxins, such as deltamethrin, commonly used against them, according to a report in the current issue of the Journal of Medical Entomology. Such nervous system poisons normally would paralyze and kill the nocturnal blood suckers.

Toxicologists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Korea’s Seoul National University found that the New York City bed bugs are now as much as 264 times more resistant to deltamethrin than an easier-to-kill type of bed bug found in Florida.

Pyrethroid-resistance is no surprise to us, since it has been found elsewhere.

Unfortunately, the current round of press coverage of the U Mass-Amherst / Seoul National U study may give those not in the know about pyrethroid-resistance the sense that this is a “New York City” problem, which it isn’t.

This 2007 article in PCT Online from Alvero Romero, Michael Potter and Kenneth F. Haynes outlines a study comparing pyrethroid-resistance found in populations from around the US:

Further testing of third-to-fifth instar nymphs from 16 different field populations indicated that pyrethroid resistance in bed bugs, while not universal, may be widespread (see accompanying map and table on pages 44 and 48). Using a “discriminating” dose equivalent to 10 times the labeled rate of deltamethrin (0.6 percent), 14 of 16 populations collected in Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, New York, Massachusetts, Virginia, Florida and California were resistant (0 percent mortality), one field population from New Jersey was deemed “intermediate” (45 percent mortality), and one of the two populations collected from the same building in California was relatively susceptible (100 percent mortality).

(Information on getting a copy of this study follows at the bottom of the post.)

The Livescience article helps put the new pyrethroid-resistance data in perspective, with the help of Dr. Lou Sorkin, a friend to Bedbuggers everywhere:

Unless the researchers sampled every population of bed bugs in New York, it is unlikely that all NYC bed bugs are resistant to the insecticide, said Louis Sorkin, an entomologist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

Also, most pest control companies rely on more than one insecticide to combat bed bugs, he said. The ideal is to use a combination of chemicals that have different modes of action — perhaps one is good at killing the adults and nymphal stages immediately while another is better at lingering and killing bugs days later — and come from different chemical families, not just pyrethroids, Sorkin said.

Exterminators also have different ways to administer insecticides, which can make a difference — foams, powders, aerosols. However, over-the-counter aerosol bombs are not recommended. They just cause the bugs to scatter, Sorkin said, and fail to get inside cracks where bugs can hide.

“Some people don’t like to say they have bed bugs. They try to take care of it themselves,” Sorkin said. But amateur attempts often just push the bugs away for a while and spread them into neighboring properties.

Lou reminds us not to take an infestation lightly. If you’re using traditional treatments for bed bugs, a multi-pronged approach is best. The article notes that Integrated Pest Management (IPM) solutions go beyond sprays and dusts:

Techniques include caulking, spackling and using other sealants to fill cracks and crevices, refinishing and sealing floors, injecting frozen carbon dioxide “snow” into electronics to freeze pests, re-painting walls and other surfaces, using low-moisture steam and clothes dryer heat to kill bugs, and injecting bug-killing dust into electrical outlets and switches.

Commodity fumigation (usually done by sulfuryl fluoride gas, including Vikane TM) is also mentioned by Lou in the article. (The home itself obviously must be treated thoroughly if items are to be gassed and returned to it.)

Thermal heat is not specifically mentioned, but is now an option which can be effective.

If done properly, no bed bug is resistant to sulfuryl fluoride (Vikane TM) or thermal heat. However, these options can be more expensive, and are not available everywhere.

Pyrethroid-resistance is a good reason for the pest control industry to keep seeking alternative solutions to bed bugs and for all pest professionals, landlords, tenants, and property owners to get serious about an aggrerssive, multi-pronged approach to fighting bed bugs.

The new research study referred to in these articles is:

Yoon, K. S., Kown, D. H., Strycharz, J. P., Hollingsworth, C. S., Lee, S. H., and Clark, J. M. 2008. Biochemical and Molecular Analysis of Deltamethrin Resistance in the Common Bed Bug (Hemiptera: Cimicidae). J. Med. Entomol. 45(6): 1092-1101.

(Use accession number 185379 to get a PDF of this item from the Armed Forces Pest Management Board Literature Retrieval System! Accession numbers for items below are also noted where available.)

Also see the study referenced in the PCT Online article above:

Romero, A., M.F. Potter, D.A. Potter and K.F. Haynes. 2007. Insecticide resistance in the bed bug: a factor in the pest’s sudden resurgence? J. Med. Entomol. 44 (2):175-178. Accession number 183531.

The PCT Online article linked to above also suggests the following articles:

Myamba, J, C.A. Maxwell, A. Asidi and C.F. Curtis. 2002. Pyrethroid resistance in tropical bed bugs, Cimex hemipterus, associated with use of treated bednets. Med. and Vet. Entomol. 16, 448-451. Accession number 175921.

Boase, C.J., G. Small, and R. Naylor. 2006. Interim report on insecticide susceptibility status of UK bedbugs. Professional Pest Controller. Summer 2006:6-7.

Karunaratne, S.H.P.P., B.T. Damayanthi, M.H.J. Fareena, V. Imbuldeniya, and J. Hemingway. 2007. Insecticide resistance in the tropical bed bug Cimex hemipterus. Pestic. Bochem. Physiol. 88, 102-107. Abstract.

Similar Posts:

• Bed bugs on Today with Meredith Viera and Janice Lieberman, today
• Scholastic Headquarters treated for bed bugs; update on Penguin
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Pest Management Professional’s articles are often so good, but in the past, you had to know to look for them. (Thank goodness they added an RSS feed so we can subscribe.)

Mark Sheperdigian brings the bed bug information in three “new to us” articles: the first is on what consumers need to know about bed bugs.

In short:

• They’re not microscopic. (Lou Sorkin always helpfully reminds us, and the authors of run-of-the-mill newspaper stories that bed bugs come in a range of sizes and colors depending on life stage and whether they’ve eaten or not (lovely, yes?)
• You can’t get an infestation from a single egg (though you can get one from a single pregnant female).
• You can’t clean them away.
• And you can’t prevent them.  (You can reduce the risk, but never 100%.)

You’ll want to read the rest of this article here.

The next article is about choosing pesticides, and is really for the bed bug pros among us, but is enlightening to us laypeople too.  In particular, the beginners’ guide to pyrethroids.  And neonicotinoids? New to me.

The choicest nugget here, though, was the suggestion that PCOs test a bed bug population as to its pyrethroid-resistance.  Simple, not foolproof by any means, but really smart:

If the bed bugs are resistant to pyrethroids, you should either know this going in or ensure that pyrethroids are not your main line of defense. How can you know if your bed bug population is resistant without having to send them to a researcher somewhere? You could try this procedure, which has been suggested from a number of sources:

At least a day before the treatment, collect some bed bugs and hold them overnight in a jar on a cloth or paper towel that has been treated (and dried) with your pyrethroid of choice. If all of the bed bugs are dead in the morning, you may fire when ready. If half the bed bugs are dead, be sure to incorporate other non-pyrethroid materials into your program. If the bed bugs are all alive, you should rethink your strategy — leaving pyrethroids out of the mix altogether.

This is not real science and will not lead to dramatic headlines that rock the pest management world, but it may help you avoid a follow-up treatment or two…or three.

Up until now, this might have only worked in large infestations, where “collecting a sample of bed bugs” is simple.  However, new bed bug monitors like the CDC 3000 will mean that even smaller infestations can be tested in this way.

Cool, huh?

(As always, I do not recommend you self-treat for bed bugs.  I am not a PCO but I think a good one is going to get rid of your problem more quickly and more fully than you ever will.  A good PCO will be able to do so safely and will know how to avoid making the problem worse.)

Finally, I found this PMP article enlightening.  In it, Sheperdigian pokes some holes in common theories about bed bug resurgence.

His point appears to be not so much that an end to baseboard spraying or the survival of bed bugs in chicken houses (for example) did not contribute to the resurgence of bed bugs, but that no one theory alone fully accounts for bed bugs’ reappearance, in such numbers, at this time, and their degree of pyrethroid resistance.

Read this one for the sub-headings alone.  (”Harlan hears a who?”  Priceless.) 

And know just how indebted we are to Dr. Harold Harlan, who kept his bed bug colony all those years before there seemed an obvious need for one.  And boy, do we ever need them as research subjects now.

Thanks to Renee for article suggestions!Similar Posts:

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David Cain is well known to frequenters of the Bedbugger forums, and his company, Bed-bugs.co.uk has now completed a survey of the locations of bed bug infestations in London, with some interesting results the company has now made available.

By mapping bed bug infestations on a highly localised level, using postcode sectors*, the company has been able to both confirm certain theories and discount others about how this pest is spreading geographically.

(The notes tell us, “Postcode Sectors are the first part of a postcode plus the first digit of the second part e.g. SE1 1. Dependent on density, this gives a map resolution of approximately half a mile.”)

The report may help answer questions like:

Why… does the data show such a spike in 2004? And why do there appear to be distinct ‘hotspots’ and ‘corridors’ running through London?

Bed-Bugs.co.uk managing director David Cain says: “This is a real breakthrough in the fight against bed bugs. Mapping on this micro level has given us a hitherto unseen view of exactly how bed bugs are spreading across London”

“Most interestingly, the research shows that in certain areas (i.e. postcode sectors) infestations have been effectively tackled, with reported numbers considerably reduced. In other areas the problem has remained roughly the same but in some areas the number of reported infestations has risen alarmingly.

Our research also dispels the myth that bed bugs are a universal problem in London but confirms that in certain areas the problem has reached epidemic proportions and that current control methods are simply not working. The big questions are ‘why not?’ and ‘what can we do to address that?’ ”

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, Councils were asked to supply data showing the number of infestations reported to them over the last 5 years, by Postcode Sector. The majority of Councils were able to comply with the request and the data has now been analysed and mapped.

The results show that, looked at on a macro-level e..g. by council or by postcode area e.g. SW or even by postcode district e.g. SW8 one receives a totally false picture of the problem.

Only when infestations are mapped on a micro-level such as Postcode sector e.g. SW8 5 does one get a clear and accurate picture of the problem. Across the Capital, we have identified numerous sectors showing large increases with many showing 300-400% year-on-year increases.

In other words, casting the net over a smaller geographical area yields more meaningful data and suggests patterns.

David Cain says his company will be sharing this information with all participating London councils at a conference on December 15th.

He also argues councils should all be tracking data on infestations (and doing so the same way), and that bed bugs should be a notifiable pest.

Want to get rid of bed bugs? Find out where they are, and keep track of how they spread.

We applaud Cain and his team for undertaking this research, and we hope all cities begin tracking infestations.Similar Posts:

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HealthDay News (part of U.S. News and Word Report) reports that

Between 2001 and 2006, commercial “bug bomb” insect deterrents caused 466 cases of acute pesticide-related illness or injury in eight states, U.S. researchers reported Thursday.

Presumably many more cases have happened in the other 42 US states and in other countries.

We have been told these types of foggers do not work with bed bugs and may actually spread bed bugs further and deeper into homes.

But they’re also potentially dangerous.

We encourage you to find a professional who knows how to treat bed bugs safely, and not to experiment with bug bombs.

We are also reminded that one of the potential negative “health hazards” presented by bed bugs is the danger of misuse of pesticides.Similar Posts:

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