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Barona Resort and Casino bed bug lawsuit

nobugsonme — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 04:58:26 +0000

This bed bug case has been pending for three years. And for a few reasons, it’s an interesting one.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Gloria and Robert Chisley claim they were bitten by bed bugs in the Barona Resort and Casino, in Lakeside, California (August 2005).

The case is interesting, first of all, because it concerns alleged events in a tribal resort/casino and so is being tried under the Barona tribe’s judicial system.

It’s also interesting because the resort and casino is claiming that the plaintiff had scabies, not bed bugs:

The tribe disputes Gloria Chisley’s contention that she was attacked by bedbugs at its hotel, suggesting instead that her marks were the result of scabies, a condition that would have taken weeks to develop before Chisley showed the marks to hotel employees.

Doctors who have examined Chisley are split on the cause of her marks — one saying bedbugs and two scabies.

Since many of us (especially a few years back, before bed bugs were as well known) were wrongly told by our doctors that we had scabies, I found this interesting.

I gather this is a less frequent occurrence today, as doctors are becoming more aware of the problem of bed bugs.

Incidentally, scabies can be tested for with skin scrapings. Apparently biopsies can also be done, in many cases, to verify a “bite” is from an insect. Neither test, from what I gather, is foolproof.

Scabies, untreated, will not go away. Bed bug bites, in the absence of bed bugs, will.

If the plaintiff was convinced by any of these doctors to undergo treatment for scabies, and at the same time, the couple were removed from the presence of bed bugs, when the condition cleared, it might be very hard to prove whether the scabies mite or bed bugs were the culprits.

And it isn’t clear from this LA Times article whether the couple saw bed bugs, or obtained bed bug samples.

Harvard dorm treated for scabies–but what was it really? Also, bed bugs at Columbia?

nobugsonme — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 06:53:27 +0000

Ivy League gossip blog the IvyGate explained this week that the supposed scabies outbreak that forced everyone in the Pennypacker Harvard freshman dorm to be treated for scabies with a full-body pyrethrin cream application (not to mention making them all undergo the extensive laundering and calling-of-romantic-partners that condition requires), is now thought not to have been scabies at all. IvyGate shared a memo sent out to Pennypacker residents Wednesday which clarified the chain of events leading to the diagnosis and subsequent retraction:

Dear Pennypacker Resident:

After reading the Crimson opinion piece from October 22, 2007, “I’ve
Got an Itch”, it seems worthwhile to review where things stand after
the incidents of skin complaints two weekends ago at Pennypacker.

At that time, three individuals came to university health services
(UHS) with similar symptoms. After being evaluated by a physician at
After Hours Urgent Care, the possibility of scabies was considered.
Discussion with proctors at Pennypacker revealed that there were at
least 5 or 6 students at Pennypacker with itching skin and rash, though
only three of them wished to be examined.

Given the symptoms, also under consideration was the possibility of bed
bugs, though the skin findings were not classic for this diagnosis. A
scraping from the skin of one student was done to look for mites, but
these were not seen. It’s important to note the presence of mites on a
skin scraping absolutely confirms the diagnosis of scabies; if they are
absent, though, the diagnosis is not excluded. Frequently, the
diagnosis of scabies is difficult to make, and it takes several
examinations of a patient over time before other possibilities are
excluded. This is because the rash associated with scabies can be
fairly non-specific, and the “burrows” are often not seen.

But the three students’ rashes had cleared up within three days, leading an entomologist to speculate that scabies was not to blame:

Four days later, Dr. Michael Alpert, an entomologist from the Harvard School of
Public Health came to Pennypacker and talked to three symptomatic
individuals and concluded that scabies was unlikely, given the rapid
clearing. He speculated that the causative bug could have been
mosquitoes, though he never saw the bites when they were present. The
physician who did see the bites, said that the appearance of the bites
was not consistent with mosquitoes, and that their locations on the skin
was more consistent with scabies. As is frequently the case with rashes,
the simple symptoms can lead to a variety of diagnosis, and it
is often difficult to tell, in the absence of definitive testing, which
one is correct.

This memo above to students was from Doctors Sohayla Gharib and Gregory Johnson of the Harvard University Health Service, who also had this to say,

If the diagnosis was not scabies, it is
possible that there was another insect involved, though it does not
appear to be bedbugs (because there are no ongoing symptoms and there
was no evidence for bed bugs when the pest control team evaluated the
dormitory), nor appear to be mosquitoes. Whatever the ultimate source,
it is now eradicated from Pennypacker thanks to your response and
cooperation.

Let’s all hope that Pennypacker is itch-free for some time to come.

Get the full story from IvyGate.

Also, here’s a Columbia University gossip blog, BWOG (put out by writers from the student magazine) alleging bed bugs are in Schapiro 12 (student housing at Columbia University):

According to Bwog,

Now that a few students have been bitten severely, Housing has finally admitted that there are bedbugs. Two rooms have been fumigated, one of them twice. Unfortunately, Housing still refuses to clean the hallway and carpet even though bedbugs can easily travel from one room to another. Housing, you’ve really let yourself go on this one…

Bed bugs taking over Ireland, too

nobugsonme — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 15:29:24 +0000

This, from a major national Irish paper, sounds familiar.

Bedbugs are back . . . in swarming numbers

Monday June 18 2007, The Irish Independent

INFESTATIONS of bedbugs are on the rise throughout Ireland due to the rapid growth in foreign travel and rising temperatures.

As the unwelcome guests return in droves, pest-controllers are called to hotels, family homes, guesthouses, B&Bs and, on occasion, hospitals.

In the warmer weather between February and October, bedbug call-outs are as high as those for rats and mice. “We are getting thousands of bedbug call-outs a year. There has been a phenomenal increase over the past decade,” Michael O’Mahoney of pest-control company Rentokil said.

One of the main reasons behind the bedbug explosion in Western Europe and the US over the past few years is increased travel in and out, according to the exterminators.

In Ireland, people have been visiting pharmacies and doctors seeking help for rashes and skin irritation caused by the bugs.

“When people go to the doctor first they sometimes think they have scabies,” Mr O’Mahoney said.

Bedbugs, which feed on human blood during the night, can lay up to 500 eggs over in two months.

The flat insects are dark reddish-brown. Adults stretch to around 6mm in length. They can be found lurking on bedsheets, in mattresses, behind peeling wallpaper, between floorboards, in plugs, light switches, behind mattress buttons or headboards, in bedside lockers and in radios.

Mr O’Mahoney said the bugs infested not just shoddy flats but also the “poshest hotels” as they “don’t heed boundaries”.