The Social Q’s etiquette column in the New York Times covered a bed bug issue Thursday.  The anonymous letter writer said,

My brother has bedbugs. He told our mother and made her promise not to tell me. But she called me immediately. Apparently, he hasn’t told his landlady or called an exterminator, or done anything to contain their spread.

We are all going on a family trip soon. The bedbugs will surely be among his belongings and will set up camp in the home of the relative we’re staying with, and perhaps find their way back to my place.

Although the answer from columnist Philip Galanes was more about the issue of mom spilling the beans on the brother’s secret than anything else, the answer was clear: brother’s refusal to deal with bed bugs (and therefore the possibility he would infest everyone on the upcoming trip) was not acceptable, and the letter writing sister needs to step in and help him grab the bed bug bull by the horns.

See: Social Q’s – A Secret, Itching to Be Told – NYTimes.com.

Bed bugs also appeared in in the Business column On the Road on Monday ,  and in the Patient Money column last Friday.

Given how concerned the New York Times seems to be with bed bugs right now (bed bugs in hotels, bed bugs and etiquette, bed bugs and health/finance), why won’t someone in the “official” media mention the tiny issue of the still-unfilled NYC Bed Bug Advisory Board?Similar Posts:

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A new article from Xpress details the war on bed bugs in Dubai.  It’s good to hear that bed bugs are being discussed openly and that Dubai Municipality is concerned about the problem and taking steps to fight it.

Blood-sucking bedbugs found in congested neighbourhoods and labour camps have jumped the social barrier by moving to upmarket localities and five star hotels, Dubai Municipality and private pest control experts have said.

Bedbugs and cockroaches account for a number of complaints and pest control agencies have noticed rising infestations of these pests in localities such as Karama, Deira and Bur Dubai as well as the posh communities of Jumeirah and Al Barsha.

Pest control officials said that they are fighting a hydra-headed enemy as infestation is spreading fast. This has prompted Dubai Municipality to plan testing the resistance of bugs to available pesticides. “I’ve seen bedbugs even in a mosque,” said Motahar Hussain, Head of Technical Services at the Pest Control Section, Dubai Municipality.

Dubai Municipality also invites residents to call them:

The increase in service calls for pest control is due to population growth and better public awareness, said Hesham Al Yahya, Head of Dubai Municipality’s Public Health Pest Control Section. “We encourage the public to call the Dubai Municipality hotline about any pest-related events they encounter.”

And Dubai Municipality has been noting an increase in such calls:

Dubai Municipality figures show pest infestation has risen steadily alongside a spike in population. Complaints about bedbugs received by the municipality grew by 34 per cent from 112 in the month of April 2006 to 150 in April this year, the latest comparative data available (it increased more than seven-fold from the figures recorded in April 1992).

Although no industry data exists on the extent of overall pest infestation in Dubai, Dubai Municipality figures show that the total number of monthly complaints increased significantly. For example, pest-related complaints nearly tripled from 1,664 in the month of April in 1992 to 4,676 complaints in April this year. During this period, Dubai’s population roughly doubled to about 1.4 million.

But municipality figures are just the tip of the iceberg.

Aren’t they always?

The article goes on to detail the experiences of a number of local pest control firms who provide service to residences and labor camps (where fighting the pests is especially difficult).

Read the rest here: Xpress: News | Pests on the prowl: Battle of the bugs.

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WKOW in Madison reports that the Wisconsin Department of Corrections helps newly-released prisoners get back on their feet by putting them up in motel rooms known to have bed bugs.

Some of the ex-prisoners had been to local hospitals with evidence of bed bug bites.   WKOW notes,

We found out former prisoners have been complaining about bed bugs at the Capitol Motel to the Corrections Dept. since December 2008.

Corrections Dept. spokesman John Dipko says the agency knew about the infestation in some rooms and has been working with motel staff to spray and disinfect rooms.

Unfortunately, piecemeal treatment of individual rooms, in a property with multiple infestations, doesn’t work well.  As WKOW notes,

It’s kind of like a game of musical chairs.

“We’ve moved offenders out of the rooms where we know there are bed bugs,” said Dipko. “There are additional inspections occurring.”

The state’s health department has also inspected the motel. Its inspector found bed bugs — alive.

Dipko says the Corrections Dept. is still paying for former prisoners to stay at the motel and has no plans to cancel its relationship with Capitol Motel.

Bed bugs can happen anywhere.  The key is that once they’re discovered, management must take drastic steps to deal with the problem.

I have a hard time believing that — as paying customers — the Corrections Dept. cannot do more than shift former prisoners from one room to another in a motel that is not getting sufficient treatment for bed bugs.

In cases like this, entire properties often must be treated.

Note to bedbuggers: this story broke after some of the former prisoners’ relatives visited the WKOW television studio with a bag of bed bugs collected in the Capitol Motel.

If you’re having trouble getting your bed bug story heard, that’s one way to get journalists’ attention.

See WKOW’s  Call for Action: Bed Bugs at Madison motel for the rest of the story.Similar Posts:

• Towels under the door: when cities abandon tenants with bed bugs
• North Carolina shelter with bed bugs: outlook grim
• Bed bugs bite in Richmond, California public housing development
• RainCity Housing’s “bed bug sauna” now active in new Vancouver building
• 160-unit Richmond, California complex evacuated for tent fumigation of bed bugs

An auxiliary gym at Denver’s Lake Middle School, which is used for an afterschool program, is infested with bed bugs:

The [afterschool] program was cancelled Thursday and will not reopen before Tuesday, pending approval from exterminators.

The gym, which contains a game room, office space and a TV room, is being sprayed with pesticides Friday.

“There were several pieces of furniture infested with what they call bed bugs,” Kayser said.

Kayser says Mi Casa staffers reported being bitten by the insects, but he was unaware of any such complaints from children.

The Mi Casa program at Lake involves about 85 children. A letter explaining the situation is being sent to parents.

I hope all staff were educated about bed bugs and their signs also.  Bed bugs could have come in with any staff member, child, or visitor, or even in a shipment of materials.

I also hope everyone is made aware that you can be bitten by bed bugs and not react. It’s quite common.

See the article at 9NEWS.com | Colorado’s Online News Leader | Bed bugs displace afterschool program.Similar Posts:

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According to independent student newspaper, The Daily Aztec, twenty-seven “comfy” chairs were recently removed from the lower level of the San Diego State University library after bed bugs were found there.

Bedbugs are back with a recent infestation in the library, specifically in the “comfy” chairs on the lower level of the Dome.

“Twenty-seven chairs from the lower level of the dome were removed,” Mark Lester, director, Access, Administrative Operations and Communication of Library and Information Access, said. “We resolved the problem in the best way we could think of.”

This article from the university’s independent student newspaper notes that bed bugs were found in SDSU dorms earlier this semester.

And we also reported back in January that, again according to the Daily Aztec, bed bugs had been found in the “egg chairs” in the Counseling and Psychological Services Office at San Diego State.

Since bed bugs do hitchhike on clothing and in people’s bags, these should not be assumed to be unrelated incidents. Bed bugs in chairs in multiple buildings around campus should be taken very seriously.

A campus that is seeing bed bug infestations in chairs around the campus should be taking a very proactive role in detecting bed bugs and treating them properly — both in student housing and in other facilities.  If they are in the counseling office waiting room and the library, they could be anywhere.

Check out:  The Daily Aztec – Bedbugs found in library.Similar Posts:

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Where else but Bedbugger.com do you see the phrase “cheap and cheerful” and “bed bug monitors” in the same sentence? Okay, we’re not Apartment Therapy, but we know a good thing when we see it.

Remember the Climbup™ Interceptors — the inexpensive bed bug monitors, developed by Susan McKnight, which you place under a bed or sofa leg?  The idea is that bed bugs will get stuck either crawling onto or off of the trap, and you will therefore not only be able to know if you have bed bugs, but which direction they’re coming from.  (One forum user whose PCO employed these referred to them informally as “coasters.”)

This is the view from above of a Climbup™ Interceptor with bed bugs caught in it.  (Your bed or sofa leg would go into the center.)

(Photo All Rights Reserved, Susan McKnight.)

This month’s issue of Pest Control Technology has an article by Changlu Wang, Timothy J. Gibb, and Gary W. Bennett detailing the study of the Climbup™ Interceptor. You can see the contents of the April PCT issue with a link to the article here. This is the same study I discussed in the previous post about the product.  To quote from the PCT Online article,

RESULTS. The inspections revealed that all 13 apartments were infested with bed bugs. The average bed bug count was 6.7 per apartment. Among the residents interviewed, only four of 10 said they noticed bed bug bites. After visual inspection and hand removal of bed bugs, we installed Climbup interceptors under furniture legs. After seven days, an average of 8.8 bed bugs per apartment was captured using the interceptors.

CONCLUSIONS.: Bed bug interceptors are more effective than visual inspections for determining the presence/absence of bed bugs and estimating bed bug numbers. In addition, they can effectively detect low levels of bed bug infestation. Because interceptors remove bed bugs, they also provide immediate relief to residents from bites and reduce the need for insecticide applications as they catch the bugs.

[Note the fact that 4 out of 10 residents reacted to bed bug bites.]

Update (5/6/2009):

Climbup™ Interceptors are now available from NorthShore Care (with free shipping if you enter the code in the ad below) and other online retailers, as well as from Residex and Oldham Chemical. In New York City, you can get them from Standard Pest in Astoria.

(Disclosure: Bedbugger has an affiliate relationship with NorthShore Care, which means that if you purchase through our links, it helps support this website at no additional cost to you. We’re grateful to NorthShore Care for offering our readers the best deals we know of on Protect-a-Bed AllerZip encasements and Climbup™ Interceptors, as well as free shipping with the BBFREE coupon code.)

You can also click the following links to download a PDF brochure about Climbup™ Interceptors, or instructions for their use.
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Meanwhile, also in the world of bed bug monitors, David Cain of bed-bugs.co.uk (who is well known to our Bedbugger Forum users) has been developing a different kind of passive bed bug monitor.  Again, this would be something which will be affordable to everyone and could be potentially used in every bed as an ongoing monitoring tool.

(Photo All Rights Reserved, David Cain, bed-bugs.co.uk.)

The March and April 2009 issue of Pest has an article on David’s passive monitor.  Click here to download a PDF.

Pest notes,

The monitor is roughly the size of a packet of cigarettes. Made of moulded plastic it consists of a seven layer sandwich. On top is a label to record the monitoring routine. This is stuck to the top layer of the plastic monitor, within which is the filler consisting of corrugated pulp-based tunnels – ideal hideaways for bedbugs.

The monitors are designed to be anchored to a particular spot on various types of beds.

According to Pest, limited quantities are currently available from bed-bugs.co.uk, “with large scale availability before the summer.”

These two passive monitors have different functions. The Climbup™ Interceptor can only intercept bed bugs which are climbing onto or off of legs of the furniture placed in the disks. They should remain trapped if they cross the interceptor.

David Cain’s passive bed bug monitor is a harborage for bed bugs in the bed itself (attached to the bed base or onto a bed slat, depending on the type of bed). Bed bugs are not forced to remain in the monitor, however.

Neither of these items is going to trap all of your bed bugs or remove them from your home; they are just monitoring devices. But monitoring devices are very valuable where bed bugs are concerned, and both of these tools allow pest professionals and clients can work together to monitor whether bed bugs are present in a space.

We are most excited to see these tools being developed. Bed bugs are a most elusive enemy, and we need all the help we can get in determining they are present.Similar Posts:

• New bed bug monitor #2: the CDC 3000
• More bed bugs at Wilkes University (in University Towers apartments)
• Bed bugs bite Edmonton
• The ethics of bed bugs: the lies landlords and roommates tell
• Bed bugs in the media: David Cain on British radio, Dr. Susan Jones in the Plain Dealer

I was highly perplexed to watch this two-day report from CBS 21 News in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Yesterday, Ewa Roman reported on a “Bug Infested Building” in a boardinghouse over the Tara Station bar on 4th St. in Harrisburg, near the Pennsylvania State Capital building:

Bugs on the ceilings and walls. Insects are taking over the building above the Tara Station Bar on 4th Street in Harrisburg.

I was very troubled to discover that while the photo accompanying the article and video clearly shows a bed bug, and the video itself shows clear footage of bed bugs crawling on walls, the reporter repeatedly refers only to “bugs” and “bug infestation:”

But one man did show us bug bite marks on his arms and neck. He even had some bugs on his sweatshirt.

What kind of bug might be biting this man? Hmmm.

There are also fairly obvious shots of extensive fecal spotting in the area where bed bugs are crawling on the walls and ceiling. And yet “bugs” are mentioned six times in the text of the article; bed bugs: not once.

Here, you can watch video of the episode from Monday: “Bug Infested Building.” (I did not embed the video because it is set to automatically play, which can be quite annoying for people who land on the website.)

And then, Tuesday, the same news station apparently caught up with Walley Mowi, the landlord, to ask why tenants were living under these conditions. He claims that tenants are responsible for the infestation because they have messy and cluttered rooms; in fact, bed bugs are not bred of clutter, or attracted to old food, vomit, or dirt.

Any one person could have brought them into the building, and they could even have walked over from an adjoining building. The hotel offices and the pub downstairs should be carefully inspected as they could also be affected.

Remarkably, once more, the reporter (this time Ben Russell) again makes no mention of bed bugs. Just “bugs” (which are mentioned seven times).

You can watch Tuesday’s update “Bug Infested Building: ‘It’s not my fault’” here. As with the previous story, this reel contains bed bug footage, mention of bug bites, and this time, of dried blood stains on a pillow.

I am dismayed that these reporters are either unaware that bed bugs exist, or are avoiding mentioning them for some bizarre reason. I do not think this is responsible journalism.

Just yesterday I reported how health officials in both Abilene, Texas and Davenport, Iowa believed their cities currently had no bed bug problems, because they were receiving no reports of them. My response: if you live there, tell the health department you have bed bugs.

The people of Harrisburg need to know about bed bugs and how prevalent they are. The bed bugs in this boardinghouse have (according to the news report) been a problem for over a year. And this is not the only incidence of bed bugs in Harrisburg.

If we do not all admit bed bugs are a problem, where we all live, then we will not take action to halt their spread.

If you pretend bed bugs are not there, they will not go away. Similar Posts:

• Video of bed bugs including nymphs walking and feeding on humans
• More on bed bugs in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: again with the HAZMAT showers?!?
• North Carolina shelter with bed bugs: outlook grim
• Woman says she suffered bed bug bites at Bally’s in Atlantic City
• New York City Housing Authority: “bed bugs = emergency” + “wait a month” do not compute

In the television news spot below from WQAD.com in the Quad Cities of Iowa and Illinois, it is noted that

Environmental Health Specialist Jackie Hall of the Scott County Health Department [where Davenport, Iowa is located] says cases of bed bugs have been very rare in the county. Their most recent report of these was in October of last year.

Because the Scott County Health Department has not had a call about bed bugs since October, 2008, and they are assuming that this means that there have been no bed bug cases in the county since then.

We suspect they are probably wrong. After all, people of Davenport, did anyone tell you, that you should notify the Scott County Health Department, should you find bed bugs in your home? I suspect they did not.

Davenport, Iowa is part of the Quad Cities of Iowa/Illinois (which actually now includes five cities: Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa; and Moline, East Moline, and Rock Island, Illinois).

Reporters in the story below from Davenport imply that locals only need to worry about encountering bed bugs when they travel. Not so — two large local complexes — Joseph Fulton Homes East Moline, and Warren Tower in Rock Island County — suffered from publicized bed bug infestations in 2007.

So if you suffer from bed bugs in Davenport, at home or in a public place, please, call your local Health Department and let them know!

Update 4/20: According to the Reporter News Online, public health officials in Abilene, Texas also claim to not have a local bed bug problem.

Bedbugs may be biting in some parts of the country, but so far, Abilene does not seem to be plagued by the pesky little insects.

“I am not aware of any problems we are having with bedbugs in our area,” said Kay Durilla, nursing program manager for the Abilene-Taylor County Public Health District. “However, it seems it is a recurring problem along the East Coast.”

Not just the East Coast. Bed bugs are in all 50 states, according to national pest control companies.

Again, people of Abilene, TX: if you have bed bugs, be sure and let the Abilene-Taylor County Public Health District know that bed bugs are a problem in your area.

The truth is that unless Abilene is inside a sealed airtight bubble, and no people or goods are allowed in and out, there are or will soon be bed bugs in Abilene.

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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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• Ohio County, WV Health Dept. official: bed bugs “public health nuisance” and “psychological disaster”
• Bed bugs on the rise in Detroit
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A recent article from the Vancouver Courier was prompted by a woman’s sighting of bugs on a seat,

Kara Ardan was sitting near the back of a Hastings Street bus earlier this month, when something on the seat in front of her made her jump to her feet.

“I just saw something move,” she said. “It was probably a body louse. A good sized one, too. There were a few of them just hanging out there on the back of the seat.”

So the Vancouver Courier asks the valid question of whether local public transportation buses have bed bugs, and we’re told that

… Derek Zabel, the manager of media relations for Coast Mountain Bus Company, says Coast Mountain has had few reports of bugs on buses and none of its vehicles have been fumigated. Every three to four months each bus is scrubbed from top to bottom and a steam cleaning “extractor” sucks the contents out of the cushy seats.

TransLink switched to cloth seats in 2006 and 2007 because people with limited mobility could too easily slip off the old vinyl seats. Of its fleet of 1,400 buses, about 480 have cloth seats.

Then the following claim:

Brian Johnston, a supervisor in environmental health with Vancouver Coastal Health, doubts cloth or vinyl matters when it comes to bugs. He said bed bugs aren’t often transported on people. They generally feed when their human victims are in their deepest slumber, from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m., and then hide. Johnston said bed bugs are lazy, or smart. They don’t stray far from their food source, so if bed bugs bite your ankles, they’re probably living near the foot of your bed.

[Emphasis mine.]

We’ve actually heard that bed bugs are proficient hitchhikers.

Reports of bed bugs on public transportation used to be commonplace.

If bed bugs don’t get transported on people or their stuff, how in the world would bed bugs be spreading from place to place, not just within buildings? How would they have gotten into this Victoria, BC pediatric unit? Or this Vancouver Island detox? Or this fancy hotel?

Just because bed bugs are most likely to be found in beds, does not mean they do not travel.

Perhaps Johnston’s point is that everyone with bed bugs is not going to be carrying them and distributing them everywhere they go all the time. (True.)

However, bed bugs do travel with people, make no mistake.

That’s how our friend Sneaky Simes gets around all the time.

See Coast Mountain denies buses infested with bugs.

See also this related story: Times Article on Spread of Bed Bugs via Trains, Planes and Automobiles.Similar Posts:

• Megan McArdle on Atlantic.com: bed bugs and Craigslist
• Bed bugs bite Edmonton
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• Pest Control Technology’s Aug. 2009 bed bug supplement
• Don’t Let the Bed Bugs Bite Act of 2009: new and improved