The Chicago news media is all aflutter with the story of a Cincinnati woman who encountered bed bugs at an Arlington Heights, Illinois Sheraton.

The local health department says it’s the second complaint they’ve had this year (not sure if that’s at the Sheraton or in all of Arlington Heights). Ten rooms at this hotel are now undergoing treatment for bed bugs.

No one should have to put up with bed bugs in a hotel. On the other hand, remember that bed bugs can happen anywhere. The victim in this case comes from a city — Cincinnati — where one in six people claimed to have had bed bugs on a recent survey.

Finally, the Fox reporter’s advice to vacuum your suitcase and wash all your clothing after encountering bed bugs in a hotel is not enough. See this FAQ if you think you’ve been exposed to bed bugs, and if you haven’t, this one will tell you how to detect bed bugs in a hotel room before you spend the night.

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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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The State of Illinois is beginning to recognize the severity of its bed bug problem. It issued a press release Tuesday which noted that

“The Illinois Department of Public Health is seeing an increase in the number of calls from the public and from local health departments about bed bug infestations,” said Dr. Damon T. Arnold, state public health director. “To help reduce this problem, I encourage everyone to learn the signs of bed bug infestations, how the bugs spread, what you can do to prevent getting them and what to do if you find bed bugs.”

And the Illinois State Department of Public Health website now contains information on bed bug prevention and control.

As is often the case, I am not 100% thrilled with everything here (for example, only reddish-brown 1/4″ adults and not translucent 1/32“ nymphs are mentioned in the section on what bed bugs look like).

However, I am glad to see Illinois Public Health providing bed bug information on their website and specifically making this invitation to the public on it:

For more information, contact the Illinois Department of Public Health, Division of Environmental Health, 525 W. Jefferson St., Springfield, IL 62761, 217-782-5830, TTY (hearing-impaired use only) 800-547-0466.

I am glad Illinois recognizes the health significance of this pest. As anyone who has had bed bugs will tell you: though not yet known to transmit disease, bed bugs most certainly are a health problem.

And I am glad they want to hear from people who need more information about bed bugs. I hope some of you will take them up on that! And I hope Illinois will take further steps to combat bed bugs and educate people about them.

The Chicago Tribune ran two stories on bed bugs yesterday. ”Bed Bugs and Beyond Disgusting“ covered the spread of bed bugs in the City, and notes that bed bugs are prompting some changes in Chicago. Much more help is needed.

Two tidbits:

“Five years ago, it wasn’t an issue,” said Arturo DelAngel, who works the complaint hot line at the Metropolitan Tenants Organization. “Now it’s bedbugs all the time, every day.”

and:

Prompted by an outcry from angry, itchy citizens, city officials next month will train 45 building inspectors to spot the critters. A coalition that includes the Metropolitan Tenants Organization, the Safer Pest Control Project and Ald. Joe Moore’s (49th) office is lobbying for a coordinated response that would educate school nurses, establish citywide tracking and launch an aggressive public-awareness campaign.

While training inspectors to recognize bed bugs is not nearly enough of an action plan, it is a start, and we applaud the City of Chicago taking steps to fight bed bugs.

The second, related story in the Trib advised readers on what to do if they have bed bugs. The answer?

What to if you have an infestation:

• Call your landlord
• Call 311, make sure you get a “reference number” so you can track the disposition
• Call your alderman’s office
• Talk to your neighbors
• Hire a qualified exterminator

And among the ”additional resources“ suggested (The Metropolitan Tenants Organization also prominent), the article pointed readers to:

Chicago vs. Bedbugs, a community organizing group: chicagovsbedbugs.org

We congratulate our friend Jessica Kevan, Founder of Chicago vs. Bed Bugs, on the good press!Similar Posts:

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An excellent interview with a Chicago pest control firm about their bed bug work, and the rapid spread of bed bugs.

Jessica of Chicago vs. Bed Bugs asks brilliant questions and Smithereen provides some very insightful answers.

I strongly encourage you to check it out!

Smithereen Pest Control’s website
Bedbugger Forum posts referencing Smithereen Pest ControlSimilar Posts:

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Well, perhaps that’s not fair. I am sure there are loads of reasons why bed bugs are spreading around Chicago. The lack of assistance from city agencies is only one contributing factor.

Jessica of Chicago vs. Bed Bugs has a disturbing post today about what happens when you call 311 to report bed bugs in the Windy City.

Alas, she finds that you get met with confusion (the person taking the call has never heard of bed bugs) and a suggestion to call the health department.

And then the health department sends you back to 311.

Wash, rinse, and repeat.

If post-Christmas sales are not your cup of tea, you could play “Report the Bed Bugs” all day, in Chicago.

But you might die of boredom, or frustration.

Instead, you might consider why the City of Chicago spent time and money making this website, when its own health department staff tell callers with bed bugs to set off bug bombs and “wash their sheets more often.”

And perhaps once the Chicago Department of Public Health educates its staff about bed bugs and how to deal with them, they can talk to the 311 folks — Chicago Information, you know — about reading the city’s information website.

Read, and try not to weep.Similar Posts:

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Some patrons of an upscale Chicago restaurant (Japonais, in the River North neighborhood) claim to have received what they think are insect bites during recent dining experiences.

CBS 2 reports,

[Customer Sharon] O’Brien filed a complaint about Japonais with the health department. She says after eating here last Friday, she awoke the next morning with between 75 and 100 bites on her legs. The same thing happened to her co-worker, Holly Oliveri, who had eaten there one night later. Both women had dined outside at street level.

O’Brien and Oliveri were sitting in the same area.

The article says there were three dozen flying insects on the restaurant’s first floor dining area. There could have been insects outside.

CBS also heard from viewers who dined at the restaurant, after airing a story on this:

One was sent by Talia Light, who said she ate at Japonais this past Tuesday.

“I’ve had a lot of mosquito bites. I’m from the Midwest, every summer it happens,” Light said. “But these feel different to me.”

O’Brien’s doctor said she was bitten by fleas or bed bugs. Oliveri said her doctor told her she suffered spider or mosquito bites.

Director of Arthropods at the Peggy Notebart Nature Museum Vincent Olivares said it’s possible mites may be playing a role in the incidents.

But why mites and not bed bugs?

Despite dining outside, there’s no reason you can’t be bitten by bed bugs.

The restaurant seems convinced this is a mosquito issue, according to the CBS report.

However, I have gone camping in mosquito-infested areas. Getting 75-100 mosquito bites during a single meal — and not seeing mosquitos doing the damage — seems improbable to me. You would certainly notice 75 mosquitos biting your legs.

(I wonder if you would not also feel the effects of 75-100 bed bug bites if they occurred during a short period of time and you were awake. But we do know people can be bitten by bed bugs while awake and have no idea.)

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This is a fascinating little news study, a Fox segment focusing on how a Chicago landlord, Barry Chernovsky, and his tenants are blaming one another for bed bugs.

Let me clear things up for you all out there in Chicagoland, and everywhere else (because this debate is going on everywhere):

Mr. Landlord: it is not okay to order your janitor to spray pesticides commercial air freshener in people’s apartments. As you saw, this made a kid have a serious asthma attack. Frankly, it looked like he had a pesticide spray can, and it seems like maybe the implication was he was treating for bed bugs. (That’s a bit strange.)

While we’re on the subject, there are lots of reasons untrained and unlicensed people should not be treating bed bugs in other peoples’ homes. They can harm themselves and others, and they can also make bed bugs worse. It’s also illegal in many places.

Also, Mr. Landlord: it is not okay to declare everything is just hunky dory even if, as you claim, your building is 95% bed bug free after one and a half years of treatment. One and a half years is a long time. I am not sure how big this building was, but there were a number of tenants in this segment. Were they the only ones who still have bed bugs?

Mr. Tenant: the landlord is right to be pissed off that you dragged bed bug-infested refuse from the dumpster back into your home. You may not suffer from bed bug bites because you may not be allergic to them. Or maybe they did not reach you yet, so you think this whole bed bug thing is just a silly notion. However, you should trust your neighbors when they tell you they are suffering, badly. If you still don’t give a hoot, I suggest you play along and avoid being tarred and feathered by an angry mob of neighbors, your fellow tenants.

As an outside observer, I note that some of these wrong ideas and bad behaviors can be chalked up to ignorance, a lack of bed bug education, if you will. This kind of ignorance about bed bugs wastes money, wastes time, and makes people physically suffer.

But besides plain ignorance, it seems like there’s a serious lack of empathy here. It’s a good thing, then, that there are laws to protect us from neighbors and landlords who are lacking in empathy for us.

As Alderman Joe Moore told Fox, the law in Chicago says the landlord has to get rid of pests in the building. Bed bugs take a lot of work and a lot of knowledge.

However, the bed bug blame game, and air freshener, do nothing to help get rid of bed bugs.

I liked the dermatologist in this segment, who understood that bed bugs could “psychologically make you go bonkers.”

The City of Chicago Department of Public Health has its own bed bug FAQs.

Not bad, but it would help to tell people that a sizeable percentage of the population appears to not react to bed bug bites. Those folks are often the key to ridding a building of bed bugs: find out who has bed bugs and has no idea they have them, and you’re on your way. Letting people know that being bitten without reacting is a possibility is essential.
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According to the Rockford Register Star, the Winnebago County Health Department in Rockford, Illinois shut down 56 of 108 rooms in a Red Roof Inn in Rockford, due to bed bugs. The Health Department came to inspect after a customer collected samples of bed bugs from the bed in a room he stayed in:

Health department inspectors were called to the East State Street and Bell School Road hotel after a guest found the tiny bugs crawling in the sheets of his bed. The inspectors closed 56 out of 108 rooms.

Dixon resident Robert McLean said he first spotted the little brown bugs on his sheets when he woke up Friday. Initially, he saw three or four bugs, but he said a search of the mattress revealed countless more, some of which he collected on pieces of clear tape.

“It was like a Halloween nightmare,” McLean said. “You almost want to bring your own bedding from now on.”

Unfortunately, bringing your own bedding will not prevent bed bugs. You’d have to bring your own building, frankly, and set it up over there, away from the hotel.

McLean said he reported the bugs to the hotel’s front desk, who sent a maintenance crew to look at the bugs. They took pictures, McLean said.

The hotel shut down the 56-room wing for 48 hours, during treatment, and will keep the room the guest was in closed for 5 days. However, we know that one traditional bed bug treatment is rarely enough. I hope the Red Roof Inn is being very aggressive with treatments. I would love to hear from PCOs as to what protocol they would follow in a hotel. After all, when individuals have bed bugs at home, we have to sleep in the room to draw the bed bugs out to cross the pesticides. If hotels are using traditional spray treatments, won’t customers be forced to sleep with bed bugs?!?

One also has to wonder how many other people were bitten in this hotel, and reported the bed bug bites. Or did not realize it and took them home. Could this much of a hotel be affected and the hotel be completely unaware of it?

Winnebago County appears to be inviting anyone with bed bugs in that area to call and report them to the Health Department:

[Winnebago County Health Department spokeswoman Sue] Fuller said anyone who finds bed bugs are asked to call the Winnebago County Health Department at 815-720-4100 to file a complaint.

This is interesting — I have not heard many city health departments invite such calls.

This story reinforces my idea that those who find bed bugs in hotel rooms should not simply tell the management, and then post a review on tripadvisor.com to warn others. They should also call the local health department (a number they can get via the room’s phone book, before they flee). Health departments may not consider bed bugs a health risk, but they should. And if enough people call, they may take action.

Update (11/2): the Rockford Register Star now reports the rooms are now reopened–except for the one where the bed bugs are found.Similar Posts:

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According to Channel 12 WKRC in Cincinnati (doesn’t Howard Hesseman work there?), residents at the Hillrise Apartment building, which is owned by Cincinnati Business & Professional Women’s Retirement Living Incorporated, are suffering from various issues including bed bugs.

Calvin Merritt’s problems at Hillrise Apartments are pretty simple.

“Mostly bugs, roaches and all that…”

The “all that” is bed bugs. Dead ones were easy to find under Calvin’s mattress, and piles of them behind the bed. When exterminators come in to spray here, their work’s easy to see, pesticide stains run down Calvin’s walls. Calvin pays 313 dollars a month for this one bedroom…what little furniture he had was mostly pitched, because it was infested.

Calvin Merritt, Resident: “I done lost everything got here, my couch, my other chairs, all the stuff I had was new, I had to get rid of all of that.”

At the other end of the hall, Jeanette Jessie doesn’t have any bedbugs, but she worries about them just the same.

Jeanette Jessie, Resident: “They just spread them from one end of the building to the other, this is crazy, get this place cleaned up, spray it at one time and get rid of this mess.”

It sounds a bit like the Phyllis Wheatley YWCA in Washington DC, Halcyon House in Denver, and Warren Towers in East Moline, Illinois. Elderly people, disabled people, and anyone in low-income housing is being dealt a raw deal when it comes to getting rid of bed bugs. Let’s face it, bed bugs are expensive to treat. They’re also a rather sudden problem no one was expecting and no one has budgeted for.

Bed bugs are difficult to treat, too. Traditional treatments require multiple pest control visits at short intervals. Residents must prepare for treatment, which can be a lengthy process and costly too (especially for those on a fixed income).

However, make no mistake: non-aggressive treatment (treating only some of the infested units, treating at too-long intervals, or not coming as many times as needed), waiting for tenants who might be unaware they have bed bugs to report them, and not providing assistance with preparation costs and physical labor–all of these reactions from landlords and housing managers mean that bed bugs will be around longer, spread into more units, and cost much more to get rid of.

It just does not make sense on any practical level to not be aggressive, thorough, and quick to treat bed bugs in a building you are responsible for. It is simply a display of ignorance about the nature of this beast.

We can’t entirely blame landlords for this ignorance; none of us were expecting bed bugs. But we need to educate the public about the signs of bed bugs, and we need to educate professionals in all walks of life (from those who provide housing, to hospitality services, to health care, education, and on and on) about the need for a bed bug protocol which includes both proactive searching for signs of bed bugs, and swift reactions to any bed bug signs or sightings.

Too many people seem to be hoping they’ll just go away. Good luck with that. In the meantime:

Channel 12 reports,

Officials from the Cincinnati Health Department tell us they’ll soon be taking a closer look at conditions in the apartments.

I love the Cincinnati Health Department. But you knew that.Similar Posts:

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Good news for some “newbites” in Chicago. If you suspect bed bugs, but have no evidence yet, and you’ve been spending time in area forest preserves, you may have itch mites. No, they’re no picnic, of course, but they would be a darn sight better experience than bed bugs.

There’s currently an outbreak there, and a hundred people have reported itchy red welts at area emergency rooms in the last week. Here’s a news clip from the Chicago Tribune.

Itch mite bites last 10-14 days and itch mites will not infest your person or your home. If you have not spent time in a wooded area, or if you have other signs of bed bugs, or if your bites persist beyond the next two weeks or continue to get worse (without you visiting the forest preserves again), you should be very proactive about seeking an experienced PCO who can inspect for bed bugs. Itch mites are a very specific condition, so read the article and watch the video and consider whether that’s a likely culprit.

We don’t normally report on “other conditions” here at bedbugger.com. But in the last few days, participants on the forums have reported visiting doctors who claimed to have the same itchy welts. And I was starting to worry bed bugs in Chicago were even more widespread than I had thought! Well, at least in many cases, it appears to be another cause.

But consider this: at least some of those 100 emergency room visitors will doubtless be suffering from bed bugs and thinking they have itch mites. Be alert, and proceed with caution.Similar Posts:

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