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Bedbugs in one of my school's dorms (not mine, thank god)
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SleeplessinChicago
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Posted 11 months ago
Fri Nov 28 2008 19:09:25
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I was at a day-late-thanksgiving dinner thing in one of the other dorms on my campus today (I'm an American living in Britain for school) and everything was lovely until one fellow mentioned that his whole block (the dorms have blocks - seperate buildings which make up a whole gated dorm system) was being exterminated for "Cockroaches", and that they had had to bag up all of their things and weren't allowed to leave their things in other people's dorms/homes for fear of spreading the "roaches". Now, I've been exterminated for roaches before, and bagging and not moving items had NOTHING to do with it. Obviously bedbugs.....
I had a moment of panic, literally froze and felt a wave of heat and nausea surround my body. I was not in the block mentioned, but two of the people at the dinner were. I didn't touch either of them or any of their things, but I did notice at the end that the fellow who had brought it up had hung his coat up behind me ::sob::
I came home and sprayed EVERYTHING I had had with me (minimal, just a jacket and purse) with alcohol. I put whatever was washable in a plastic bag which I sealed up for laundry day, and now I'm just praying I didn't somehow take them. What I'm really freaked about though is being exposed at school. I can't handle going to class and coming home and spraying everything off...I don't have the time or money to dry all of my things each time I wear them, nor the resources to bag it all properly (very limited laundry and they don't seem to have resealable ziplocs here ::sob again::)
It wasn't like I didn't know there would be bedbugs here...after all, its dorms, someone is bound to have them, and a lot of the students here travel a lot. But I'm not sure what to do...can someone advise on how likely I am to take them home from class with me on my 30 minute walk? Is there anything I can do to mitigate my chances? I am pretty much resigned to getting bedbugs again sometime in my life, it seems impossible not to, but I can't do it here. I don't have the laundry resources or anyone to help me and it seems like the school knows fuck all about what to do (the students mentioned bagging but not laundering, so once the treatment is done they're just going to let the damn things out again). I am in a very intense masters programme and work almost non-stop, and I simply can't handle bedbugs. If I get them here, I will probably have to take the 20K loss and drop the programme, because I don't know what else I could do.... -
You can't just drop the program. That is so much money, it would take so long to recover from.
Just take some deep breaths and think through what you can do to make yourself worry less. If I were you I would isolate the bed and try to get some DE to brush around lightly. That could give you a little peace because if you just brought in one or two, that could kill them before they got established.
Also, even if you did get them you could treat them a lotless expensively than walking out on your investment. Maybe you are in an area that's close enough that David Cain's co. could treat you. From what he has said, he's not very expensive. And he really knows what he's doing, very experienced. Those of us in the US should be so lucky. So you have lots of options better than walking away from a good future. Just take things one day at a time and maybe do one little thing every day that would help things go more smoothly if you were to get infested, which probably won't happen.
Good luck, keep coming back here for support!!
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SleeplessinChicago
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Joined: Jul '07
Posts: 60
Posted 11 months ago
Sat Nov 29 2008 9:01:53
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I can't isolate the bed :( That said, it's a free standing metal frame with a mattress on it and is VERY easy to check (no real crevices or anything). I am going to bring some DE home with me from Christmas and poof it around, that should help...
I'm not sure what the deal is with exterminators. Since I'm in student housing I would imaging that they would want to do the inspection themselves. The school is generally pretty incompetent (the management company a bit less so, but still...cockroaches? REALLY?) so I'm not sure I could get them to hire David, though I do think he's near me as I'm in London.I don't feel like there's any way for me to properly fight them here...like I said, I am at work a good 15 hours of the day and am (Trying to) sleep for the rest. I work almost always in my room, which makes me even more nervous. Right now I really just want to get home for christmas without seeing anything so I can enjoy my break, but if they come up later on I'm not sure what I can do to fight them. Last time I had them I had a competent PCO and it took eight months and multiple baggings and launderings at outside laundromats and so forth :( I don't have any of that stuff here, and no one to help me out. I can't even buy contact kills, plastic ziplocs or any of the things I'm used to having to fight BBs....if anyone in London can give me some suggestions about where I could get these things I would be SO grateful. I have been using surgical spirits to spray things off and I don't even know if it works but there's no rubbing alcohol here :( I'm having bedbug culture shock!!!!!!!!!
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Bring back ziplocs from Christmas. The amounts for one person won't be that bad. I had clothes for 8 people to deal with and we only used like 30 bags.(the XXL variety). I really think that preparing as much as is possible will give you a little more peace. Make sure you have a good appropriate vacuum, maybe you can start a thread for people in the UK of what things they sell there that you could have on hand. You can do it.
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BugsInTO
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Joined: Aug '08
Posts: 197
Posted 11 months ago
Sat Nov 29 2008 11:18:58
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Hi - You are an American living in a dorm attending school in Britain? - if I understand correctly.
Try going to the Student's Union and the student newspaper. Cochroaches indeed! If you are at a full university, does it have an Entomology dept.? I suggest some rabble-rousing and rumour-mongering.
The student body is about to disperse for the holidays, and if it is bedbugs, then students need to know protocols to try and keep from spreading this to their friends and families back home.
Good luck.
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SleeplessinChicago
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Joined: Jul '07
Posts: 60
Posted 11 months ago
Sat Nov 29 2008 20:53:48
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I will DEFINITELY be bringing a bunch of plastic bags and DE back from home :)
I am an American doing my masters in London and living in a postgrad dorm. The dorm with the problem is an undergrad dorm. Sadly, it is a branch of University of London which focuses on international studies, primarily, so no entomology. We don't seem to have a student newspaper, but good idea on the Union! I will contact them and see what they say.
Thanks guys :) You are always so helpful!!!
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Posted 11 months ago
Sat Nov 29 2008 21:15:57
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Sleeplessinchicago,
I assume you are not in the Boston U dorms in London, but you might want to read this article anyway (and the comments, which contain a follow-up).
We don't know of sources for XL ziplocs and such (though if they are available in the UK, would love to post them), but David Cain will probably be a resource if you get them (or think you do). Yes, it is true that it would be hard to convince an institution to use a particular PCO, but he is a definite local expert and may even be able to help you talk to them (and, ahem, the student paper).
There are public launderettes in London with dryers, so this seems like less of an issue than in some places.
Above all else, don't panic: you were at a dinner party with a few people whose BUILDINGS had bed bugs. Even if the whole blocks were being treated, it's not necessarily so that every single unit in those buildings had bed bugs. Even in horribly infested buildings in the news, this generally does not seem to be the case. (In fact, if the whole blocks were being treated, this is actually a sign the school may have a clue as to what it's doing.)
You probably did not get them from the dinner. (It sounds like you're not too worried about that.) The people at the dinner may not have had infested units in those buildings. If they did, they would have to carry them to the meal (another big IF) and they'd have to crawl off and choose you as their lift out of there.
As for going to class: it is true that your classrooms and hangouts (pub, cafe, students' common areas which all the residence blocks share) are at some risk, but you can mediate this somewhat by careful inspection of clothing and other items when you get home. If you can get some resealable bags, it might be worth changing when you get home (bagging dirty clothing) and bagging your purse or other bags. You are probably at less risk than if your attached neighbors had them.
If you react to bed bug bites, you also have the added advantage of an early warning system. People who've had bed bugs more than once usually have a much easier time the next time because they recognize the problem and can address it immediately. While you may worry the uni will mishandle it, this is not necessarily the case.
I suspect that many cases in student dorms are treated sufficiently. I hope you will not let this concern ruin your experience, and that you won't give up your program.
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SleeplessinChicago
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Joined: Jul '07
Posts: 60
Posted 11 months ago
Sun Nov 30 2008 8:48:06
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Nope, I'm not in the Boston U dorms, and had read those articles, which also kind of freaked me out at the time (Everything does, honestly).
There are laundrettes in my area, but I have this bizzare hypermobility issue in my joints...not usually a problem, but it's easier for me to get dislocations/joint damage and I'm not supposed to carry heavy things. Since I don't really know anyone who could help me carry things (I was VERY lucky the first time to have so many wonderful people willing to help me with laundry) it makes me more nervous.
It was kind of funny, one of the girls who was in the infested block said she had not seen anything and didn't know why she had to bag things to protect herself from cockroaches she couldn't see. The guy was quiet, and had some marks on his face that looked like bites...
I was glad to hear that the school was treating the whole block, but it bothers me that they would misinform the students like that.Good idea about bagging my bags and so forth. I will do that when I get some ziplocs in a few weeks. Unfortunately, I will not be able to keep all of my papers/notebooks bagged because I need to use them, but I imagine BB would be pretty easy to see on papers and I should be okay if I inspect them....
I am almost positive that I no longer react to bites. I did, quite strongly, the first few times I was exposed, but last February I KNOW I was exposed at a friend's place where I had stayed several nights (fortunately did not bring them back with me somehow) and did not experience any bites, and it seems unlikely given the extent of his infestation that I was not bitten at all. I check my bed thoroughly once per month and less thoroughly on a daily basis, and am hoping that if I did get them I would somehow catch it....
Thank you for the advice Nobugs :) It is reassuring to hear those things from someone else!! I will be writing an e-mail to the student union later today asking them to inform students before the christmas break, and if that doesn't work I suppose I will try to go directly to someone, although the administrators here are straight up nasty to students for even minor issues....
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