The Resurgence of Bed Bugs
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2010-08-19/resurgence-bed-bugs
They're back! Bed bugs are infesting retail stores and offices as well as bedrooms. Diane and guests explore what's behind the resurgence and what to do about it.
Guests
Dini Miller
associate professor of urban pest management, Department of Entomology, Virginia Tech.
Dr. Paula Bourelly
assistant clinical professor of dermatology, Georgetown University, and in private practice in Olney, Maryland.
Missy Henriksen
vice president of public affairs, National Pest Management Association.
Joseph McInerney
president and CEO, the American Hotel and Lodging Association.
Comments
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Human population size is probably not the issue, is it? Would population DENSITY by more important?
Bedbugs were successfully eradicated from city tenement buildings early last century by use of DDT. Obviously, misuse of this chemical had devastating environmental effects in nature.
I believe that it is time to reevaluate limited, controlled and licensed use of DDT for specific in door applications. I understand that DDT was never connected to ant human health issues.
Care to comment?
Thank you
I have my mattress in a plastic bag, intended to prevent infestation.
Any experience to indicate whether this works?
David Rigby
Winston-Salem, NC
My mom tells me that when she was a child, during the depression, her mother would regularly take the metal bed springs outside to "burn" them. Each kid would take a rolled up piece of newspaper and light it on fire. They would then proceed to burn the springs to kill the bed bugs.
I've had what looks like BB bites off and on since December. I've been sprayed for three incidents with one or two rounds of bites with five to 15 bites each time. But neither I nor the pest companies have ever seen evidence of actual bugs.
What are the chances that these are BBs? What other things could be biting me?
A dermatologist said the bites don't appear to be mosquitoes, spiders, fleas, scabies ... but then he had also never seen BB bites so there was no confirmation
A few apartments in my building have had BB, but the four apartments around me say they have had no problems. My mattresses have been covered with high quality BB covers since January.
: (
Kathryn
If my mattress has bed bugs, do I have to throw it away?
To: drshow@wamu.orgHello Diane:
Just and FYI, Bed bugs is a big known problems in India. When bed bugs are found, typically we would get rid of them by laying the mattress outside in bright sunlight for about 8 hours and this would kill all the bugs.
I am curious what you guest has to say about this?
Seeing this problem first hand as a pest management professional, the resurgence of bedbugs is a disturbing trend for many people who have had to deal with these pests.
What bothers me the most that we see too often is that many people that have bedbugs are unable to afford a proper treatment. This is never something we would recommend someone treat themselves, for many reasons. Due to the intensive treatments, the cost is often too high for many people to fit in their budget. Some companies are able to do services for a reduced cost for hardship cases, but this does not get to the real source of the problem or provide relief for many people who are living with bedbugs.
Do bed bugs have any natural enemies? Are there any critters that can take care of these.
I am a long term Leukemia survivor who is afraid of exposure to chemicals.
Two years ago my house was infested by bed bugs due to a visit of someone with the bugs in her clothing. IT WAS A NIGHTMARE!!! You could see them behind the picture frames and in the new dbl bed mattress that I had purchased. Prior to eradicating them, I had to throw out my sofa, love seat, gr.daughter's mattress, my mattress and I even moved out for a month to allow several chemical treatments for bed bugs.
In addition to an emotional distress, it is very expensive to get rid of bed bugs.
I worry about the exposure of the chemicals to the population being treated for this pest.
Thanks for this show.
How does the traveler protect him/herself?
Once upon a time there was a good, inexpensive way to keep bed bugs at bay; it was called airing your mattresses, although really it was the sunlight that helped.
However, once they have spread throughout your room and to other apartments, it won't do much good.
Some of the reason for the spread of bed bugs is changed suburban aesthetics.
My only exposure to bed bugs was aboard a cruise ship. How much of a problem is it in the cruise industry? The environmental officer aboard the ship said that she had never seen bed bugs aboard the ship. But later I witnessed men in white suits tearing the cabin apart about 3 hours before the next group of passengers arrived.
We were invaded by bedbugs a year ago. It was a horrific experience.
We believe that we got them when we traveled to California from our home in Utah and stayed in a few hotels while we were there. When we realized we had them (living in our one-year-old daughters bed) we quickly became experts on the subject.
One of the things that I think is misunderstood about bed bugs is that it has nothing to do with the cleanliness of your home. A dirty home is not more or less likely to have bed bugs. We have all fairly new furniture and our home is (more or less) uncluttered, but the bed bugs only needed a place to hide (in our case it was in our daughters bed frame and underneath the base boards in her room, but they could live nearly anywhere) and a source of food (which is any person).
My husband travels on average 5 days a week and I wonder how I should be handling his suitcase when he comes home. I have thought about quarantining it in the garage or in plastic; however, that doesn't seem too convenient. Vaccuuming doesn't seem adequate.
dealt with these - agree it takes just nearly a year to eradicate - where DDT was 98% effective we now have to have 2, more likely 3 treatments adding up to $3-4,000 to rid -- that's a year of slow incremental success with the paranoia of being bitten/eaten each nite! ...plus family won't visit (except VEEEERR cautiously) and you don't want to invite others over leading to a nearly year long seclusion. BRING BACK DDT (and allow widespread use!)
I wanted to ask about extreme cold for extermination. I recently contracted with a company using liquid carbon dioxide after house-sitters brought bedbugs in. Will this be effective?
When you travel, know what to look for and check in and around the bed for any signs of bed bugs (tiny raised black dots - their droppings, red or brown spots on the sheets or mattress, or actual bugs in the crevasses of the bed or in the seams of the mattress or box spring).
Keep your luggage and clothing off the floor, because they can latch on and go home with you. Check the corners of the dresser drawers and use them.
Lastly, wash, dry and inspect all of your clothing and luggage when you get home. Washing and drying on high-heat is the most important because the heat kills them better than anything else.
We visited our son in Hong Kong, and became concerned when he raised the issue of bed bugs. Although we never saw any signs of them in HK, he did confirm he had them after we got home. When we came home, we washed everything in hot water, and put the suitcases outside in black plastic bags in the sun for a week. Apparently it worked!
I just searched PubMed for articles on "possible" link between bed bugs and lyme disease.... nothing came up linking the two. I think the caller was mistaken, as the lyme disease vector hosts are ticks.
Bedbugs are very difficult to eradicate.
Have experience with BB in homeless shelter where an on Board of Directors. Researched extensively.
They normally only come out at night. Very difficult to get rid of. They can flatten themselves and go under quarter-round molding on the floor.
When going into hotels. Place luggage in plastic trash bags
Place clothes in trash bags and wash everything in hot water and hot dryer when you get home
Strategy if you have or believe you have them.
Wash everything in hot water and hot dryer.
Bedbugs do not fly. They can come up bedposts. Coat bedposts with vaseline. Bed bugs cannot get through.
Don't bother to buy new mattresses. They will appear in the new ones. Trap BB in your existing mattresses with either plastic or allergy mattress covers. They will cannot go through. Plastic however is hot. Allergy(dust mites) mattress covers are excellent and not that much more expensive. Some have enclosed zippers.
If using exterminator, get references ahead of time and ask how much they really know about BBs. You can spend thousands of dollars and still have the problem.
Do internet research. Some excellent resources on internet
Here is a fairly good source.
http://www.medicinenet.com/bed_bugs/article.htm
Go on the internet and get either plastic mattress covers or better allergy mattress covers that prevent
kdodd, what does your company use to treat bed-bugs and are they more prevalent during any one season? Thanks for the info.!
kdodd, what does your company use to treat bed-bugs and are they more prevalent during any one season? Thanks for the info.!
I agree with you. I did the same, and checked Google, as well. There is no information on an association between bed bugs and Lyme disease. The websites that came up were the typical ones filled with anecdotal information and opinon.
I hope that there is some way the show can transmit this correction to the public.
Bedbugs are like terrorists. You can never fully get rid of them. Even after spending a thousand or more dollars fumigating your flat, and keeping it spotlessly clean and sterilized, they will be back eventually. The work involved is worse than moving. You have to wash and bag every bit of clothing, and clear out every nook and cranny before the fumigators arrive. You do all the work, and they spend just about one hour fumigating the place, and then charge you $1000 or more, and a year later the bedbugs are back. They can hide deep in your wall for a year or more just on one sip of your blood, and eventually come back out of the woodworks to rebuild their bases. I do believe that only a total mass extermination using DDT can do the job, but that is no longer acceptable. So, it seems we'll be having to have to battle these little bloodsucking terrorists for well into the foreseeable future. I think the Middle East conflicts will be solved before the bedbug problem is once again eradicated.
I've battled bed bugs a few times, getting better at it each time after extensive internet research, consultation with a pest control professional, going through the disinfection process, and trial and error wrt preventing further infestations.
I find knowledge of bedbug life cycles, early identification / eradication, and regular prevention are key. Low tech, non-toxic means are best for these purposes; unfortunately you won't find these much publicized on the internet b/c they don't generate much profit.
This is what I now do:
- strip and examine mattresses regularly; with a pandemic on-going you will ocassionally bring a bedbug home. Don't freak out.
- wash bed linens and clothes in hottest water possible regularly.
- vacuum mattress with a Dustbuster regularly, paying special attention to embroidery seams, crevices, and anything visible
- vacuum home regularly, paying special attn to baseboards, crevices, and places pets can drop bugs, eggs
- vacuum & sun suitcases after a trip, using the Dustbuster's crevice tool
- dust regularly.
These methods target eggs as well as adult bugs; I no longer trip out over an occassional bed bug.
Good luck / sleep well!
@jgarbuz: Sounds like you've had an awful experience. I have to disagree with the proposal for mass DDT spraying, though. It is the use of toxins that has created these resistant bugs, leading to the current pandemic. As you state, they just come back later, and the DDT is going to work less on 'em when they do (as well as poison you, your children, and our air and water). Rather -- *anticipate* their return so you can nip it in the bud w/o spending lots (see last post): know what to look for, inspect regularly, invest in a good Dustbuster, air / sun your mattresses, wash your clothes lots. A budbug weakened by DDT but not yet dead can still reproduce; a dead one sucked up in your trash bag or washed out in hot water can't. Plus, it's not as expensive. Good luck!!!
I was bitten in Palermo, Italy and had 100 bites. How many bugs would there be? Rob Dvorak
Thank you for this useful information! Will using a steam cleaner kill bed bugs?
Many believe DDT is necessary to control bedbugs. While DDT is prohibited in USA, it is still used in some other nations. Many people question the need for banning DDT, though none of them are bald eagles or peregrine falcons as far as I know?
However the devastating effects from DDT resulted from it's overuse on millions of acres of wetlands, grasslands, forests, lawns, and other large scale applications.
If DDT were to be reallowed for limited use on interior environments only, the problems to wildlife could be largely avoided, while controlling the bedbug problem, as well perhaps as some other problematic pests such as residential termites.
If DDT were to be allowed for use in interior environments, such allowance would necessarily require very stringent protocols and limitations for applications, only by those with the highest level of certification, and following rigid safety standards.