Monthly Archives: June 2017

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Local Pest Control Warns about Bed Bugs – CIproud.com

Posted on June 23, 2017 by Pest Controller Click Here For Article

Taking an extra look around the room while travelling this summer may be a good idea, because bed bugs can linger in more than just your mattress.

"Mattresses are most commonly where people see bed bugs, but they can be anywhere" said Tazewell County Health Department's Sara Sparkman. "They can be in picture frames, they can be in curtains...they like to hide in cracks and crevices of anything."

American Pest Control's Steve Howell said he's seen around a 10% increase in cases each year.

Howell emphasized bites from the bug are indistiguishable from other bug bites, and a professional assessment is the best way to determine an infestation.

Make sure to inspect any furniture you buy second hand, and the beds of hotel rooms.

Some warning signs are small bites on the body, and specks similar to black pepper on your furniture.

The insects are small and flat, vary in color, and are about half the size of a penny or smaller.

American Pest Control and Tazewell Health Deparmtent both advise to call in the professionals if you suspect they're in your home.

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Bloodsucking bedbugs make a big comeback – WTOP

Posted on June 23, 2017 by Pest Controller Click Here For Article

FILE - In this file photo taken Aug. 25, 2010, a bedbug is found in a mattress at a home in Columbus, Ohio. As bedbugs relentlessly re-enter American life, and we learn how little we can do to stop them, it's increasingly important to know how to avoid them and how to cope if they work their way into our homes and belongings. (AP Photo/Terry Gilliam, File)

WASHINGTON Bedbugs have been around for years but experts believe their populations are now growing and the bloodsuckers are more resilient than ever.

Powerful pesticides such as DDT kept the bugs at bay for much of the 20th century, Raupp said. But the later part of the century saw those stronger pesticides give way to modern, less potent treatments. Now, these more recent treatments are proving ineffective as the bugs become immune to them.

In certain cities around the United States, very high proportions of bedbug populations are almost completely resistant to these pesticides, Raupp said.

The increase in bedbug populations has been seen not only in the U.S. but internationally as well. From hotels, to apartments, to homes and, in some cases, even offices, outbreaks have been reported.

Both a D.C. school and even the offices of the Montgomery County Department of Health have dealt with bedbug infestations over the past year alone.

Fighting back against bedbugs, according to Raupp, means educating everyone on how to spot them, treat them and avoid bringing them home.

Everybodys got to work in a cohesive fashion to get this problem solved; it is going to be a team approach, Raupp said.

Bedbugs, which do not transmit diseases like mosquitoes, are more commonly transported by people during travel.

When traveling, dont be ashamed to toss the bedroom, pulling back bed spreads and sheets to look for the telltale signs of the bugs, Raupp suggested. The signs include actual bedbugs, bedbug skin that has been shed or small, reddish rust-colored spots they leave behind after bites.

Raupp also said said to use a luggage rack in the room for your suitcase and never put your clothes into a dresser in a hotel room. Keep the luggage rack away from the wall so it isnt easy for the bugs to make their way into it.

If there are concerns that bedbug stowaways have made it into a suitcase, Raupp said put all clothes in the dryer on medium or high heat immediately after arriving home.

Thats gonna kill all the active and inactive stages, including eggs of bedbugs, Raupp said.

Another way to keep the bugs out of a home, according to Raupp, is to not bring in secondhand furniture or bedding into a home before thoroughly inspecting them.

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2017 WTOP. All Rights Reserved.

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Bed bugs getting the heat treatment at downtown building – KTOO

Posted on June 23, 2017 by admin Click Here For Article

Mountain View Apartments on West 12th Street in downtown Juneau. (Photo by Matt Miller/KTOO)

Over a third of the units in a downtown Juneau apartment building are being treated for bed bugs.

Managers of the Mountain View Apartments on West 12th Street noticed the pests in some units earlier this month.

In 2008, we had a similar kind of outbreak, said Corry Isabell, the Juneau Family Investment Center manager with the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, which operates the apartment building. It doesnt happen overnight. Its a build up.

This example image shows a canvas strap of old box spring covering that is housing adults, skin castings, feces and eggs. (Photo courtesy of Dr. Louis Sorkin)

Isabell said theres a good amount of changeover in the clientele at Mountain View.

We probably turn 20units a year, she said. So, a third new clients every year, and keeping everybody educated, aware of the situation, acting aggressively on what they bring into their homes is always a challenge.

Isabell said they hired a Seattle pest control company and their K-9 unit sniffed out the common areas and all 270 residential units in their Juneau facilities.

Isabell said bed bugs were found in 25 of the 62 units for fixed- or low-income clients at Mountain View Apartments.

The pests were also found in five other units in other of the corporationsbuildings.

Theyre all over, said Mariah Jerman, an environmental program specialist focusing on pesticides in the Department of Environmental Conservations Division of Environmental Health. Were a very transient state. They travel all over the place.

Jerman said bed bugs are non-discriminatory.

They are called the hitchhiker bug because they will latch onto anybody if the opportunity is right, and they can follow us anywhere, she said. It doesnt have anything to do with economic class, cleanliness. Although, it can be harder to eradicate if the environment is very cluttered.

This example image depicts a view from above of an adult, Cimex lectularius bed bug. Adult bed bugs are on average 5 mm long and have an oval-shaped and flattened body. (Photo courtesy of CDC/ CDC-DPDx; Blaine Mathison)

Bed bugs need blood usually human blood to grow and advance through each of the half-dozen stages in their life cycle, culminating with the final egg-laying stage.

At that point, theyre about the size of an apple seed.

Jerman said bed bugs can be found hitchhiking on clothing and furniture.

Often times, if they come from an infested location, they might end up say on the street with a free sign, Jerman said. That free sign, people like oh, hey, free couch theyll take it home and there will be eggs inside of it. Then, they just spread that way. Thats how apartment buildings will often get them, used furnishings that have them inside.

Furniture can be vacuumed, heat treated or wiped down with a solution, but Jerman advises against blowing or splashing off the eggs.

Clothes can be treated by placing into a dryer at high heat for 40 minutes.

A persons arm with bed bug bites (Photo courtesy of Harold Harlan, AFPMB)

Bed bugs can leave itchy bite marks on human skin, but thats about it. Unlike mosquitos, they are not known to transmit any diseases. Still, Jerman warns against excessively scratching any bites to avoid infection.

In addition to cautions about bringing home second-hand furniture, Isabell said theyre also encouraging Mountain View Apartments residents to police themselves and question guests who may be sneaking into the building.

Isabell said theyre starting the month-long process of heat-treating units at the building. False walls with plastic sheeting will be used to seal off hallway sections. Portable heaters will increase the temperature to 140 degrees to kill the bugs and their eggs.

Before heat treatments, maintenance staff will seal off any cracks or openings in rooms to prevent the bugs escape.

Some people are not going to be prepared when they are supposed to be treated, Isabell said. Other people are going to be prepared early. And so the schedule will flex. The goal will be to have it all done by the end of July.

Residents cannot remain in their rooms during the nine-hour heat treatment. They can wait in the buildings common room that is free from bed bugs, but which has been recently closed to the public to prevent the spread of any potential infestation.

You can find more information about bed bugs at the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

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Bed bugs disappeared for 40 years, now they’re back with a vengeance. Here’s what to know – USA TODAY

Posted on June 22, 2017 by pcenet Click Here For Article

Our biggest fears can have our minds racing with scary images of bed bugs, but could you spot one? Angeli Kakade (@angelikakade) has the story. Buzz60

Recently fed adult bed bugs and just-hatched baby bed bugs. The white morsels are eggs.(Photo: M.F. Potter)

They're small, blood-sucking parasites perhaps living in the corners and crevices of our beds, feeding off us while we sleep.

Bed bugs, for decades, existed as myths,part of a rhyme our parents told us beforebed. Nowthey've made anunwelcomereturn and thosewho know the buggers best say it's high time we starttaking them seriously.

After all, getting a bed bug infestation "is a bit of a crap shoot," concededUniversity of Kentucky entomologist Michael Potter, meaning all of us are at risk.

Bed bugs used to be "incredibly common" in the early 20th century, Potter said. Back then, peopleroutinely checked for them and carried insecticide while traveling.

Read more: Is your city crawling with bed bugs?

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Read more: Frustrated Maine man tosses bed bugs on city employee

But the introduction ofpotent insecticides killed most of our bed bugs, banishing them from our homes and consciousnesses. The bugs,Potter said, disappeared from about the mid-1950s to the late 1990s. They became so rare people could no longer identify them and a new generation of pest control professionals weren't equipped to fight them, noted University of Florida research scientistRoberto Pereira.

But then they came "roaring back in the last five to seven years," Potter said, creeping into our couches, our apartments and even into the hotel rooms of our NBA stars. The reason why is a mystery, although Pereira and Potter suggest it's because the once potent insecticide is now banned, people travel more and the bugs have grown resistant to modern insecticides.

Now we're left avoiding them. But there are ways. Here's what you need to know:

If you've never seen one, bed bugs are small, flat, reddish-brown bugs about the size of Abraham Lincoln's head on a penny.

They have an oblong shell and a tiny head. They typically live in areas where people sleep because at night they feed on our blood.

Unlike ticks or fleas, bed bugs don't latch on when they feed. They bite then scurry away to digest. "It's a creepy parasite," described Potter. "It's a little bit like Dracula."

Bed bugs have to feed on human blood about once a week, Potter said. However, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claims they can live several months without a "blood meal."

Potter said bed bugs will adapt to your schedule. For instance, if you work the overnight shift, they'll learn to feed on you during the day.

The black spotting on this blanket are fecal marks left by bed bugs. Such spotting is a tell-tale sign of a bed-bug infestation.(Photo: M.F. Potter)

Bed bugs don't form colonies or nest, but they do aggregate, usually within about eight feet of where a person sleeps.

It's popular to find clusters of them on beds and recliners. Very skittish, bed bugs don't like movement, which is why they feed on us while we sleep.

Popular places for them to congregate are in the seams of mattresses, in bed frames, headboards, dressers andbehind wallpaper or clutter. A bed bug, notes the CDC, can travel more than 100 feet in a single night.

Bed bug bites look like raised welts and can cause serious allergic reactions in some people.

But a third of people don't experience any reaction. This only helps the infestation spread because people don't know they have the bugs.

Bed bug fecal spots on a bed.(Photo: M.F. Potter)

The stigma that a filthy home is more at risk of getting bed bugs just isn't true, Potter claims.

Unlike cockroaches, rats or flies, who feed on filth, bed bugs feed on blood. They only need a body. Bed bugs, the CDC said, have been found in five-star hotels and resorts.

Bed bugs are mostoften found in major metropolitan areas. However, over time, the pests have found their way to rural areas.

Anywhere there are close quarters, Potter said, the odds are better. It's a numbers game, he said, because the more people coming and going from a building increases the odds the bugs will find their way there.

Low-income housing also is a target because many people use old bedding and building staff may not take the steps to address the problem.

They don't carry disease

Bed bugs do not carry disease. At most, they're annoyances which cause itching and a lack of sleep.

Experts say people bring an infestation into a home after they've gone to a place with bed bugs and somehow brought them back to their house.

This can happen just about anywhere: At hotels, while ridingbusses and trains, vacationing on cruise ships and bunking in dorm rooms. They attach to stuff, Potter said, not people. He's seen them on the bottoms of shoes, baseball caps and even Beanie Babies.

But it's unlikely you'll get them from places where people don't sleep. The places where peopleget some shut-eye are most at risk.

Potter advises people check aroundhotel beds whenfirst checking in. Pull back the sheets, check the seam and corners of the mattress near the pillows and the headboard. Look for black spots, the bugs themselves or yellowish skins that bed bugs shed.

Try not to spread out in your hotel room. Don't place your open suitcaseagainst a wall. Try to keep it closed and set it on a hard surface. Don't spread clothes across the hotel room.

Potter said each of us needs to strike a balance as to how paranoid we'll be in avoiding bed bugs.

"You got to be careful because you take all the joy out life," he said. "People just have to decide how apprehensive do they want to be."

Follow Sean Rossman on Twitter: @SeanRossman

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Bed Bugs: An Expensive Pest Problem That Low-Income Renters Often Pay For – Texas Public Radio

Posted on June 22, 2017 by pcenet Click Here For Article

Bed bugs can be especially overwhelming for low-income families. The pests are drawn to apartment complexes with lots of people packed into small spaces, and they cause pain, anxiety and financial stress.

Some apartment complexestreat theinfestations, then send the bill straight to the tenants.

Something Wasnt Right

When her little girls started waking up each morning with red welts on their faces, Shelby Rodriguez was worried. It was summer though, so sheassumed theywere mosquito bites.Besides, she had already checked their mattresses thoroughly and had seen no sign of bed bugs.

But the bites kept appearing and she couldn't shake the nagging feeling that something was in the house. So she pulled her toddlers' bunk bed away from the wall and investigated with a flashlight.

"And that's when I found them, so all along the frame, the floorboards and then in the crevices and the screw holes of the beds is where they were hiding out. From eggs, to the early stages of the bed bugs, and to the ones that had been feasting on us which you could tell because they were the darker, brownish-red color, she says.

Taking Action

So Rodriguez and her husband called the apartment manager to report the problem, they lived in Euless at the time.After a week with no action, they showed up in person, requesting pest control, still nothing.Three weeks later,they went to the Texas Tenants' Union for advice, thenmade a formal request in writing. At this point, the bedbugs were everywhere. They threw out two beds, a crib, all the mattresses and their living room set.

"Everything that we had tossed we had only had for about three months. So that was a few thousand dollars that went out the window, she says.

The apartment complex did respond to the written request and treated theapartment for bedbugs. The Rodriguez family was shaken though, and didn't want to finish out their lease. The complex denied their request to leave earlyand charged them the final three months rent.

A Low-Income Issue

Mike Merchant isan urban entomologist for theTexas A&M Agrilife Extension Service. He says a lot of North Texastenants just like Rodriguez are fighting bed bugs. Unlikeher, many of them are stuck paying for the treatment themselves -- or just going without. That's because many rental companies have added a page to their lease that puts responsibility on the renter.

"They're usually asked to sign a statement saying they've inspected the apartment and there are no bed bugs in their apartment, he says.

Merchant says there's just one problem with that.

"Even a professional cannot go into a freshly painted, cleaned up, empty apartment and be able to tell whether there's bed bugs lurking in the walls."

The reason why is pretty unsettling. Bed bugs have no interest in empty apartments because there's nothing to eat. They're hiding out, waiting.

"They've got us to feed on and it has nothing to do with how sanitary we are, or aren't, Merchant says. It's just we're providing blood for them at night, and all they need is a place to hide during the day."

Trying To Fix An Expensive Problem

So tenants move in, report that their apartment is clear, even though bed bugs may just be out of sight, then discover them weeks or months later. But they've signedthatextra page on thelease, so the cost of extermination is on them. It can run from $300-$1,500. And that's not an option for many low-income families. Merchant says they'll often try to treat the problem themselves, which doesn't work. Then some families give up, and move out. Bringing the bed bugs with them.

"For someone with money, it's going to be frustrating, but is something you can take care of. But if you don't have enough money to pay the pest control, then you're just going to be stuck with it, Merchant says. Perhaps for years.

And that's something Shelby Rodriguez wouldn't wish on anyone.

"I mean my kids were sleeping on the floor at one point, crying, not understanding what's going on. So you feel powerless, and everywhere you go, you just feel like you're on the lookout for bed bugs, she says.

And even 10 months later, settled into a new, pest-freeapartment in Bedford, she doesn't expect that feeling to go away anytime soon.

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