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Lifestyle ByJenny Webster Jurica|January 24, 2018

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Sleep tight and dont let the bed bugs bite. This old adage might take on a literal meaning if you sleep over often in Houston or the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Unfortunately, both of these Texas metroplexes recently ranked on Orkins Top 20 List for Bed Bug Infestations with Dallas/Fort Worth moving up to a higher (worse) spot on the list.

Dallas/Fort Worth Joined the Top 10

Photo: Flickr/Todd Martin

Taking the top spot for the second year is Baltimore, Maryland. Included on the list for the first time are New Orleans and Flint, Michigan with Dallas/Fort Worth joining the top 10. And while the Big Apple, New York, fell four spots from their 2017 ranking, San Diego and Albany rejoin the community as prominent bed bug locales. To see the complete list of cities on Orkins list, visit their website.

Bed Bugs: Not Just In The Bed

Photo: Flickr/AFPMB

These parasitic insects actually feed on blood from humans and warm-blooded animals to survive. Like ticks, bed bugs are flat, circular, and reddish-brown in color. They are also quite tiny which makes finding them even harder.

Bed bugs arent exclusive to where you lay your head to sleep. They can be found almost anywhere including offices, grocery stores, hotels, and gyms. Theyre also pretty crafty and have been known to hide in luggage, clothing, and even on your body. They wait for the perfect chance to strike, often as you sleep, and can multiply quickly in optimal conditions.

Helpful Tips for Bug-Weary Travelers

Orkin suggests that travelers should be particularly cautious with bed bugs as they run the risk of spreading possible infestations to other locations. They recommend such tricks of the trade as placing your luggage in the bathtub immediately upon checking into a hotel room and then doing a check of the mattress, bedding and other linens for the bugs. If the room appears to be all clear, you can then move your luggage to a more convenient area of your room.

Link:
Two Texas Cities Made The Top 20 List For Bed Bugs

You might not think it when stepping into your ride to work, party, or the airport, but ridesharing is a dirty business. Passengers, some with questionable hygiene, enter and exit vehicles all over the world at all hours of the day, amounting to an insane 14 million rides per day. This high volume not only moves people to and from their destination but also their insect passengers: bedbugs. According to one exterminator in Texas, these tiny ride-sharing stowaways are single-handedly padding his bottom line.

Dallas-Forth Worth is one of the most bed bug-infested cities in the nation, topped only by New York City and Philadelphia. But for Don Brooks, owner of Doffdon Pest Control, the pesky parasites been a profit center, especially as ride-sharing services have expanded the city's transportation infrastructure.

In an interview with local news station WFAA, Brooks explained that his business regularly treats cars used in ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft.

"I probably do five to 10 rideshare cars per week," said Brooks. "Drivers either see bed bugs, someone complained, or they were suspicious of a customer and just want to make sure."

Brooks goes on to mention that infestations usually start when a bed bug crawls off of a person. That means, if a person is carrying a bed bug on their clothes or in their purse, they could spread the bugs into the rideshare without even knowing it. Before the owner of the vehicle notices that their vehicle is infested, the bugs could hitch a ride home with any passenger. Couple that with the fact that these insects can live upwards of a year without feeding on blood, and you've described a rather disastrous scenario.

For $250, drivers of these rideshare vehicles can have their cars tented by Brooks' mobile extermination fleet. He also offers a cheaper solution to spray the vehicles with liquid pesticides.

The tenting method used by Brooks is commonly used to eliminate bed bugs in homes and vehicles. According to Terminex, a "hot box" extermination method involves heating an environment above the lethal threshold for the bugs between 117 and 122 degrees Fahrenheit. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, a car left in direct sunlight on a sunny 77-degree day will reach these temperatures within about 60 minutes, but that might not always be successful.

Still, in an industry where any person can order up a car, there are risks to be had. Some law offices even offer their services for people who transfer bed bugs to their home from an infested rideshare. It's a disheartening idea, but Brooks says not to overthink it. He offers some friendly advice to anybody who thinks that they may have been exposed in a rideshare car:

"If you feel suspicious, just throw your clothes in the dryer for 50 minutes on high heat. Then it's best to hop in the shower."

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Continued here:
Texas Exterminator Treats '5 to 10' Rideshare Vehicles for Bed Bugs Each Week - The Drive

DALLAS, Texas The Dallas Police Department is keeping a close eye on its northeast and southeast substations after bed bugs were reported in both locations by officers.

According to the department, officers in the Southeast Patrol Division reported seeing bed bugs in the front office towards the end of January and the beginning of February.

On Feb. 6, a pest extermination company was brought in to fumigate the reported area.

A few days later, the department said that another sighting of bed bugs was reported at the substation.

The building was evacuated, and the entire station was treated on Feb.13.

A command post was set up behind the station so operations could continue normally at the time, per an email obtained by WFAA.

Currently, the department believes there are no more bed bugs at its southeast substation.

However, the department said that officers have reported finding bed bugs in squad cars assigned to both the Northeast and Southeast Patrol Divisions.

Sources told WFAA that some officers from the southeast substation often work at the northeast substation and it is possible the troublesome insects may have hitchhiked there.

It's also possible that as many as a dozen squad cars are impacted, the same sources reported.

However, the department told WFAA that only one car is being treated for bed bugs.

The source of the bed bugs is unknown at this time.

"The health and welfare of our officers are of the highest priority. Therefore, we will continue to monitor this situation and address the needs accordingly," Sgt. Warren Mitchell said in a statement.

Dallas Police Association Mike Mata followed up with a statement:

"It has come to our attention that our Southeast patrol division has had an occurrence of bed bugs, that has now carried over on a smaller scale to the Northeast division. We appreciate that the Dallas Police Department has taken this event seriously and has hired professionals to prevent any further occurrences. Hopefully, this quick action will limit the reduction in the availability of patrol vehicles being affected."

Don Brooks, the owner of Doffdon Pest Control, told WFAA that it's not uncommon for first responders to encounter bed bugs on the job.

"We're called to clean jail cells and ambulances all the time," Brooks said.

Mata told WFAA that he'd never dealt with an issue like this before and that a number of officers called him expressing concern.

Brooks said those officers had a right to be fearful.

"All it takes is a single bed bug, a pregnant female, to hitchhike a ride home and you could have a big problem," Brooks said.

"And it's the gift that keeps giving, so if you don't solve the problem, you'll never get rid of it."

Per Orkin in 2019, Dallas-Fort Worth ranked No. 10 on its list of "Top 50 Bed Bug Cities."

Baltimore ranked number one.

In a Terminix ranking last year, Dallas-Fort Worth was ranked third.

Original post:
Some Dallas officers are fighting both crime and bed bugs on the job - WFAA.com