Housing authority: Five Monaca apartments treated for bed bugs

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MONACA -- After Joyce Townsend saw bed bugs on a mattress in a Dumpster, she told other neighbors -- eager for free furniture -- not to take anything, she said.

They quickly backed away, she recalled.

A four-story building for the Housing Authority of the County of Beaver, Monacatootha Apartments, had five units treated for bed bugs in the last month and a half, the authoritys assistant executive director, Brian Yaworsky, said.

In our region, were starting to see more instances of bed bugs, Yaworksy said. Say a decade ago, that wasnt an issue. Its just something now thats becoming more prevalent.

Bed bugs, small wingless insects that feed on the blood of warm-blooded animals, typically seek out hosts at night to painlessly sip a few drops of blood, according to the Allegheny County Health Department.

Those living in multifamily housing can be particularly vulnerable. The bugs can wander through walls and holes where wires and pipes are, according to http://www.achd.net/pr/bedbug.html, an Allegheny County web page that describes how people can address the problem.

Bill Todaro, a medical entomologist for the Allegheny County Health Department, said people often dont realize they have bed bugs because bites may not appear until several weeks or even a month later. So people might first think a mosquito or other insect bit them and spend time going to a dermatologist to assess the problem.

But a simple precautionary measure is to place climb-up insect interceptor traps to determine if bed bugs are climbing frames of a bed, Todaro said.

Other problem areas include seams of chairs and couches, between cushions, folds of curtains, drawer joints, electrical receptacles, screw heads and several other areas, according to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency web page.

Across Beaver County, the housing authority has had other units affected in Beaver Falls and Aliquippa, but the total that needed treatments was less than 10 this year, Yaworsky said.

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Housing authority: Five Monaca apartments treated for bed bugs

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