Category Archives: Bed Bugs Hawaii

It was only a matter of time. Lately newspapers have been filled with stories about the return of bed bugs, those nocturnal bloodsuckers that most of us had previously encountered only in our parents' nightly admonition to not let them bite. I grew up thinking that they weren't even real, just something adults made up along the lines of the bogeyman, monsters, and the tooth fairy. But they are indeed real, and they were once common in the U.S., until as nearly every contemporary article about their resurgence points out they were eliminated by the use of DDT just after WWII. So it was only a matter of time before people started blaming the current resurgence of bed bugs on EPA's ban on DDT.

Luckily, this erroneous claim has until recently been confined to anti-environmentalist authors on the fringes of the right-wing those same folks who spread doubt about global warming and the health effects of toxic chemicals, many of whom also used to deny the harms of smoking. I'm thinking in particular about a column that appeared a month ago in the New York Post by Paul Driessen and a July 29th "Dispatch" on the American Council on Science and Health's website.

According to ACSH's Executive Director Dr. Gilbert Ross,

The resurgence of bed bugs ... can be at least partially attributed to the prohibition of DDT and other highly effective pesticides. Unfortunately, because of the draconian restrictions instituted against use of the pesticides due to superstition and chemophobia bedbugs now have the upper foreleg here.

Driessen opines that:

New Yorkers want real solutions [to bed bugs], including affordable insecticides that work. Fear and loathing from decades of chemophobic indoctrination are slowly giving way to a healthy renewed recognition that the risk of not using chemicals can be greater than the risk of using them (carefully). Eco-myths are being replaced with more informed discussions about the alleged effects of DDT and other pesticides on humans and wildlife.

... and then spends the rest of the column railing against the EPA's ban on DDT. While he stops short of explicitly blaming the DDT ban for the resurgence of bed bugs, it's strongly implied throughout the column.

There are a couple big problems with this narrative. One is that DDT was banned in the U.S. in 1972, but it wasn't until just a few years ago that bed bugs returned to our shores. Thirty years is an awfully long lag time. Another is that bed bugs still plague many parts of the world where homes are still sprayed with DDT for malaria control.

But what's most problematic is that bed bugs are resistant to DDT. So even if exterminators could have been using it all this time, it wouldn't have done anyone any good.

As early as 1948 DDT-resistant bed bugs were noted in Hawaii, and a 1958 paper in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization found resistance in bed bugs collected from sites around the world. A few years later, as documented in an excellent post at New York vs Bed Bugs, the U.S. Army Environmental Hygiene Agency Medical Entomology Division was noting DDT-resistance emerging elsewhere in the U.S., and by 1982 the World Health Organization was reporting that bed bugs were resistant to DDT "almost everywhere." An EPA/CDC joint statement notes that bedbugs were "widely resistant" by the mid 1950's 15 to 20 years before the EPA banned domestic DDT use.

See the original post here:
DDT for bed bugs? | Pesticide Action Network

Sheila Sarhangi

Put largely out of mind since the 1950s, bedbugs have returned to our lives, with a vengeance. The creepy crawlers that survive off the blood of humans have made an aggressive comeback across the United States, infesting homes and even making an appearance in the basement of the Empire State Building in August.

Hawaii isnt immune to the pest, either. Cliff Nakamura, branch manager for Orkin Commercial Services in Hawaii, says theyve discovered bedbugs on Oahu, Kauai, Maui and the Big Island, in dormitories, medical facilities, hotels, motels, apartments, condos and single-family homes. Its an increasing situation, says Nakamura. In 2009, our requests for bedbug inspections and treatment doubled that of 2008. This year, the company expects another 100-percent increase in requests.

Bedbugs practically vanished from the United States in the 1950s through the use of DDT and other pesticides. (The chemical was banned in 1972 for its effects on the environment and potential harm to humans.) The resurgence has been blamed on their resistance to many common pesticides, as well as increased international travel.

Bedbugs are excellent hitchhikers. They crawl inside personal belongings, such as luggage, and can travel on clothing, which means people bring them into their homes unknowingly. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the bloodsuckers tend to stay within eight feet of their hosts bed, and can live for several months without a meal. Although bedbugs can be seen with the naked eye, theyre able to tuck themselves into bed frames, mattresses, behind torn wallpaper, or in tiny cracks and crevices that easily accommodate their small, flat bodies. After youre bitten, you may not know it; it can take 14 days for a bite mark to show up.

Since the pest isnt known to transmit disease, the Hawaii State Department of Health doesnt consider bedbugs a public-health risk. Bedbug infestations, however, are difficult to control. Short of shutting down all domestic and international travel, conducting detailed searches of all luggage on all arrivals and departures, and reinstating the use of strong pesticides, there is no effective way to impede the spread of bedbug infestation, says Rex Mitsunaga, chief of the departments sanitation branch. If a bedbug problem is suspected in a business or facility regulated by the department, such as a food establishment or medical facility, Mitsunaga says his department conducts an inspection.

The topic isnt a favorite with Hawaiis hotel industry. Websites like the Bedbug Registry, a free public database of bedbug sightings in the United States and Canada, makes reports of bedbug experiences available. Maciej Ceglowski started the site in 2006, after being bitten in a San Francisco hotel. Although the posts are unverified, and can be submitted anonymously, the site has experienced an increase in traffic and posts by a factor of five in recent months, says Ceglowski. A search for hotels and apartment buildings in Hawaii reveals 24 reports, almost all on Oahu.

Charles Kelley, M.D., vice president of Outrigger Enterprises, says he has taken a proactive approach on the issue since the early 90s: We have the ability to find them and get rid of them way before they become an issue with our guests. Their plan includes staff training and scheduled days when housekeeping conducts bedbug searches.

The perception that bedbugs can only be found in dirty places is a common myth. Sanitation has no influence, explains Nakamura. They can be found in a one-star hotel or five-star hotel. His advice if you have the critters? Call a professional.

See the original post here:
Bedbugs in Hawaii - Honolulu Magazine - October 2010 - Hawaii

In research performed by the University of Florida, NESDCA-certified canines averaged a 98% accuracy rate in detecting the odor of live bed bugs and viable eggs in a controlled hotel room experiment. Human visual inspections are estimated to be only 17 to 30% accurate.

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Bed bugs can hide under carpets, in baseboards, inside mattresses and box springs, in electronics, and behind walls--areas that are virtually impossible for a human to inspect without dismantling the room's contents.

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Read this article:
bed bug hawaii, bed bugs hawaii,bed bug dog, bedbug dog,bed ...

Reports of bed bugs in Honolulu, and the rest of United States are increasing. We are currently monitoring the internet for reports of bed bugs in Honolulu hotels to help you identify which Honolulu hotels have bedbugs. Each Honolulu hotel has at least one mention of bedbugs in the last 12 months. Please take into account that individual reports of bedbugs in Honolulu hotels have not been confirmed by an independent third party. Below is the bed bugs hotel list for the city of Honolulu.

We bring you up to the minute information and reports about bed bug incidents in Honolulu hotels & motels from all over the web. If you had any recent bed bug encounters, please share it with the rest of raveable community by submitting a bed bug report.

When we came back from dinner we found a bed bug on the white sheets and a second one in the bathroom.

Queen Kapiolani Hotel

I'm glad I didn't know anything about the bed bug situation and fortunately didn't experience it.

My friend and I presented the hotel staffer with the captured bed bug and showed him my bites, but received no apology or indeed any response.

DoubleTree by Hilton Alana Hotel Waikiki

Aston Pacific Monarch

Four days left in vacation and our friends in Room 2905 had a bed bug infestation.

Major bedbug problem

The rest is here:
Reports of Bed Bugs in Honolulu Hotels - Honolulu, Hawaii ...

by nobugsonme on September 30, 2009 8 comments

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by nobugsonme on November 25, 2008 3 comments

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by nobugsonme on May 5, 2008 2 comments

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by nobugsonme on March 28, 2008 3 comments

in bed bugs, bed bugs at work, bed bugs in the workplace, bedbugs, correctional, Halawa, hawaii, prison, prisons and bed bugs, worker's compensation

by bedbugger on November 26, 2007 3 comments

in affordable housing, bed bugs, bedbugs, eviction, furniture, hawaii, housing project, kamehameha, low-income housing, multi-unit buildings, tenant evicted for refusing bed bug treatment, tenants, usa

Read the rest here:
hawaii — Got bed bugs? Bedbugger.com