Category Archives: Bed Bugs Washington

NANTICOKE Officials at the Nanticoke School District say that, despite rumors circulating among parents, there is no bedbug infestation at the high school.

The Times Leader received several tips about a potential infestation at the Greater Nanticoke Area High School.

Officials, however, maintain that only a single bedbug was found inside the building.

Building and Grounds Director Frank Grevera said an insect was found in a classroom on Tuesday. It was taken away, and determined to be a bedbug.

An exterminator came to the school at 5 p.m. Tuesday and sprayed the room. Grevera added that as a precaution, desks and all areas within the room were also sprayed.

When asked if there was an infestation, Grevera replied absolutely not.

We didnt even see one of them from that point, he said. It was not known how the bedbug made it into the school. It could have come from absolutely anybody. We have no idea where it came from.

Grevera stressed that bedbugs have not been reported in any other classrooms in the high school.

Rich Colwell, owner of Colwell Termite & Pest Control in Wilkes-Barre, said the sighting of one bedbug is not reason for concern.

Finding one sporadically and not finding anything else is no reason for concern whatsoever, he said. It could be a reason to start monitoring, but that would be about it.

In a voice note sent to parents Wednesday, superintendent Ronald Grevera cited posts on social media that have caused a lot of havoc and problems at the high school as a result of the incident.

There is no need for concern, and there is no reason for parents to pull kids out of school this afternoon (Wednesday) contrary to many of the text messages and phone calls they may be getting from students, Grevera said in the note.

A bed bug is displayed at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington. (AP file photo)

http://timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/web1_AP_1103300118846-4.jpgA bed bug is displayed at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington. (AP file photo)

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Times Leader | Officials: No bedbug infestation at Nanticoke High ... - Wilkes Barre Times-Leader

(Newser) A truly horrifying story out of Hanover, Pa., where a 96-year-old woman died last February due to complications from sepsis that arose after a bed bug infestation. Mary Stoner's caretaker, Deborah Butler, has now been charged in Stoner's death, the Evening Sun reports. Butler, 72, once ran a licensed home care facility; when she shut it down, Stoner and another elderly woman started living with Butler at Butler's own home and paying Butler as their caretaker. Stoner's family noticed her health declining on Feb. 3, 2016, and moved her out of Butler's home; three days later, they brought her to the ER, where she was found to have sores on her skin, a bad rash covering about half of her body, and a skin infection that doctors determined was caused by bed bug bites. She was discharged a week later, readmitted with pneumonia, and ultimately died Feb. 22, 2016, the York Dispatch reports. She had been in Butler's care for more than 10 years.

When police visited Butler's home, they saw bed bugs on walls, ledges, bed sheets, and pillows; the other elderly resident of the home told officers she was blind but could "feel them crawling" and biting her, and police saw bed bugs crawling on Butler's then-48-year-old sister, who has developmental disabilities and also lived in the home. Butler told police she blamed Stoner for bringing in the bugs, and said she had been using store-bought supplies to try and get rid of them since Sept. 2015 because she could not afford an exterminator. She also said she had brought Stoner to the doctor in January 2016 because she had been sick and scratching her neck, but didn't bring her back because she didn't think Stoner's condition had changed. Police, however, said it was "clearly visible and obvious" that Stoner needed serious medical help. Butler faces a felony neglect charge and a misdemeanor charge of involuntary manslaughter. (Chemicals are failing us in the fight against bedbugs.)

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Caretaker Charged in Woman's Bedbug Death - Newser

Isabel Strachan, WUSA 4:00 PM. EST February 07, 2017

WASHINGTON (WUSA9) - Bed bugs are the last thing you want to see as you doze off to sleep at night.

Here are five facts to help identify and prevent the creatures from taking over your personal space, according to the CDC:

Bed bugsare small, flat, parasitic insects that feed solely on the blood of people and animals while they sleep. Bed bugs are reddish-brown in color, wingless, and range in size from 1mm to 7mm.

Bed bugs have been shown to be able to travel over 100 feet in a night but tend to live within eight feet of where people sleep.

Bed bugs are not considered to be dangerous. Bite responses can range from an absence of any physical signs of the bite, to a small bite mark, to a serious allergic reaction.

Bed bugs are experts at hiding and traveling - their slim flat bodies allow them to fit into the smallest of spaces and stay there for long periods of time, even without a blood meal.

If you suspect that you have a bed bug infestation, it is best to contact a professional pest control company or your landlord. Additionally, it is important to wash all linens, clothing and other surfaces where the bugs might be hiding.

( 2017 WUSA)

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5 facts you should know about bedbugs - WCNC.com

The first thing is: Don't panic. If you have bed bugs in your home and not fleas or ticks or something else, you can treat them. But it can be a real hassle.

Bruce Leshan, WUSA 6:47 PM. EST February 06, 2017

WASHINGTON (WUSA9) - If you have bed bugs in your home, and not fleas or ticks or something else, you can treat them, but it can be a real hassle.

The EPA says bed bugs have developed resistance to a lot of pesticides, so reaching for a spray can may not work. Heat and cold are among the best ways to deal with them. Bed bugs infest things, not people. They're great hitchhikers, and will jump on luggage and backpacks to get around.

Deal with them first by cleaning up the clutter in your home. Encase your mattresses in a special bed bug cover. Regularly wash and dry your clothes, your sheets, your blankets and bedspreads, anything that touches the ground.

Bed bugs die anytime their body temperature gets over 113 degrees, so you need a hot dryer. For book bags and lunch boxes, an expert at Terminix says you can try and freeze the bugs to death, but not every home freezer may get cold enough for long enough to kill them.

Terminix uses a commercial rapid freeze process -- and birth control, if you can believe that. Thorough vacuuming can get rid of some of your bed bugs, but they cement some of their eggs to fabric and the floor... so the vacuum is unlikely to get all of them. If your home or your school is infested, the EPA says you may need to hire a professional to help. The agency again says you don't want one that just sprays a bunch of chemicals around your home. You're looking for something called "integrated pest management" that uses heat and cold and less toxic means to control them.

The experts say if you're throwing out mattresses or furniture to get rid of bed bugs, you need to slash or destroy it in some way -- so someone else doesn't take it home and get infested.

( 2017 WUSA)

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How to get rid of bed bugs | WUSA9.com - WUSA9.com

Good rule of thumb? Put your luggage in the bathtub when you check in.

After a day of travel, many of us, upon arrival to a hotel room, will deposit our luggage on a luggage rack and flop onto the bed. And while this may be the most convenientand comfortableseries of events, it's also the riskiest. The reason? These locales are prime real estate for bed bugs.

Small insects that feed on human and animal blood, bed bugs lay hundreds of eggs that are hard to spoteach is no larger than a speck of dust. The statistics are somewhat terrifying: According to a recent survey, hotels and motels are the third most popular popular place pest professionals encounter bed bugs. Once inside a hotel, bed bugs are easily able to spread from room to room through a number of means including pipes, wall sockets, vacuum cleaners, on clothing, and luggage. Given that adult bed bugs can survive several months without eating, they are often incredibly hard to control.

In recent months, bed bugs have been on the rise across the country. A 2015 Bugs Without Borders study found that bed bug treatments are significantly higher nationwide than 15 years ago , and New York City hotels alone saw a 44 percent increase for January of this year compared to 2015even at five-star hotels.

To minimize your risk of contact with bed bugs at a hotel, experts say you should first place your luggage in the bathtuba slippery surface that is difficult for the bugs to cling onto. Continue inspecting your room by examining the bed: check its mattress, piping, and headboard, and pull up the comforters and look for small black dots that resemble ground pepper . See anything suspicious? Speak up, and contact hotel staff immediately.

Plus: Vote for your favorite hotels, cities, airlines and more in the 2016 Readers Choice Awards survey .

Excerpt from:
Bed Bugs in Hotel Rooms Are On the Rise. - Cond Nast Traveler