Category Archives: Canada Bed Bugs

Saskatchewan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [+]

Saskatchewan (i/ssktwn/ or /ssktwn/) is a prairie province in Canada, which has a total area of 651,900 square kilometres (251,700sqmi) and a land area of 592,534 square kilometres (228,800sqmi), the remainder being water area (covered by lakes/ponds, reservoirs and rivers). Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by the Province of Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota. As of December 2013, the population of Saskatchewan was estimated at 1,114,170.[4] Residents primarily live in the southern half of the province. Of the total population, 257,300 live in the province's largest city, Saskatoon, while 210,000 live in the provincial capital, Regina. Other major cities include Prince Albert, Moose Jaw, Yorkton, Swift Current and North Battleford.[5]

Saskatchewan was first explored by Europeans in 1690 and settled in 1774, having also been inhabited for thousands of years by various indigenous groups. It became a province in 1905, its name derived from the Saskatchewan River. The river was known as kisiskciwani-spiy ("swift flowing river") in the Cree language.[6] In the early 20th century the province became known as a stronghold for Canadian democratic socialism. Tommy Douglas, who was premier from 1944 to 1961, became the first social-democratic politician to be elected in North America. The province's economy is based on agriculture, mining, and energy. Saskatchewan's current premier is Brad Wall and its lieutenant-governor is Vaughn Solomon Schofield.

"In 1992, the federal and provincial governments signed a historic land claim agreement with Saskatchewan First Nations."[7] The First Nations received compensation and were permitted to buy land on the open market for the tribes; they have acquired about 761,000 acres (3079 kilometres squared), now reserve lands. Some First Nations have used their settlement to invest in urban areas, including Saskatoon.[7]

As Saskatchewan's borders largely follow the geographic coordinates of longitude and latitude, the province is roughly a quadrilateral, or a shape with four sides. However the 49th parallel boundary and the 60th northern border appear curved on maps and globes. Additionally, the eastern boundary of the province is partially crooked rather than following a line of longitude, as correction lines were devised by surveyors prior to the homestead program (18801928).

Saskatchewan is part of the Western Provinces and is bounded on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the north-east by Nunavut, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the American states of Montana and North Dakota. Saskatchewan has the distinction of being the only Canadian province for which no borders correspond to physical geographic features (i.e. they are all parallels and meridians). Along with Alberta, Saskatchewan is one of only two provinces that are land-locked.

The overwhelming majority of Saskatchewan's population is located in the southern third of the province, south of the 53rd parallel.

Saskatchewan contains two major natural regions: the Canadian Shield in the north and the Interior Plains in the south. Northern Saskatchewan is mostly covered by boreal forest except for the Lake Athabasca Sand Dunes, the largest active sand dunes in the world north of 58, and adjacent to the southern shore of Lake Athabasca. Southern Saskatchewan contains another area with sand dunes known as the "Great Sand Hills" covering over 300 square kilometres (120sqmi). The Cypress Hills, located in the southwestern corner of Saskatchewan and Killdeer Badlands (Grasslands National Park), are areas of the province that remained unglaciated during the last glaciation period.

The province's highest point, at 1,392 metres (4,567ft), is located in the Cypress Hills less than 2 km from the provincial boundary with Alberta.[8] The lowest point is the shore of Lake Athabasca, at 213 metres (699ft). The province has 14 major drainage basins made up of various rivers and watersheds draining into the Arctic Ocean, Hudson Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.[9]

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Saskatchewan, Canada Bed Bug Registry Map Bed Bug ...

ATLANTA, Jan. 21, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --Chicago tops the 2014 Bed Bug Cities List for the third year in a row. The list, released by pest control leader Orkin, ranks the cities by the number of bed bug treatments Orkin performed from January to December 2014. Bed bugs were in the news throughout 2014 in the Windy City, with reports of the blood-sucking insects on public transit and inside several downtown office buildings, as well as in police headquarters, a fire station, school, library and movie theater.

"Bed bugs are a serious issue across the country, and they're very difficult to control," said Orkin Entomologist and Technical Services Director Ron Harrison, Ph.D. "Bed bugs are not limited to any level of cleanliness or income, which means they can be found in any home or hotel. They're great hitchhikers, and people often bring them inside on their clothes or in their luggage."

Seven cities made double-digit jumps on Orkin's Bed Bug Cities List compared to 2013, including Omaha, Neb. (+16), Lexington, Ky. (+16), Sacramento, Calif. (+14), Grand Rapids, Mich. (+13), Buffalo, N.Y. (+12), Charleston, W.Va. (+11) and Louisville, Ky. (+10). Several cities also dropped significantly in the past year, including Syracuse, N.Y., San Diego, Miami, Greenville, S.C. and Atlanta. Four cities made the Bed Bug Cities List for the first time including Myrtle Beach, S.C., St. Louis, Bowling Green, Ky. and Ft. Wayne, Ind.

Bed bugs are in every region of the country, and Orkin has treated for bed bugs in all 50 states. Rollins, Orkin's parent company, saw an 18 percent increase in bed bug revenue in 2014. The problem is growing nationwide as well. According to an annual report on the pest control industry, Americans spent $446 million to get rid of bed bugs in 2013, the latest data available, compared to $70 million in 2004.

While the cities above topped Orkin's list, homeowners, tenants and travelers across the country should take the following precautions to help prevent bed bugs:

At Home:

During travel, remember the acronym S.L.E.E.P. to inspect for bed bugs:

Bed bugs are not known to spread human disease like many other pests, but can leave itchy, bloody welts on skin, and they are active year-round. Because every bed bug scenario is different, it's important for homeowners to call a professional who can create a solution tailored to their home's needs.

About Orkin, LLCFounded in 1901, Atlanta-based Orkin is an industry leader in essential pest control services and protection against termite damage, rodents and insects. The company operates more than 400 locations with almost 8,000 employees. Using a proprietary, three-step approach, Orkin provides customized services to approximately 1.7 million homeowners and businesses in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, South America, Central America, the Middle East, the Caribbean, Asia, the Mediterranean and Africa. Orkin is committed to studying pest biology and applying scientifically proven methods. The company collaborates with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and eight major universities to conduct research and help educate consumers and businesses on pest-related health threats. Learn more about Orkin at http://orkin.com. Orkin is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rollins Inc. (NYSE: ROL).

About Rollins Rollins Inc. is a premier global consumer and commercial services company. Through its wholly owned subsidiaries, Orkin LLC, HomeTeam Pest Defense, Orkin Canada, Western Pest Services, The Industrial Fumigant Company, Trutech LLC, Rollins Australia, Waltham Services LLC, PermaTreat and Crane Pest Control, the company provides essential pest control services and protection against termite damage, rodents and insects to more than 2 million customers in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, South America, Central America, the Middle East, the Caribbean, Asia, the Mediterranean, Africa and Australia from more than 500 locations. You can learn more about our subsidiaries by visiting our web sites at http://orkin.com, http://pestdefense.com, http://orkincanada.ca, http://westernpest.com, http://indfumco.com, http://trutechinc.com, http://www.allpest.com.au/, http://walthamservices.com, http://www.permatreat.com, http://cranepestcontrol.com and http://rollins.com. You can also find this and other news releases at http://rollins.com by accessing the news releases button.

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Chicago Tops Bed Bug Cities List for Third Year in a Row

After years of study (and thousands of bites), researchers may have discovered how to get the bloodsucking pests under control.

Over-the-counter bedbug treatments, as a 2012 study discovered, are effectively worthless. Most of the time, they fail to reach the bugs, which are burrowed deep in the folds of mattresses and rugsand even when they do, many of the bloodsuckers have built up an immunity to common household insecticides.

So whats a person to do in the face of an infestation? Call an exterminator. Freak out. Fight, or give into, the urge to set fire to all belongings.

For the past five years, though, Regine Gries has done none of these things; instead, she has welcomed the bedbugsthousands of themonto her skin for a blood feast.

Gries, a biologist at Simon Fraser University in Canada, has endured 18,000 bug bites in the quest to build a more effective bedbug remedyand as she and a team of researchers explain in a paper recently published in the chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie, they believe theyve finally discovered the chemicals that will allow them to do just that.

Bed-Bug Madness: The Psychological Toll of the Blood Suckers

Bedbugs were considered more or less a non-problem through much of the later 20th century, kept at bay with strong pesticides. In recent years, though, bedbug infestationsand, consequently, bedbug hysteriahave made a comeback. (Scientists have also discovered that the bugs may carry the parasite that causes Chagas disease, though they have yet to study their ability to spread the disease itself.)

To study the blood-suckers, Gries and her husband Gerhard, also a biologist at Simon Fraser, collected the feces and other material the bugs left after each blood meal. (Gries was chosen as guinea pig because, unlike most people, she developed only a small, itch-free rash in response to the bites.) The couple was able to successfully isolate a blend of pheromones that attracted the bedbugs, but only in the labwhen they tested the chemical in infested apartments, it had no effect.

Together with Robert Britton, a chemist at Simon Fraser, the researchers tried to figure out what their cocktail was missing. Eventually, they discovered that histaminethe same substance used in human immune responsesacted as a kind of knockout for bedbugs, causing arrestment on contact regardless of when theyd last eaten. Together with five pheromones that the team had isolated, they were able to create a two-part chemical trap, first luring the bugs and then freezing them in place.

As the researchers work to turn their discovery into a marketable tool, though, the research continuesmeaning the bedbugs stay alive, and stay hungry. Im not too thrilled about this, Gries said in a statement.

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A Better Bedbug Trap

Right now, there's only one surefire way to know if you've got bed bugs -- and it itches like crazy. By the time you notice the lines of red, itching, burning bites, the bugs could have been multiplying in your mattress for days or even weeks. But researchers in Canada have a plan to catch the critters early and make it easier to stop an infestation from spreading.

A team of biologists and chemists at Simon Fraser University have identified for the first time a chemical scent that will lure bed bugs out of furniture and into traps. They published their research on the attractive pheromones in the chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie.

"The biggest challenge in dealing with bed bugs is to detect the infestation at an early stage," said Gerhard Gries, one of the biologists who has spent years on the project. "This trap will help landlords, tenants, and pest-control professionals determine whether premises have a bed bug problem, so that they can treat it quickly. It will also be useful for monitoring the treatment's effectiveness."

Bed bugs were largely eradicated ages ago, but in the last decade they have reemerged in plague-like proportions around the world. Cities across the U.S. have seen infestations in homes, hotels, movie theaters and designer stores.

And once you've got bed bugs, they're very hard to get rid of -- but very easy to pass around. An effective trap could help control the spread.

"This isn't the first group to try to make a pheromone-laced bed bug trap, but it sounds like the SFU researchers have hit upon some promising compounds," said Brooke Borel, author of the upcoming book "Infested: How the Bed Bug Infiltrated Our Bedrooms and Took Over the World" (April 2015). "Still, a new trap -- no matter how well designed -- will not get rid of the bed bug problem. Traps are tools that let pest controllers know bed bugs are in a home, but that's about it. Traps won't clear a bed bug infestation. For actual treatments, we still have limited choices, and that will likely continue."

The SFU team has brought their fragrant cocktail to Contech, a Canadian manufacturer of eco-friendly pet and garden products. They hope to have a commercial lure ready for sale in 2015.

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Coming in 2015: The First Bed Bug Trap

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Mattress Covers | Buy Premium Bed Bug Proof Mattress ...