New England Bed Bug Forum

LINCOLN (KPTM)- University of Nebraska officials have found bed bugs in about 35 campus dorm rooms at UNL.

The university is relying on bug sniffing dog to help find and get rid of a growing problem. Spots the dog is helping sniff out the problem. Monday the university shared some video of Spots at work.

“Spots can basically walk by a piece of furniture and with in two to three feet. If the scent of a bed bug is there he can detect it,” James Pelowski said. Pelowski helps spot in the bed bug detection process.

Spots is a rat terrier that has a 95% accuracy rate detecting bed bugs. “That is the best that any drug dog, bomb dog or bed bug dog comes out of the academy at.”

Pelowski said what makes spots so valuable is that a human is only 50% accurate. “Through a dorm room or any place you have to go item through item through item, it’s almost virtually impossible without a dog.”

Once bed bugs are found cleaning crews install heating units in the room to bring the temperature up to between 130 and 140 degrees. At 140 degrees a room is locked down for about four hours.

After the cleaning crew tears down its equipment, Spots does one final sweep. University officials said they plan on bringing in two more bug sniffing dogs next week. They hope to have every dorm checked by the end of the month.

Bed bugs are a growing problem. People can unwittingly get them at work, on vacation, at the movies, in their place of business, or in retail stores.

Added to the aggravation, irritation of the bites and social stigma of having a bed bug infestation in one’s home is the cost of treatment and the use of chemicals.

Traditional methods of bed bug treatments cost thousands of dollars and there’s no guarantee the maddening pests won’t return.

But one chemical-free method of treatment is giving people new hope.

The process is called thermal remediation, which uses intense heat to kills the blood-sucking bugs with chemical free treatments.

This heat treating of your home or business, if done correctly using oil heat instead of propane, can also be a green alternative.

Temperature up to 134 degrees is needed for an extended period of time in order to effectively kill bed bugs.

The insecticides currently being used to kill the bugs can take up to three treatments to be effective, and the process involves packing, bagging and sterilizing everything in the home, as well as tossing out infested clothing and mattresses.

Complicating matters even more, bedbugs are developing a resistance to some of the chemicals being used to treat infestations, research has shown.

This heat treatment is among several avenues being explored by the pest control industry to battle the resurgence of hardy critters, which many theorize is due in part to the ease and frequency of international travel.

Heat treating a home or business is an affective way to kill all manner of bugs and insects, not only bed bugs.

Chances are, you or someone you know has had a run-in with bed bugs. It might have happened in a scrupulously clean bedroom. Or maybe it was a hotel room, office or college dorm. In the February issue of Scientific American entomologist Kenneth Haynes of the University of Kentucky explains how, after a lengthy absence, bed bugs are staging a comeback. The good news is scientists are intensively studying these insects, and their insights suggest novel ways of detecting the bugs and eradicating infestations. Some of those potential solutions are a long way off, however. In the meantime the best bet is to avoid bringing bed bugs home in the first place.

Do bed bugs only feed on humans?

No. Bed bugs are also pests in poultry operations, and they’re known to drink the blood of bats. Some labs that study bed bugs rear them on guinea pigs and mice. The bugs might feed on cats and dogs. Fur is probably a barrier to them, but they could feed at any place on the body without fur. Bed bugs are not specific to humans, but they are adapted to parasitizing us.

Could you have a bed bug infestation in your home and not know it?

That’s very possible. I have heard of couples reporting that only one partner is getting bitten. The truth is that both are getting bitten, but only one has a reaction to the bites. Thirty percent of people or more don’t react to bed bug bites at all, and the elderly are less reactive than the rest of the population. Among those people who do react to the bites, most of them don’t respond to early bites, but develop a sensitivity to subsequent ones. Those individuals who are not sensitive to bed bug bites may not know they have an infestation. Because bed bugs are nocturnally active, it’s hard to see other signs of their presence—unless you’re accustomed to waking up at 3 A.M. and taking a census. With a huge infestation, bed bugs start to move away from the bed, so you’re more likely to see one in an exposed place during the day. In very severe infestations people can become anemic. That takes a lot of bugs though—maybe 100,000 feeding once a week or more.

Another clue to infestation is odor. Like many species of bugs, bed bugs release odors called alarm pheromones. When a group of bed bugs gets disturbed, you may get a whiff of that odor, which is similar to the odor stink bugs give off. At higher concentrations the odor is unpleasant. Some people say at low concentrations it’s a pleasant smell—like coriander. In fact, older literature refers to the bed bug as the coriander bug. I’ve tried to smell the coriander scent in bed bug alarm pheromones and have not been able to make the connection, however.

What can one do to avoid getting bed bugs?
The first thing is you have to be able to recognize and distinguish a bed bug from any other insect. Everything starts to look like a bed bug if you start to worry about them. An adult bed bug is about the size and shape of an apple seed. If it has not fed recently it will be flattened and brown. If it has fed it will be round in circumference and reddish. Immature bed bugs have a similar appearance to adults, with the smallest being the size of the head of a pin. You can then learn to look for their fecal spots, which can be easier to detect than the bugs themselves. Check your hotel rooms when you travel. And think twice before bringing home used furniture. If you are purchasing used furniture, ask the furniture store how they deal with bed bugs. If they have no plan whatsoever, that’s probably not a good sign. If you purchase used clothing, put it through a clothes dryer on a medium to high setting for a cycle as soon as you bring it home. And before you move into an apartment, ask the landlord whether there has been a bed bug infestation, or whether the building has ever been treated for bed bugs.

Bed bugs impact mattress donations In Connecticut

According to WTNH bed bugs are causing donation centers in Connecticut to rethink how they handle used mattress donations.

Gales Ferry, Conn. (WTNH) – The Wuestoff’s have been running the Furniture Bank of Southeastern Connecticut for 20 years. It’s a labor of love, which is facing more challenges thanks to a recent rise in some blood sucking little creatures called bed bugs.

“We’ve been the volunteers in charge of this since ‘82 and this is the first time we’ve had a problem with bed bugs,” said Karen Wuesthoff, “starting about last year.”

Karen says about one in every dozen or so bed requests are because of bed bugs.

“Not only have we had more requests from people who have lost things to bed bugs,” Karen said, “but we’re having trouble accepting used bedding now because of the bed bugs, so we have to buy most of them now.”

And that’s costing them a lot more, which is why they are counting on grants and donations from banks and other businesses even more.

“Thirty to 50 donated beds,” Mike Wuesthoff said, “and now we have to buy those so we’re paying about $200 a piece for them so figure that out.

The Uncas Health hopes to prevent the problem by encouraging people not to buy a used mattress or pick up one along a street without inspecting it first.

“Very often furniture ends up on a street corner for a reason,” said Patrick McCormack, Uncas Health District.

If you do have bed bugs, you need more than a new mattress. You may need to call a professional bed bug control agent.

“It can take several treatments and different types depending what the level of the problem is,” McCormack said, “and very often it’s very difficult to identify the source.”

The one thing the Wuestoff’s don’t have to buy anymore are mattress protectors and that’s because they used to give them out with their used mattresses, which will no longer be available.

A way to alleviate costs and save some donated mattresses would be to use a mobile insect heating unit, where you put the bed bug infested mattresses in and cook the nasty critters.

Unlike harmful chemicals, or even cold water, heat can penetrate the surfaces of objects with ease, thus killing bed bugs that are hidden deep within mattresses and other furniture.

With cold weather temperatures dropping and expected to hit the North-East, including New York and Connecticut harder in the coming weeks, people will likely have to continue to battle bed bugs through the winter, experts say, when most other insects are halted by the cold, bed bugs still thrive.

Bed Bugs are a domesticated insect, whereas they live inside and spend very little time outside.  The cold temperatures of winter have little affect on bed bugs when they are residing in a heated home or business.

Although both extreme heat and cold can be used to rid homes and businesses of bedbugs, heated dwellings will offer plenty of shelter to bedbugs as the seasons shift.

How Infestations Originate

It often seems that bed bugs arise from nowhere. The bugs are efficient hitchhikers and are usually transported in on luggage, clothing, beds, furniture, and other items. This is a particular problem for hotels, motels and apartments, where turnover of occupants is constant. Bed bugs are small, cryptic and agile, escaping detection after crawling into suitcases, boxes and belongings. The eggs are especially tiny and are usually overlooked. Acquiring secondhand beds, couches and furniture is another way that the bugs are transported into previously non-infested dwellings. Bed bugs also can be carried in on a person’s clothing or shoes, resulting in an infestation.

Once bed bugs are introduced, they often spread throughout a building. The bugs can travel from room to room or floor to floor either by crawling or via a person. Unlike cockroaches that feed on filth, the level of cleanliness has little to do with most bed bug infestations. Pristine homes, hotels and apartments have plenty of hiding places and an abundance of warm-blooded hosts. Thus, they are almost as vulnerable to infestation as are places of squalor, and it doesn’t matter what the temperature is outside.

Think about it, when it is cold outside the bed bugs have a nice, comfortable place to stay in your heated home or business.  They also have a good food supply – meaning your blood.

If you think you have a bed bug problem this winter in your home or business the best thing to do is contact a licensed and insured bed bug professional.

Trying to get rid of your bed bug infestation yourself can be dangerous, especially if you are chasing these nasty little parasites around with a cigarette lighter.

We understand how having a bed bug problem can cause severe emotional and physiological issues and that seems what happened to a man in Kalamazoo, Michigan last Thursday when he tried to fend off bed bugs but ended up setting his apartment on fire.

Based on the report, the bed bug fire happened in the second-floor of the Fox Ridge Apartments in 1400 Alamo Hills Dr. in Kalamazoo. It started when a tenant found bed bugs and tried to chase them away with a cigarette lighter. It’s said that he admitted to starting the fire and tried to use the extinguisher but was overwhelmed by the smoke and evacuated.

Members of the Kalamazoo Department for Public Safety were dispatched to the area at 6:35 pm. It took them about 15 minutes to extinguish the flames which were fortunately was contained to a bedroom

“Bed bugs are some of the worse pests that anyone can ever get. With all the negative things that they can bring, you can’t really blame others for trying so hard and even spending too much just to get rid of them.”

“Unfortunately, there are some who get into more trouble while eliminating bed bugs than what these parasites can actually give. Take, for example, the recently reported man from Fox Ridge Apartments in Kalamazoo Michigan who had set his apartment ablaze while trying to kill bed bugs.”

“According to the report, the fire started when the man used a cigarette lighter in his attempt to fend off bed bugs. Good thing that the fire was contained in the bedroom and that it only sustained burn, smoke and water damage.”

“The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety said to have extinguished the flames in 15 minutes.”

Bed bugs are one of the only animals on our planet known to get stronger by inbreeding.  A recent study has come to terms that bed bugs are fighting back against us humans by inbreeding.

New research on the bed bug’s ability to withstand the genetic bottleneck of inbreeding, recently announced at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) annual meeting, provides new clues to explain the rapidly growing problem of bed bugs across the United States and globally. After mostly disappearing in the US in the 1950s, the common bed bug (Cimex lectularius) has reappeared with a vengeance over the past decade. These stubborn pests have developed a resistance to the insecticides, known as pyrethroids, commonly used against them.

One of the newly discovered factors that appears to be contributing to the bed bugs’ effective infestation is their ability to establish new infestations through inbreeding. Coby Schal, PhD, and Ed Vargo, PhD, both entomologists at North Carolina State University (NCSU), and colleagues carried out two studies now under peer-review examining the genetics of bed bugs from three multi-story apartment buildings in North Carolina and New Jersey, and determined that there were high levels of relatedness within each apartment and very low genetic diversity within each building, indicating that infestations start from just one or two introductions of the insect. Being able to withstand a very high level of inbreeding — i.e., still produce healthy offspring — allows the bed bug infestation to expand to other apartments within the building.

Another study by this team confirmed this same conclusion based on a study of 21 bed bug infestations from Maine to Florida in the US, nearly all of which came from single rooms within homes. “Inbreeding gives bed bugs an advantage in being able to colonize,” said Schal. “A single female that has been mated is able to colonize and start a new infestation. Her progeny and brothers and sisters can then mate with each other, exponentially expanding the population. With many organisms, extensive inbreeding would cause serious mutations that would eventually bring about an end to the population.” He also noted that cockroach populations are also able to survive inbreeding.

A major strategic advantage that we might want to explore in this bed bug fight, and it may seem unproductive at this time, but may pay a huge benifit in the future is to introduce female bed bugs into the mix that do not have a resistance to any chemicals.  This would, in theory, create colonies of bed bugs that do not have any resistance to our extermination procedures or chemicals.

Until then, there is really only one proven and effective way to kill bed bugs and that is heat.

Bed bugs invade Tampa fire station: MyFoxTAMPABAY.com

Bed Bugs have invaded another firehouse, this time in Tampa, Florida.  Bed bugs have been spreading all around the US, invading homes, businesses, government buildings, and firehouses.  Makes you think why are bed bugs invading these fire houses?  Well one simple explanation is that when fire fighters go to a call in which a house is on fire the heat from the fire causes the bed bugs to come out and find a means of escape.  Bed bugs can easily develop resistance against pesticides, such as DDT but this is not possible against heat.  Heat, especially from a fire is a bed bugs worst enemy.

My thinking is that the bed bugs can feel the heat from the fire and escape on the first human body that is around.  That being a firefighter or his equipment.  Fire fighters need to be ever vigilant when going out on a call that they take precautions on returning to the fire station.

Fire fighters should launder their clothes before or as soon as these items are brought back into the fire station.  All equipment should be stored in a central location where it can be cleaned and inspected for bed bugs.  If bed bugs are present, any equipment that can be treated with heat should be done at this time.  Any equipment that is heat sensitive or can not fit into a heating chamber or dryer should be wiped down with rubbing alchohol.

SEATTLE — The mere mention of the Internal Revenue Service is enough to make most people squirm, but now some of the agency’s own employees are feeling queasy after discovering bedbugs in their office.

An IRS worker first spotted a single bedbug at the Seattle office in October. An exterminator trapped a second bug, and that was enough for IRS officials to send in the hounds.

Exterminators use dogs trained to sniff out the insects, and the dog who canvassed the IRS offices didn’t find any more bugs.

Exterminator Grant Gummow didn’t help with the IRS case, but he suspects the bedbugs discovered in the Federal Building hitched a ride to work from an employee’s home.

“You have your purse next to your bed, or a bag. The bedbugs crawl into the bag, you carry it and have bedbugs at work,” Gummow said.

It’s never easy finding bedbugs, and Gummow said that because office chairs are perfect hiding spaces for the insects, finding them in a large office building can be even more difficult.

An IRS employee anonymously complained about seeing another bedbug several weeks ago, but agency officials say no more bugs have been found at the office.

They say they’ll continue to monitor the situation.

Here is a story about taxpayer money being wasted because pest control operatives and doctors misdiagnosed a rampant bed bug infestation in a Tennessee emergency management center, closing the building, and leaving the emergency responders sleeping on cots for a week.

LEBANON, Tenn. – Pest control crews have been working to clear a bed bug infestation from the Wilson County Emergency Management Agency’s Station.

About a week ago, officials at WEMA realized bed bugs were biting employees as they slept. For five nights, employees had to sleep on cots in the training center across the street.

At first pest control companies thought Station One’s bunk was infested with fleas, and at one point, doctors treated employees for shingles before realizing bed bugs were the problem.

For one thing, flea bites look nothing like bed bug bites and for another if my doctor told me I had shingles, when in fact it was bed bug bites, I would be shopping around for a new doctor.

On Monday, a company pumped hot air into the station to kill the bed bugs.

This rampant bed bug infestation caused sleep deprivation for the emergency responders, one thing that is highly needed in this job.

“They have to be ready to go at any time. What little sleep they do get, they can’t be deprived of it, so we need to get these bugs out of here and make sure they rest calmly when they come in from a job,” said an official.

Employees were told they would be able to return to Station One today.

The town of Lebanon, Tennessee could have saved a lot of time, aggravation, and money had they called in a canine bed bug inspection team. Not only would they have been able to quickly and efficiently been able to verify the bed bug problem, they would have been able to pinpoint it. The pinpointing of the bed bug infestation in the station house would have allowed them to target bed bug infested areas instead of super-heating the whole building, which can be very costly.