New England Bed Bug Forum

Bed bugs are a very emotional issue that can easily cause psychological problems for people. Even people that have no bed bug infestation but, have had one in the past can suffer from a kind of paranoia about bed bugs.

A bed bug infestation can cause anxiety, among other emotional and psychological issues for weeks, months, and even years, depending on the person and the severity of the insect infestation.

Shame and embarrassment are also common among bed bug sufferers, mostly because of social stigma against bed bugs and other insects. It is a misconception that bed bugs are the result of poor housekeeping, and although it is rare for someone to transport bed bugs on their clothing that they’re wearing, it does happen. Education about bed bugs among sufferers, friends, family, employers and property owners can help alleviate this stress.

Nervousness, jumpiness and experiencing phantom itching and sensations are also common when a person thinks about bed bugs.

There are several ways to cope with the stresses and emotional problems of a bed bug infestation.

If you are being bitten by bed bugs, there are several things you can do to relieve the extreme itchiness.

You may want to try a cortisone cream or poison ivy cream to alleviate the itchiness caused by bed bug bites

Another way to battle getting new bed bug bites and sleeplessness due to middle-of-the-night feedings is to sleep with as much of your body covered as possible, which can mean wearing pants tucked into socks and long-sleeved shirts tucked into pants in bed.

Some people choose to find other places to sleep, such as with friends or family or even a hotel, while combating bed bugs, in order to get more restful sleep. But remember, leaving a home vacant without treating the problem will not make it go away. You should call in a fully licensed and insured bed bug inspection team that can come up with a program, whether it be chemical treatments or thermal remediation, to get rid of the bed bugs. When searching for the right “bed bug guy” look for someone who is compassionate to what you are experiencing. In my experience in dealing with people that have bed bug problems half of the battle is calming them down and letting them know that I truly care about what the are going through.

Reaching out for emotional support is an important part of the healing process when it comes to having a bed bug problem. Shame and embarrassment can often keep people from seeking that kind of care from loved ones. Do your best to find trusted friends and family to get love and support during this difficult time. Once educated about bed bugs, you may find that the people who care about you are more than happy to help you through it, by listening to you and even helping with the cleaning and laundering you have to do. Do not be afraid to ask someone for help in dealing with your bed bug problems.

Other sources of emotional support can come from a psychologist or other counselor, clergy and spiritual teachers.

It can also be helpful to take sick days or personal days from work in order to give your bed bug treatment efforts adequate attention to get the job done well.

Another way to cope with the stress and anxiety of bed bugs is to express yourself through art, writing, music, or even physical activity. So long as you are not harming yourself or others, there is no right or wrong way to express the feelings and emotions you have about your experience. You may also want to play a bed bug game as a way to relieve your frustrations.

If you can’t get the thought of bed bugs out of your mind and it is impacting your life drastically seeing a doctor is a sensible step in the process.

Bed bugs are becoming a national problem that needs community attention to help stopping the spread of these parasitic creatures especially when it comes to our children.

Schools are great breeding grounds and transition areas for children to bring home bed bugs.  This is just another example of a school being infested with bed bugs and how hard it is to track down where these pesky critters are coming from.

In the article, it points out that a bed bug dog was brought in but, no bed bugs were found in the school.  The bed bugs could be getting on the kids clothing from the buses or after-school activities.

As parents, you can take precautions for keeping your children safe from bed bugs.  When they come home  have them change out of their school clothes, empty their book bags, and put them in your dryer on high heat for a cycle.  The heat will kill any bed bugs that have hitchhiked their way into your home.

A bed bug found at a Wilkes-Barre elementary school late last week is getting under the skin of parents and students alike. It’s the second time it’s happened in a span of two weeks.

This time, the bug was found on a child’s jacket inside a classroom at Kistler Elementary School. It was found as classes prepared to dismiss Friday afternoon.

And while school administrators say they’re confident the problem has been eliminated, parents and students remain less than convinced.

Exterminators searched every nook and cranny of Kistler Elementary School over the weekend. They even brought in a trained dog to sniff out and eliminate any possibility of bed bugs here.

None were found.

Parent Bruce Morris noted, “It’s something we have to watch out for. I think most of us, as parents, grew up thinking it was just a nursery rhyme. But here we have a nationwide problem.”

Plenty of people were talking about the critter issue Monday morning– including students who say the thought of the tiny creatures makes their skin crawl.

Najae Briggs, a Kistler student, said, “I’ve heard people have gotten bit before, a lot of people. And people were staying home, yeah.”

Parents say they’re even more concerned by this second finding of a bed bug at Kistler elementary. And they’re upset that school officials didn’t tell them anything about it.

But the superintendent says a letter is going home with kids after school Monday to explain the problem to parents– and the steps the school district has taken to solve it.

Those included the weekend extermination, and having students quarantine their jackets and backpacks in plastic bags Monday, among others solutions.

But since the bed bugs could be coming into the school from just about anywhere, parents say it will take a community-wide effort to end the issue.

Morris continued, “This being the second scare in the school, I think we need to take extra precautions when our children leave our houses in the morning, when we pick them up from school, and a lot of these kids get bussed to other places like the YMCA.”

And while we’re told the exterminator’s sweep of the school came up clean– officials are urging parents to keep an eye out for the little critters– and wash all their kids’ clothes in hot water as an extra precaution.

A new bed bug law is in the works in Iowa that would hold tenants responsible for reporting a bed bug problem in condo’s and apartments to their landlords and property managers in a timely manner or face fines .

LINN COUNTY, Iowa – Bed bugs are tiny critters that make your skin crawl.

Bed bugs are creeping their way into the Iowa legislature as landlords try to make tenants more accountable for an infestation.

House study bill 520 would require tenants to report bed bugs within a week of moving into a new apartment or within two days of discovering the bugs. If the renter fails to notify the property manager, they could be stuck with the cost of getting rid of the bugs. The bill is still being debated in a house subcommittee.

According to a study done by Linn County Public Health, it costs about $800 for one professional treatment of bed bugs.   A great way to help alleviate the cost of bed bug extermination is to use trained and certified bed bug dogs to pinpoint where the problem lies. Public Health also estimates the community spends tens of thousands of dollars a month killing these pests.

“A lot of times tenants will try to deal with the problem themselves, and then the problem gets out of control,” explained Marion Landlord and former President of Landlords of Iowa, Keith Smith.

Smith says that’s the reasoning behind a new bed bug bill backed by the Iowa Landlord Association. The bill tells renters they have two days to alert a property manager about a bed bug problem or risk paying thousands of dollars in pest control fees.

Linn County Public Health says it’s tough to put a time frame on bedbugs.

“I really think there needs to be a robust education training program with this,” said bedbug expert, Ruby Perin.

Perin says it can take two days or two weeks for a bite to show up on skin. The bugs can also hide in other areas of a home. A person could check their bed and see nothing, but still have an infestation.

“It’s very landlord based,” Perin said, “If I was a tenant moving in, I’d want some kind of certification this is bed bug free.”

A member of the Iowa Attorney General’s office, William Brauch, agrees saying he’s “never seen a bill this unbalanced.” But Smith says this is a study bill meant to start conversation about this problem.

He agrees education is a big part of the issue statewide.

“Yes, it’s expensive,” Smith said, “we understand it’s expensive, but the sooner you tell us the cheaper it is to be addressed.”

Bed bug issues in condo’s and apartments are not only the landlords problem, they are the tenants problem also. The quicker both parties can notify each other and work together to solve a bed bug problem, the quicker, less cost, and more thorough the bed bug extermination can be.  This new bed bug law may be considered in other state in battling bed bug problems between tenants, property managers, and landlords.

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.

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.

Avoiding Bed Bugs This Holiday Season While Flying

With the holiday season upon us a lot of people will be traveling to their families homes by airplane.  What a great way to pick up bed bugs and bring them to your relatives houses.  I am sure that a bed bug infestation is not the gift you want to be remembered as giving.  Here are some precautions you can take to help lower your chance of bringing bed bugs to you relatives homes by airplane.

1.  Bring your own pillow and blanket. In Zane Selkirk’s horrific experience, it was the blanket “crawling with bed bugs” that caught her eye. It doesn’t have to get that extreme, though, to suggest it’s best to beware airline blankets. After all, during last year’s H1N1 flu epidemic, many airlines pulled the blankets fearing they could transmit the virus. Pack a travel pillow (inflatable if you’re tight for space) and a blanket or pashmina shawl. Or just dress in warm layers instead.

2.  Plastic Bag Your Carry On Since it’s way to easy for bed bugs to slip into your carry on while it’s stored under your seat. The best way to prevent this happening is to encase it in a plastic bag, such as a shopping bag or kitchen-sized garbage bag.

3.  Stop bed bugs before they get in your house.   The real problem with bed bugs isn’t when they bite you en route (the bites heal quickly and don’t cause any lasting damage), it’s when they come home with you and set up housekeeping in your home. The way to keep this from happening is with stringent preventive measures. Don’t bring luggage or carry-on’s inside your home, but empty them outside and wash clothes and anything else that’s washable. A hot dryer will also kill bed bugs, so dry anything you don’t want to wash. Put the suitcase and bag itself in a plastic bag and store for two weeks.

We at New England Bed Bug Forum wish you and your families a happy, safe, and bed bug free holiday season.