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.

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.

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.

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.

Here is a recent bed bug infestation that helps point out the effects of bed bugs on senior citizen’s. Bed bug infestations can spread quite rapidly in any apartment complex and in senior housing it can be a silent epidemic. A couple of reasons bed bugs can get a strong foothold in senior housing and be quite a tough pest to eradicate is because seniors living in these units many times have closer bonds with each other than regular tenants do. Some senior housing complexes can be a social breeding ground where everyone knows everyone Else’s business. Gossip and rumors rule the day. This environment can make seniors more leery to report any kind of bed bug problem for fear of being a social outcast or labeled as “having bed bugs”.

Another issue that may complicate bed bug infestations is that some seniors may be suffering from mental health issues, such as, dementia, which is a serious loss of cognitive ability. A senior with dementia may have a huge bed bug infestation and not realize it. They may not have the coping skills needed to understand how to deal with what is going on around them.

It is important that we take care of our senior citizen’s – social workers, housing employees, family members, and friends should always be on the look out for any issues, including signs of bed bug infestations that our senior’s may be suffering from in order to ensure the highest quality of life they deserve.

RENO, NV – Residents of a senior apartment building in Reno say it’s been infested with bed bugs for weeks.

“The two apartments diagonally across from me have it,” Ted Burns said.

Ted Burns lives at the Orvis Ring Senior Apartments and showed KOLO the signs instructing people not to sit on the furniture. He and his fellow tenants said it’s because of parasitic bed bugs.

“I’ve seen people that’s been bitten by bed bugs and they’re bloody they just suck the blood out of you,” Orvis Ring resident Pat Mavity said.

Orvis Ring residents said they’ve been dealing with the infestation for a month or longer.

“They’ve been postponing this investigation, finding them, no movement,” Orvis Ring resident Don Moten said.

Office workers at Orvis Ring said they wouldn’t speak, referring KOLO to Rural Communities Housing Development in Ukiah, which declined to comment.

“Notify the landlord and notify them writing via a letter establish the paper trail in case the landlord isn’t going to cooperate,” a Washoe County Vector Control representative said.

While managed by an out-of-state company, Community Services Agency is the owner of Ovris Ring.
The executive director said the bed bug problem will be dealt with this weekend.
He said the bed bugs were addressed as soon as Community Services Agency became aware of issue. Residents say they’ve been vocal about it for a while.

“They were gonna go with a different company and they say as of today nothing has been decided,” Burns said.

Residents acknowledge though before the bed bugs were so wide-spread, there was an attempt to fumigate an apartment that didn’t work.
Now, Community Services Agency says pest control will go unit by unit to get rid of the insects.

Bed bugs are a complex pest to rid from a home, business, hotel, or motel room.

Good pest control operatives, bed bug management companies, bed bud inspection teams, and bed bug exterminator’s, for the most part, have a view in common.  They all want to be able to not only control your bed bug problem but, to exterminate it in it’s entirety.

Let’s face it. If you like your job, have integrity in what you do, and most of all care about your clients you have a point of view on the way things should be run, how you should perform, and the results you should be able to accomplish. This is true in any business, including bed bug extermination. Bed bugs are a very complex and emotional issue, whoever you deal with to help you rid yourself of these nasty creatures should realize this whole-hardheartedly.

A bed bug exterminator’s first step is to listen to what is happening in your home or business so that they can asses the situation.  They need to ascertain what the situation is before making a decision on how to proceed.  In some instances they may know right off the bat what is needed to be done to exterminate your bed bug infestation.  In most instances, good bed bug exterminator’s will advise an inspection to figure out where the bed bug problem lies and to what extent the infestation is.  A human inspection for bed bugs is not good enough.  Humans can only detect and pinpoint bed bugs with about 26% accuracy.  If you call a bed bug exterminator and they say they will send over a person to inspect, especially for free, hang up.  This is a sales tactic, not so honest exterminator’s use.  In most cases the human inspector will find bed bug issues everywhere in order to pad the extermination bill.  A bed bug dog is the way to go if your exterminator’s point of view is to kill off your problem in it’s entirety.  A bed bug dog is about 96% accurate in ascertaining if you have issues relating to these parasites in you dwelling or business.  A couple of the best things when taking  your pest control operative’s advice is that having this dog inspection will not only help in verifying this bed bug problem, the dog will most likely be able to pinpoint where the issues are.

As a businessman and a person I like to be able to sleep at night with a clear conscience.  With that being said how could I or any reputable bed bug exterminator,  in their view, advise to either come in with a bunch of chemicals or have a human inspect for bed bugs.  The accuracy is almost half as less as flipping a coin if you have a bed bug problem or not.

Any conscience-wise bed bug exterminator’s point of view is to know, first off, if there is a bed bug infestation in the first place and where it is.

When someone gives you their point of view, it usually comes from experience,  Your bed bug exterminator’s point of view is very important, because you will be able to tell, by this, how your bed bug problem will be solved.