Battling the Bed Bug Problem
Evasive, resistant to chemicals, and small. They are the stuff of nightmares.
By Jaleh Teymourian Brahms | Email the author | January 9, 2011
Jeff Klein of A3 Superior Pest Controlremembers the first time he encountered bedbugs in 2000. He received a call from a hotel on 34th Street in Manhattan that caters to international youth groups saying guests were complaining of being bitten in one room.
"My technician checked the room out and called me saying 'I think its bedbugs.' I thought no way, we don't see bed bugs anymore," Klein said. The technician treated the room and a week later the hotel called again with the same complaint. Klein's team returned and a week-and-a-half later, the hotel called saying they were still getting complaints from that room and now the room next to it was complaining of bites.
"I knew something was up then. I started researching bedbugs and how to treat them," said Klein. He started reading technical journals, talking to other pest control operators about their experiences and studying entomologist's work. Over the past decade Klein's bedbug related calls have increased from about one call a month to more than 20 a day from New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
A common pest before World War II, bedbugs became exceedingly rare in the United States thanks to chemical pesticides like DDT, which was banned in the 1970s. Since then pest control operators have been using far less toxic chemicals. Additionally, studies of bedbugs found in cities now show they are resistant to different insecticides than those commonly used for coachroaches. It leads some experts to suggest these new bedbugs are from overseas. The bottom line — bedbugs are back with a vengeance in developed countries.
One Millburn-Short Hills resident, who wished to remain anonymous, used Klein to finally clear her bedbug infestation. "We didn't immediately think it was bedbugs," she said. "My husband was the only one who was reacting to the bites."
According to Klein, 30 percent of people younger than 50 don't react to bites. That number rises to 50 percent in a population older than 50.
The resident and her husband called a large extermination company who treated their home with a broad-spectrum pesticide spray. Meanwhile her husband was still being bitten regularly. He saw his dermatologist who diagnosed the bites as coming from bedbugs. By the time they found Klein and his company, they had a severe infestation.
"People can have an infestation for several months and not realize it's bedbugs, especially during the summer months when bites make most people think of mosquitoes. Especially if only one person is reacting to the bites," said Klein. "The problem is that female bedbugs lay one to five eggs a day, so you have a population that is increasing at a dramatic rate. They eat and then they mate."
Klein keeps a colony of bed bugs, which he feeds himself to study and use with his canine detection unit. "You should see my arm," he laughed.
Bedbugs like to bite around 4 a.m., so waking up with two to three bites in a row or in close proximity spaced about four to five days apart is typical, however they can be mistaken for fleabites or other skin disorders.
"We thought it was poison ivy we had contracted at a camp," said another township resident who requested anonymity. She's also an emergency room physician. "It wasn't until after I had 10 people staying at my house for (the Jewish) High Holy Days did we discover it was bedbugs. My husband said he couldn't believe he had poison ivy again. A light went off."
She tore apart her bed and sure enough, she found them. She called her guests to inform them they had found bedbugs. Only one family managed to escape getting infested with bedbugs during their stay. She also called the camp and found there was an infestation in the cabin she had stayed in.
Many people don't know how they get bedbugs, like the first houseguest and her family. "My husband travels a lot for work, so we figure that's where we got them but we don't know for sure," she said.
"They can come into the home in your cleaning person's vacuum bag or on someone's coat or shoes or in a package you receive," said Klein. "The eggs are tiny and almost translucent, so they are hard to find if you aren't looking for them." Thinner than a credit card, less than a quarter inch full grown with a penchance for hiding behind moldings, inside furniture and electronics, bedbugs are extremely difficult to find. Used furniture, beds, clothing, even new mattresses can successfully spread bedbugs. "Many mattress delivery companies will take away old mattresses for free, so you have your brand new mattress in a truck with an infested mattress," Klein said. There have been recent stories of infestations in clothing stores, movie theatres, hospitals and even Lincoln Center.
"They're like hobos on a boxcar," says Short Hills resident and Manhattan real estate attorney Matthew Brett. Brett deals with bedbug issues all the time. "The ironic thing is many times the New York City Housing Court, the court that hears all the bedbug cases having to do with apartments, will be closed because of another infestation of bedbugs," he said. "I'd say New Yorkers are almost as afraid of bedbugs as they are terrorists."
Brett maintains rather than a housing problem, bedbugs are a public health problem.
Most experts say it's unlikely bedbugs are a vector for disease. The federal Center for Disease Control and federal Environmental Protection Agency issued a joint statement in which they say studies need to be done to determine the impact of the rise in bedbugs on infectious diseases. The statement goes on to say since the decline of bedbugs in the 20th Century little study has been made to see if they are in fact capable of carrying disease.
While it's unknown if bedbugs spread disease, they are a detriment to mental health. The CDC and EPA has stated bedbugs infestations have been known "to cause anxiety, insomnia and systemic reactions." Some people can develop life threatening anaphylaxic reactions to bedbugs.
Treatment can involve either chemical treatment or thermal treatment, which requires sealing off affected areas and heating them to 140 degrees for a specific period of time by running heating pipes from an outside heating unit into the home.
A low level infestation will require approximately three chemical treatments and costs approximately $1 to $1.50 a square foot. Ninety-seven percent of the time an infestation can be treated once thermally at a cost of approximately $2 to $4 a square foot.
"Make sure that your treatment comes with a warranty," Klein warns. "You need to ask when you're interviewing a company what kind of follow up they will do. Another thing to watch is how long it takes them to treat a room. It can't be a quick spray around the baseboards and then the guy is gone. It should take some time."
What can you do to avoid them in the first place?
In addition to avoiding hotels and rooms with bedbugs some people suggest acting as if you've been exposed. When Klein's father-in-law comes from Florida for a visit, his suitcase never enters the home. In the garage his father-in-law changes into a pair of sweats Klein has waiting for him. All of his clothing and suitcase contents goes into a bag and is put in the dryer on high for 20-30 minutes. The bag used to transfer the clothes is discarded in the trash outside. A no-pest strip is placed inside the suitcase that in turn is sealed in a large garbage bag in the garage.
While these measures may sound extreme, they are common practice for those who have fought bed bugs.
The first resident's family has invested in a pack-tite—a heating device designed specifically to kill bed bugs. "When we get home from a trip, the suitcase stays outside until we can treat it. I remove the toiletries and then it goes into the pack-tite for treatment," she said. "I also never put my purse on the floor at restaurants or on a seat at a theatre, it stays on my lap. I don't sit in those cushioned chairs at the bookstores or Starbucks. We don't take used furniture and hand me downs that can be washed are washed right away or placed in the pack tite. Every single mattress, box spring and pillow is encased.”
Things to know:
To find recommendations for pest control operators or a community forum for bed bug sufferers visit bedbugger.com
By Jaleh Teymourian Brahms | Email the author | January 9, 2011
Jeff Klein of A3 Superior Pest Controlremembers the first time he encountered bedbugs in 2000. He received a call from a hotel on 34th Street in Manhattan that caters to international youth groups saying guests were complaining of being bitten in one room.
"My technician checked the room out and called me saying 'I think its bedbugs.' I thought no way, we don't see bed bugs anymore," Klein said. The technician treated the room and a week later the hotel called again with the same complaint. Klein's team returned and a week-and-a-half later, the hotel called saying they were still getting complaints from that room and now the room next to it was complaining of bites.
"I knew something was up then. I started researching bedbugs and how to treat them," said Klein. He started reading technical journals, talking to other pest control operators about their experiences and studying entomologist's work. Over the past decade Klein's bedbug related calls have increased from about one call a month to more than 20 a day from New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
A common pest before World War II, bedbugs became exceedingly rare in the United States thanks to chemical pesticides like DDT, which was banned in the 1970s. Since then pest control operators have been using far less toxic chemicals. Additionally, studies of bedbugs found in cities now show they are resistant to different insecticides than those commonly used for coachroaches. It leads some experts to suggest these new bedbugs are from overseas. The bottom line — bedbugs are back with a vengeance in developed countries.
One Millburn-Short Hills resident, who wished to remain anonymous, used Klein to finally clear her bedbug infestation. "We didn't immediately think it was bedbugs," she said. "My husband was the only one who was reacting to the bites."
According to Klein, 30 percent of people younger than 50 don't react to bites. That number rises to 50 percent in a population older than 50.
The resident and her husband called a large extermination company who treated their home with a broad-spectrum pesticide spray. Meanwhile her husband was still being bitten regularly. He saw his dermatologist who diagnosed the bites as coming from bedbugs. By the time they found Klein and his company, they had a severe infestation.
"People can have an infestation for several months and not realize it's bedbugs, especially during the summer months when bites make most people think of mosquitoes. Especially if only one person is reacting to the bites," said Klein. "The problem is that female bedbugs lay one to five eggs a day, so you have a population that is increasing at a dramatic rate. They eat and then they mate."
Klein keeps a colony of bed bugs, which he feeds himself to study and use with his canine detection unit. "You should see my arm," he laughed.
Bedbugs like to bite around 4 a.m., so waking up with two to three bites in a row or in close proximity spaced about four to five days apart is typical, however they can be mistaken for fleabites or other skin disorders.
"We thought it was poison ivy we had contracted at a camp," said another township resident who requested anonymity. She's also an emergency room physician. "It wasn't until after I had 10 people staying at my house for (the Jewish) High Holy Days did we discover it was bedbugs. My husband said he couldn't believe he had poison ivy again. A light went off."
She tore apart her bed and sure enough, she found them. She called her guests to inform them they had found bedbugs. Only one family managed to escape getting infested with bedbugs during their stay. She also called the camp and found there was an infestation in the cabin she had stayed in.
Many people don't know how they get bedbugs, like the first houseguest and her family. "My husband travels a lot for work, so we figure that's where we got them but we don't know for sure," she said.
"They can come into the home in your cleaning person's vacuum bag or on someone's coat or shoes or in a package you receive," said Klein. "The eggs are tiny and almost translucent, so they are hard to find if you aren't looking for them." Thinner than a credit card, less than a quarter inch full grown with a penchance for hiding behind moldings, inside furniture and electronics, bedbugs are extremely difficult to find. Used furniture, beds, clothing, even new mattresses can successfully spread bedbugs. "Many mattress delivery companies will take away old mattresses for free, so you have your brand new mattress in a truck with an infested mattress," Klein said. There have been recent stories of infestations in clothing stores, movie theatres, hospitals and even Lincoln Center.
"They're like hobos on a boxcar," says Short Hills resident and Manhattan real estate attorney Matthew Brett. Brett deals with bedbug issues all the time. "The ironic thing is many times the New York City Housing Court, the court that hears all the bedbug cases having to do with apartments, will be closed because of another infestation of bedbugs," he said. "I'd say New Yorkers are almost as afraid of bedbugs as they are terrorists."
Brett maintains rather than a housing problem, bedbugs are a public health problem.
Most experts say it's unlikely bedbugs are a vector for disease. The federal Center for Disease Control and federal Environmental Protection Agency issued a joint statement in which they say studies need to be done to determine the impact of the rise in bedbugs on infectious diseases. The statement goes on to say since the decline of bedbugs in the 20th Century little study has been made to see if they are in fact capable of carrying disease.
While it's unknown if bedbugs spread disease, they are a detriment to mental health. The CDC and EPA has stated bedbugs infestations have been known "to cause anxiety, insomnia and systemic reactions." Some people can develop life threatening anaphylaxic reactions to bedbugs.
Treatment can involve either chemical treatment or thermal treatment, which requires sealing off affected areas and heating them to 140 degrees for a specific period of time by running heating pipes from an outside heating unit into the home.
A low level infestation will require approximately three chemical treatments and costs approximately $1 to $1.50 a square foot. Ninety-seven percent of the time an infestation can be treated once thermally at a cost of approximately $2 to $4 a square foot.
"Make sure that your treatment comes with a warranty," Klein warns. "You need to ask when you're interviewing a company what kind of follow up they will do. Another thing to watch is how long it takes them to treat a room. It can't be a quick spray around the baseboards and then the guy is gone. It should take some time."
What can you do to avoid them in the first place?
In addition to avoiding hotels and rooms with bedbugs some people suggest acting as if you've been exposed. When Klein's father-in-law comes from Florida for a visit, his suitcase never enters the home. In the garage his father-in-law changes into a pair of sweats Klein has waiting for him. All of his clothing and suitcase contents goes into a bag and is put in the dryer on high for 20-30 minutes. The bag used to transfer the clothes is discarded in the trash outside. A no-pest strip is placed inside the suitcase that in turn is sealed in a large garbage bag in the garage.
While these measures may sound extreme, they are common practice for those who have fought bed bugs.
The first resident's family has invested in a pack-tite—a heating device designed specifically to kill bed bugs. "When we get home from a trip, the suitcase stays outside until we can treat it. I remove the toiletries and then it goes into the pack-tite for treatment," she said. "I also never put my purse on the floor at restaurants or on a seat at a theatre, it stays on my lap. I don't sit in those cushioned chairs at the bookstores or Starbucks. We don't take used furniture and hand me downs that can be washed are washed right away or placed in the pack tite. Every single mattress, box spring and pillow is encased.”
Things to know:
- Bedbug bites tend to occur in a line or cluster, two or three at a time, four to five nights apart. The bites increase in frequency as the infestation grows. If you have unexplained bites or find blood spots on your sheets, call a pest control operator.
- Avoid used furniture.
- Remove shoes in the home; bedbugs have been known to travel on the seam between the top and sole of shoes.
- Place all new dry clothes in the dryer on high, or the highest temperature setting for that garment for 30 minutes
- Vacuum regularly and dispose of vacuum dust outside.
- If you employ a cleaning person who brings their own equipment insist on a new bag be used for your home. Purchase the bags yourself.
- Prior to booking a hotel room search tripadvisor.com and the bedbugregistry.com with hotel name + bed bugs to see if any complaints have been made.
- Check hotel rooms for evidence of bedbugs and immediately report any finding to the management and insist upon a new room.
- Don't place your suitcase on the bed; use the hotel luggage rack.
- Launder all hand me downs immediately, in the hottest water possible for the fabric.
- Diatomaceous Earth is a non-toxic pesticide that is safe for use around children and pets. It's a fossiled shell that works by creating microscopic cuts on the exoskeleton of a bug casing dehydration and exposure to infection. It can be dusted along trim and behind outlet covers, standard hiding places for bedbugs. Be sure to wear a mask when dusting as the particles can damage lungs if inhaled, and dust lightly- bedbugs have been known to avoid crossing DE 'lines' if they are too thick.
- Have plenty of garbage bags on hand to transport clothing from suitcases to dryer. Dispose of garbage bags outside. Alternatively consider investing in a product like pack tite. It can treat an entire suitcase as well as items that cannot be put in a dryer such as books.
To find recommendations for pest control operators or a community forum for bed bug sufferers visit bedbugger.com
