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| Toronto fights bed bugs with signs |
Once almost completely eradicated from the U.S., bedbugs are back with a vengeance. First spotted in hotels on the east coast, they’re now making themselves at home in movie theaters, office buildings, apartments, public buildings, and college dorms all over the country.
Recent bedbug attacks:
• New York: Abercrombie & Fitch, Niketown, several major movie theaters, and Google’s headquarters were shuttered to eradicate a bedbug infestation
• Chicago; citywide alerts issued and task forces convened
• Bloomington, Indiana; a bed bug infestation is so extreme the city bought new equipment that fries bedbugs with heat
• Toronto: bedbugs infested many major public buildings including Etobicoke Hospital
• Los Angeles, infestations are turning up all over the city, primarily in residential neighborhoods
• Denver; bedbugs got so bad that the public library had to destroy a rare book collection
• Boston; colleges and universities have students on alert when moving into dorms
•All over Ohio; the state convened a special task force of the EPA to look for solutions, including an excmption to allow the indoor use of a banned pesticide, propoxur (the exemption has failed so far)
I’ve been asked to narrate some videos about how to fight bedbugs, so in preparation I’ve assembled my best tips.
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| Bedbug art adorns a NYC street |
The best way to protect yourself from bedbugs is not to get them in the first place. And the way to ensure your home stays bedbug-free is not to bring them home with you.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to avoid bedbugs if you don’t know what they look like. Check for tiny critters about the size and color of a sesame seed. They are often almost transparent so they can be hard to spot.
You can best spot bedbugs in your home by taking the sheets off the mattress and looking for telltale signs of their presence such as dark spots around the edges.
Even if you don’t see any signs of bedbugs, take steps to protect yourself and your stuff. When you travel, use a luggage rack to keep your suitcase off the floor, and pull the rack away from the wall.
Don’t leave clothes draped over chairs or on the floor or bed. I keep my clothes and other belongings inside ziploc plastic bags in my suitcase just to be sure.
When you return from a trip, wash all clothes and dry them in a hot dryer and leave your suitcase outside for a couple of weeks or enclose it in a plastic garbage bag.
Thanks for these tips. My daughter has been doing a lot of traveling lately and staying in less than 4 star accomodations for some school activities and I have found there are bedbug sites that show you exactly where bedbugs have been found, so you can avoid those hotels.
Ick! I'm going to NYC in the spring, and I'm completely freaked out about bringing them home. Thanks for the tips.
Thanks for these tips. I must admit, I'm afraid to stay in a hotel these days with all the bedbug stuff going on. Good to know there are steps we can take to keep from bringing them home.
Yikes–I hate that these precautions are needed… but they are needed.
Bed bugs sound just awful. Thankfully they haven't been a problem yet in my community. Thanks for these tips.
My boyfriend has bedbugs. It's been horrible. Whenever I stay over at his place, I get terrible itchy bites. It's hard to sleep at night when you know bugs could be crawling on you at any minute. It's been hard, and I've been hesitant to tell anyone about it. It's kind of a TMI kind of thing to share with most people, even though it's been effecting my life in a major way. Luckily, his landlord has been paying for an exterminator, but it's been months now, and the bugs still haven't completely gone away. It's like the plague!
Dear anonymous and others, I'm so sorry you're dealing with this. It is a really upsetting problem; it reminds me a lot of the days when my daughters were young and we battled lice. But don't feel bad, it's nobody's fault! When you go to your boyfriend's house, I'd suggest you wash your clothes right away afterwards just to make sure they don't migrate to your house, too. I hope the exterminator gets rid of them!
Thanks for these tips. I too am going to NYC in the spring and have been quite freaked out by all of the news of these critters.
Fortunately I've been able to avoid bed bugs, but it sure is icky to think about. Thanks for the tips, Melanie!
I am so afraid of bedbugs. Fortunately, I haven't encountered them (or, they haven't found me) despite staying in a fair number of various hotels. I have a feeling that sooner or later my luck will run out and I'm dreading it!
I'm an innkeeper and advise potential guests on how to avoid bedbugs in the hotels they stay in before coming to us. It is a real problem and may force me to give up a profession I enjoy. There is a new method for eradicating them: heat. But it must be available as an option and often people do not know and hire exterminators who use chemicals instead. It is very bad for people to breathe in these chemicals and they linger in the air and on furniture. The bedbugs are able to stay alive despite the chemicals. What a situation!
So far, so good with us. Thanks for keeping me apprised.
EW. This just grosses me out. And my husband has been traveling back and forth between here and Maui every couple of weeks. I worry about what he'll bring home with him! I read somewhere that leaving your suitcase in a hot car before you bring it in can kill the buggers. Know about that?
You still didn’t say how to get rid of them. Also, I need to know if they hide in furniture, ie. sofas chairs & carpets??
@B. Thomas: Yes they can hide in all of those mentioned places. You can get rid of them with a Vapamore Steam Cleaner. The heat produced kills them on contact as well as the eggs. Buy one here: http: http://www.theallergyguy.com/us/Vapamore-MR100-Primo.html
Thanks, B. Thomas, I’ll be writing a follow up story on this and will be sure to mention steam cleaning. Great idea!
When I went to America on my last holiday I had terrible problems with bed bugs and I had an allergic reaction to them!! So I really do appreciate your post thank you very much!
Bed bugs controlling and killing. At this time we do not know of any product that is in development specifically for bed bug control.we provide a list of do it yourself bed bug control pesticides treatments to kill.
Hey folks. Don’t fret over bed bugs. There is a safe*, alternative, product that will kill bed bugs – CedarCide. it’s based on red Texas Cedar. They sell lots of products for home and outdoor use, as well as a 2.5oz sprayer you can take when travelling – under 3oz so the TSA allows it to be carried on board.
You don’t have to believe me – just “Google” it and you’ll see!
* EPA exempt and certified organic
is it possible to find only one single bed bug… or must there be some place i have not seen yet…were it comes from ?
Just took a flight out of jfk. I think got bedbugs from the airplane. Went online to see if that was possible. Turns out that is a very big concern. Never had bedbugs ever in my life. Yuk.
bedbugs can best be won using omo washing powder-Dissolve it in water, then spray that solution, on the bedbug
When i say omo, i mean any washing detergent. When the solution of the detergent is sprayed on the bedbug, it dies instantly. This mainly applies for bedbugs on walls, cracks, e.t.c. However for those on washables like clothings, then just wash them using these detergents.
Unlike other insecticides, detergents are accepted for domestic use, and have minimal negative effects on humans.