Archive | April, 2011

Rising Temperatures Will Worsen Bedbugs In Northeast

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Rising Temperatures Will Worsen Bedbugs In Northeast

Posted on 28 April 2011 by

4/28/2011 Rising Temperatures & Summer Travel Will Worsen Bedbugs In Northeast: Entomologists and Pest Control Experts State

The Northeast’s bedbug problem is expected to worsen this summer as temperatures rise and vacationers increase traffic in hotels, entomologists and pest-control experts say.

Hotels and summer camps are among the businesses seeking information about policies and procedures for dealing with bedbugs from BedBug Central, a Lawrenceville-based website offering products and services aimed at eradicating the blood-sucking insects, said Jeffrey White, an entomologist with the site.

“They understand that it’s inevitable at this point,” White said. “There’s really no true prevention for bedbugs other than education.”

Bedbugs’ recent spread may be boosted this spring and summer as temperatures rise, potentially increasing challenges that have already been faced by North Jersey businesses in recent years – such as a YMCA branch in Hackensack and senior living facility in Paramus.

At 65 degrees, it takes three months for bedbugs to become adults, said Susan Jones, a professor of entomology at Ohio State University. At 86 degrees, it takes only three weeks for them to go from eggs to adults.

One pregnant female bedbug can produce up to 300 bugs in about six weeks, said John Kane, an entomologist and technical specialist with Parsippany-based Western Pest Services.

“We do get more (reports of bedbugs) during the summer,” though not a sharp spike, said Kane, who handles service calls in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. “I definitely expect more (reports) than last year.”

A more important factor in seasonal bedbug surges may not be temperature changes so much as the travel schedules of their hosts, Jones said.

“You see big spikes after vacation periods,” she said.

Statistics to verify reported increases of bedbug infestations are hard to come by. That’s because homeowners, landlords and businesses typically are not required to report infestations to local or state health officials. Hackensack, for example, typically receives reports of bedbugs only from residents whose landlords are slow to address the problem, health official John Christ said.

In Paramus, CareOne at the Cupola, a senior housing facility on Ridgewood Avenue, treated one resident’s room for bedbugs last fall.

While bedbugs were found only in one room, the center’s management implemented a plan to have 20 rooms per month inspected as a proactive measure, according to health records The Record obtained from the town.

CareOne’s management declined to comment, but spokesman Peter Ward said in an e-mailed statement: “Local health officials were notified and upon their review, confirmed this was an isolated incident and addressed by the center to their satisfaction.”

In the fall of 2009, the YMCA of Greater Bergen County in Hackensack faced a bedbug infestation involving eight of the 28 residential rooms the Main Street facility rents out. Some of the pests also were found in the Y’s lobby.

“As soon as we recognized we had it, and we knew it was becoming an epidemic in the Northeast, we reached out to our members and informed them of what was going on,” said Keith Zebroski, the Y’s senior program director.

The Y then embarked on a months-long treatment plan to eradicate the problem. Y officials hired an exterminator and replaced mattresses and lobby furniture. Zebroski said the cost, excluding new mattresses and furniture, was $11,568.

The Y is ready to face the problem this summer, should bedbugs appear again, he said.

“We’ve been through it,” he said. “We know how to handle it.”

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Dickinson State University Fends Off Bedbugs

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Dickinson State University Fends Off Bedbugs

Posted on 24 April 2011 by

4/24/2011 Dickinson State University Fends Off Bedbugs: Students Expected To Return To Rooms This Weekend

Five students recently displaced due to a bedbug infestation are expected to return to their rooms this weekend, Dickinson State University Director of Residential Life Lydia Dworshak said.

Bedbugs were discovered in one of three rooms evacuated.

“As a precaution, we removed students from the adjacent rooms,” said Constance Walter, director of DSU university relations.

She would not say which room or in which dormitory the infestation occurred.

“… I have to protect the students,” Walter said.

Officials conducted checks of every room shortly after the incident was reported and no other bedbugs were discovered, she added. The university will now check for bedbugs as part of its monthly health and safety checks, Walter said.

The students who were displaced have been staying in other rooms since the beginning of April because of the extermination process, Dworshak said.

“The spraying was done so that you don’t have to get rid of absolutely everything,” Dworshak said. “There were a few things that we chose to dispose of instead of risking it.”

However, she would not elaborate on what was thrown away.

“There’s no reason for alarm because of a health issue and I’m fairly confident with the steps that we’ve taken that we’ve gone above and beyond to take care of the problem,” Dworshak said.

She and other officials said the bugs are not a health concern.

“They’re not known disease carriers, so they’re more of a nuisance pest than anything,” Southwestern District Health Unit Executive Officer Sherry Adams said. “They don’t fly or jump or anything, they just crawl.”

However, they can cause larger issues in rare situations, she said.

“Some people may have a sensitivity because the bedbugs themselves may trigger an asthmatic response because of allergies,” Adams said. “If you have a lot of bedbugs — I mean a huge infestation — a child could get anemic if there’s lots and lots and lots of them feeding on the children.”

April Hitz, a DSU student who resides in Woods Hall, isn’t letting the incident get to her.

“I’m not really worried about it at this point,” she said.

Kenan Bullinger, director for the State Health Department, Division of Food and Lodging, said the bedbugs likely didn’t travel past the adjacent dorm rooms by themselves.

However, they are easily transmitted from one location to another, Adams said.

“People that travel and such, it’s very easy to get them and they ride along your suitcase and such,” Adams said.

DSU Student Health Nurse Carrie Knudson said exposing clothing to high heat is effective if it is suspected to have been in contact with bedbugs.

“What I would recommend is dry them in the dryer on high heat for 30 minutes and then wash them on hot and then dry them again on high heat for another 30 minutes and that should kill anything in any stages,” Knudson said.

Bullinger said there haven’t been any recent reports of bedbugs in western North Dakota. However, they have been reported in Fargo and Minot in recent years, he added.

Knudson said bedbug bites typically look similar to a mosquito bite.

“Some people who have bedbug bites will hardly see anything on their skin at all, whereas other people will have kind of raised, red welts with little bite marks on them,” she said. “That’s why it’s important to check your bedding and your mattresses and keep them clean.”

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NYC: Judge Tosses Fox Worker’s Bedbug Lawsuit

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NYC: Judge Tosses Fox Worker’s Bedbug Lawsuit

Posted on 24 April 2011 by

4/24/2011 NYC: Judge Tosses Fox Worker’s Bedbug Lawsuit; Judge Rules Fox News “Took Extraordinary Measures” To Fight The Bugs

NEW YORK (AP) — A judge has dismissed a former TV news staffer’s pioneering lawsuit over bedbug bites she got at her New York City office.

Jane Clark’s lawyer said Friday she planned to appeal the ruling.

Clark says bedbug bites at work forced her to leave her Fox News job in 2008. The company’s exterminators found that the bugs were coming from another former employee’s infested apartment.

Clark sued the building’s landlord, among others, though not Fox.

A judge ruled last week that Fox News “took extraordinary measures” to fight the bugs, and building owners and managers couldn’t have done more.

The landlord’s lawyer and a spokeswoman for Fox parent News Corp. didn’t immediately return calls Friday seeking comment.

The judge said the case apparently marked the first time a worker sued an employer’s landlord over bedbugs.

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Bedbugs Boosting Sales At United Industries

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Bedbugs Boosting Sales At United Industries

Posted on 22 April 2011 by

4/22/2011 Bedbugs Boosting Sales At United Industries: Outbreak Lead To Company Developing More Products

A pest in the bedroom has been a boon for United Industries.

Uttering the word “bedbug” is enough to send shivers through the spines for many people at the thought of the minuscule blood-sucking insect living in mattresses, behind baseboards and under carpets. While bedbugs are not known to transmit diseases, the insects are a nuisance Americans don’t want in homes or businesses.

When bedbugs began to mount a resurgence nationally in late 2007, United got to work developing a product to combat the tiny reddish-brown insect that spans between 1 and 7 millimeters.

United, a local division of Madison, Wis.-based Spectrum Brands Holdings, drew on its portfolio of 260 registered products with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — more than any other consumer pesticide company, United touts. It quickly settled on the chemical compound pyrethroid to kill both bedbugs and fleas and launched an aerosol spray under the Hot Shot brand name in January 2009.

“Our portfolio … gave us access to a quick entrance in the market, and we were able to go from product concepts to a launch in six months,” said Randy Lewis, United’s vice president and general manager. He’s based in the division’s operational headquarters in St. Louis County.

Because of increasing demand, United’s Hot Shot bedbug line has expanded to five products, including a portable 3-ounce spray introduced this year for bedbug encounters at hotels or wherever bedbugs bite.

United’s bedbug line is the company’s fastest growing product under the 56-year-old Hot Shot brand, which also includes products that kill ants, wasps and roaches.

“There’s something about an insect in your bed, while you’re sleeping, that’s feasting on your blood,” Lewis said, describing the deeply negative emotional response people have to bedbugs, which in turn drives sales.

United’s bedbug products’ revenue tripled last year compared with 2009, and the company is developing two new products that will be available at Lowe’s, Wal-Mart and Home Depot stores next year.

United does not disclose revenue by brands, but the division’s net sales increased 6 percent in its 2010 fiscal year to $341 million, compared to 2009.

United first had to overcome embarrassment some consumers had buying the product.

“There was a reluctance at first from consumers who didn’t want to put it in their cart, ” Lewis said. “We’ve gotten past that stigma.”

United’s products, which sell for between $3 and $10, are designed for those looking for a cheaper option than calling an exterminator, said John Pailthorp, United’s division vice president of marketing.

To help these do-it-yourselfers, United invests the bulk of its marketing dollars on in-store displays and what it calls “product knowledge sessions” at retail locations to show consumers how the products work, he said.

United faces competition in the bedbug category, with more than 300 products registered by the EPA to kill bedbugs. United estimates its market share exceeds 70 percent, based on Nielson data and internal management estimates. Its major competitors include Ortho, which is owned by The Scotts Co., and Homax’s Black Flag brands.

FEEDING ROACHES

In an office building with windows overlooking the Earth City Expressway, a nearly empty laboratory room was filled with a fog-like substance earlier this week. United research chemist Christy Van Preter peered through a window to observe the height of a plume from the company’s bedbug fogger product, which is designed to reach crevices that are difficult to reach with liquid sprays.

Chemists and research biologists test the products at the new research and development center that United Industries moved to this month from a smaller location a mile away in Bridgeton.

United spent about $1 million on the R&D, marketing and sales operations center in Earth City over the past year as well as about $7 million to increase capacity and other manufacturing upgrades at its 330,000-square-foot manufacturing complex near Page Avenue and I-170 in Vinita Park, where all of the bedbug products sold nationally are made. United’s other brands include Spectracide, Repel and Cutter, which also are produced locally.

United has been bulking up its workforce, adding 47 jobs at its St. Louis facilities in 2010, and an additional 18 jobs in 2011, bringing its total St. Louis area workforce to 286. The increase is because of increasing sales of its bedbug and other products.

United doesn’t use live bedbugs in the product testing at its R&D lab. It leaves that work to a third-party contractor that specializes in insects, such as fire ants and bedbugs, that pose high contamination risks.

But the division does have lab rooms stocked with roaches, spiders and mosquitoes for testing purposes. On one wall of a lab room, a rack of shelves are stacked with nearly a dozen 2-feet-high orange plastic containers filled with hundreds of roaches. This week, Travis Wood, a research biologist at United Industries, placed more than a dozen cockroaches in glasses affixed with lids. “Time to feed the roaches,” he said, describing his plans for the afternoon.

No silver bullet

The EPA is in the midst of collecting data nationally on bedbug infestations, but Kris Lancaster, an EPA spokesman, said St. Louis isn’t among the top 10 infested cities in the U.S.

Based on sales of its bedbug products nationally, United says St. Louis ranks in the middle of the top 200 metropolitan markets for bedbug product sales.

Bedbugs have been staging a comeback ever since the pesticide DDT — which killed mosquitoes and bedbugs — was banned in the U.S. in 1972. The increase of people traveling internationally in recent years also is a contributing factor in the re-emergence of bedbugs, particularly in urban areas, said Mark Lesher, environmental scientist with the EPA’s Kansas City office.

“It started at large travel hubs such as New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., and has been moving west to Chicago, and places like Denver,” Lesher said.

In 2009, government agencies including the EPA, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention convened a bedbug summit to study the problem and look for solutions. The second summit was held in February.

So far, no single solution has been identified to eradicate bedbugs.

“There’s no magic bullet right now that can solve the problem,” Lesher said.

The EPA recommends first using non-chemical methods to try to kill bedbugs, including washing and drying bedding and clothing in high temperatures, and turning up the heat in infested rooms to 120 degrees for up to six hours.

If an insecticide is used, Lesher said consumers should look for products that list bedbugs on the label. Lesher also recommended visiting the EPA’s website, cfpub.epa.gov/oppref/bedbug/, to search for the appropriate EPA-registered product.

Still, some bedbugs have become resistant to chemicals in bedbug products.

“You might find a population in Springfield, Mo., that is resistant to the chemical that works fairly well in other areas,” Lesher said.

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Bedbugs Force VA To Stop Accepting Quilts

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Bedbugs Force VA To Stop Accepting Quilts

Posted on 21 April 2011 by

4/21/2011 Bedbugs Force VA To Stop Accepting Quilts: Blankets That Went To Wounded Iraq & Afghanistan Vet’s Not Halted

Their needles are always moving.  The Quilters of Valor churned out more than 1,000 blankets for wounded soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan, but now their production has been halted.

The Minneapolis Department of Veterans Affairs has asked the women to cool their quilting jets.  The VA says they will no longer accept any handmade goodies because of bed bugs.  The quilters were told it is part of a nationwide directive to stop the critters from spreading through Veteran’s facilities.

The quilters have told a local newspaper that they are little offended by the order, since they use new fabric and typically work on quilts at local stores that offer an open space for the women to work.  But it seems bed bugs are a growing concern every where.

What’s the deal with bed bugs?
The tiny bugs are making their presence felt all across the U.S.  Orkin, a nationwide pest control service, says the number of apple-seed sized bugs is on the rise.  Typically the bugs only come out at night.   Like mosquitoes, they feed on blood from biting humans.  Most people don’t see the bugs; instead they see the bites on their skin.  The itchy bumps are small bites that can be found all over the body, but hot spots are the neck, legs, and arms.
Once the bugs hit a house they are tough to kill.  A local Orkin representative says it costs several hundred dollars per room to treat for bed bugs and it often takes more than one treatment to kill them. 

Once the bugs are in a home, they can attach to your clothes and be spread from one room to another.  By the time a homeowner realizes they have bed bugs, it’s likely they have tracked the bugs throughout the house.  Treatment of a whole house can cost thousands of dollars.

An infested homeowner can also take the bugs to work with them, infesting their cubicle and work place.  Bed bugs can lay upwards of five eggs a day and multiple rapidly, which is why the quilters will have to lay off their chartiable work for awhile.  At least until the bed bug population is under control.

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EPA Launches New Bedbug Product Search Tool

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EPA Launches New Bedbug Product Search Tool

Posted on 17 April 2011 by

4/17/2011 EPA Launches New Bedbug Product Search Tool

With the invasion of bed bugs into American homes, many consumers will try anything to get rid of the pests.

But not all products work.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports an increasing number of marketers are making unrealistic claims as to their products ability to control bedbug.

The EPA has a new tool to help you find out if a product you see really works.

Here’s a link to the EPA’s Bed Bug Search tool:

http://cfpub.epa.gov/oppref/bedbug/

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Beware Of Bedbug Exterminator Scams

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Beware Of Bedbug Exterminator Scams

Posted on 16 April 2011 by

4/16/2011 Beware Of Bedbug Exterminator Scams: Warnings From Around The Country Of Consumers Getting Duped

Bed bugs are a national obsession, and with good reason. Their population has jumped by 500 percent in the United States in just the last few years, and many of us would try just about anything to get rid of them.

“Early Show” Consumer Correspondent Susan Koeppen has learned firsthand just how annoying bed bugs can be. She got them.

Koeppen said, “One thing I’ve learned – getting rid of bed bugs can cost you big bucks. Bed bugs are becoming big business. But now, even some in the pest control industry are warning you may get ripped off trying to get rid of bed bugs.”

Just six months ago, Koeppen attended a bed bug summit in Chicago where she asked this important question: “I’m in hotels every week. What are the chances I’m bringing them home?”

Phil Cooper, of Bed Bug Central, a website devoted to bed bug information, replied, “You will be bringing them home.”

Sure enough, after a recent ski trip in Utah, bed bugs hitched a ride home in her ski bag.

After suffering bites and hiring a bed bug-sniffing dog to find the little suckers, Koeppen had to pack up her closets, launder and dry-clean everything, so the exterminators could go to work.

Because she’s done so many stories about bed bugs, Koeppen knew how to find a reputable company to do the job. But warnings about bed bug scams are popping up across the country, and it’s no wonder. Revenues from bed bug extermination are exploding, from $98 million in 2006 to $319 million in 2010.

When Shantel Woon-Sue got bed bugs, she says she got scammed.

She paid an exterminator $1,500, but despite taking her money, he never got rid of the bedbugs.

Woon-Sue said, “I do feel cheated. The company came out, and I thought it was taken care of, but in actuality, it wasn’t.”

And she’s not the only one feeling scammed. In a hidden camera investigation, the CBS News station in Los Angeles found one man trying to charge $350 to get rid of bed bugs. Another also wanted money after finding the pests. But there was just one problem: the house had already been inspected and found to be bed bug-free.

So what should you look for if you want your house inspected for bed bugs?

John Russell is a bed bug specialist. His company has done more than 50,000 bed bug inspections.

He says bed bug sniffing dogs are up to 98 percent accurate.

He says a visual inspection alone is not nearly as effective.

Russell said, “A proper visual inspection can take … an hour. You know really looking into every dresser drawer, flipping the dressers, looking into everything it can take a long time.”

The National Pest Management Association says consumers need to be careful when hiring a company to handle bed bugs.

Missy Henriksen, of the National Pest Management Association, said, “During the bed bug scare, consumers need to understand that there is good news. There are trained professionals throughout the country who know how to deal with bed bugs properly.”

As for Woon-Sue, she finally got rid of her bedbugs after hiring a bed bug sniffing dog and spending hundreds of dollars more than she expected.

Woon-Sue said, “I was extremely disappointed because it really does interfere with your entire life.”

Koeppen added, “It’s a lot of work to get rid of bed bugs, so it’s very important to hire someone that knows how to handle them.”

She advised consumers look for someone who is licensed. And if you are hiring a bed bug sniffing dog, find out if he is certified and how long he has been working with his handler.

Koeppen said her bed bugs are now gone by all indications. but added the bugs do a number on your mind.

“So far, so good. No more bites,” she said. “But it does a number on your brain. Every little piece of fuzz I see on the bed, ‘Oh, it’s a bed bug.’ Every little itch. ‘Oh, my God it’s a bed bug!’ But so far so good.”

Koeppen added, “We were in a beautiful place (when we picked up the bugs). A place I would go back to because it was so nice. And I stay in hotels every single week. I’m in a hotel today. I could bring home bed bugs tonight. You never know.”

To protect yourself at home, Koeppen recommended these products:

Protect-A-Bed: $50 to $90, depending on the size of your bed.

These wrap around your mattress, your box spring, to keep the bugs either in or keep them out from nesting in your mattress.

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Bedbugs Working Out At Reebok Sports Club NYC

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Bedbugs Working Out At Reebok Sports Club NYC

Posted on 09 April 2011 by

4/9/2011 Bedbugs Working Out At Reebok Sports Club NYC: Members Up In Arms

Bedbugs have invaded the men’s locker room at the Reebok Sports Club, and members of the pricey Columbus Avenue gym say they’re up in arms. A source tells us he saw workers “emptying out lockers Wednesday,” and added that the club was giving affected members gift certificates to smooth things over. But some aren’t assuaged. “People are afraid,” said the source. “They don’t want to leave their clothes overnight anymore.” He added he fears that fellow gym rats could take the bugs home with them. (Speaking of rats, Page Six reported that Reebok had one of those, too, in December — although the club claimed it was a mouse.) A Reebok spokesperson confirmed the bedbug outbreak, and gave us a statement that the gym “immediately contacted professionals” who have “conducted a complete inspection of the club.” Reebok couldn’t confirm the gift-certificate giveaway, however. A source said members include Taye Diggs, Chris Cuomo, LA Reid and Ronn Torossian.

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EPA Gives $550k Grants To Fight Bedbugs

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EPA Gives $550k Grants To Fight Bedbugs

Posted on 07 April 2011 by

4/7/2011 EPA Gives $550k Grants To Fight Bedbugs: 5 Grants To Be Given To State Organizations In Texas, Michigan, New Jersey, Maryland, & Missouri

Targeting social service agencies that serve low-income, minority and immigrant neighborhoods, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded $550,000 in bed bug-control education and prevention grants, the agency announced Thursday.

According to a news release, the five grants will be used in communities where the plague of “bed bug pressures are significant but resources to address the problems are limited.”

Over the next 24 months state organizations from Texas, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, and New Jersey will facilitate programs aimed at helping prevent widespread bed bug infestations.

For example, the EPA website lists the Maryland Department of Health and Hygiene as receiving $142,440. The money will go to develop and provide training as well as technical and material support to residents, service providers and retail firms that combat bed bugs in the 12 poorest ZIP codes of Baltimore and as well as county health offices throughout Maryland.

The grant would include training for the migrant workers of Caroline County, who are extremely vulnerable to bed bugs, the EPA said. The educational outreach programs seek to reach groups that serve transitional housing managers, vendors of second hand goods, healthcare providers, and local pest product providers, the EPA said.

Also listed on EPA website is a grant for New Jersey’s Rutgers University of $99,688. Rutgers will lead a statewide bed bug educational outreach program for low-income communities. The effectiveness of anti-bed bug programs will be measured through monitoring of all apartments in those communities and documenting pesticide usage over one year.

Due to the influx of bed bugs around the United States last year, the EPA hosted a national bed bug summit in early February.

The grants are a step to further educate the public about bed bugs. Last summer in New York several high end hotels, clothing stores Abercrombie and Fitch, Hollister, Niketown, and Victoria’s Secret, as well as an AMC movie theater in Times Square shut down due to a serious invasion of the insects.

The goal is to seek new approaches in managing bed bug problems. EPA spokesman Dale Kemery said, “Lessons learned from the grants will be available for use by other communities.”

Bed bugs, according to the EPA, are brown insects about 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch long that feed on the blood of humans through biting. They are known to live up to a year without feeding.

Typical steps for ridding and preventing bed bug infestations include correctly identifying the bugs, and then physically removing the bugs through cleaning, applying appropriate pesticides, and reducing clutter.

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Bedbug Task Force Created In Nassau County NY

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Bedbug Task Force Created In Nassau County NY

Posted on 06 April 2011 by

4/6/2011 Bedbug Task Force Created In Nassau County NY: County Executive Edward Mangano & District Attorney Kathleen Rice Team Up On Creation

(Long Island, N.Y.) This week the newly-created Bed Bug Task Force will hold a workshop meeting in Freeport’s Recreation Center for property managers, housing inspectors, and landlords interested in bed bug management. Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano and Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice have teamed up to create the Bed Bug Task Force. A second meeting is also available for tenants and homeowners.

The task force began after the Nassau County Department of Health Complex in Uniondale for Health and Human Services was infected with the pests last year. Several meetings were arranged between county officials and members of the Civil Service Employee Association Local 830, including the union’s president, to deal with the issue of bed bugs in the workplace. The problem was ongoing, spanning at least a few months, and some sources claimed that the bed bugs were resisting efforts of removal.

The Nassau County Department of Health Complex was not the first significant government building to address the problem. In September of 2009 the New York City Department of Health Offices were infected, and some reports have stated that these types of buildings may be more at risk of infestation. Also, the Bronx Psychiatric Center in Morris Park was documented for a bed bug epidemic. The facility had between three and four hundred beds when union members working in the building reported the issue.

The Civil Services Employee Association Local 401 represented the facility’s nurses, housekeepers, and maintenance workers, totaling over five hundred and fifty employees. These workers spotted the bed bugs at a nursing station and tracked them to bedrooms inside a ward. The employees also filed a Public Employee Safety and Health Bureau compliant, and criticized the treatment procedure. They claimed that the bed bug outbreak was treated from room to room rather than by evacuating individual wards.

Following this action, the State Labor Department inspected the building, and bed bugs were found in at least two other wards on different occasions. A second union, the Public Employees Federation, which represents the hospital’s psychologists, psychiatrists, and secretaries, also took action against the bed bug issue. Bed bugs are able to bite anyone, whether it is patients or staff. They often cause anxiety, sleeplessness, and ailments that are especially devastating in a mental health facility.

According to the Nassau County Department of Health website, bed bug infestations declined after World War II but have been on the rise over the last decade. Reasons for the recent increase of these pests can include changes in pest management strategies, increase in travel, and transference of used furniture. The website lists contact numbers for tenants experiencing bed bug issues, leading them to the Nassau County Department of Health’s Office of Community Sanitation. Homeowners with infestation issues are directed to the Nassau County Department of Health Healthy Homes Program, and hotel/motel owners should reach the Nassau County Department of Health Bureau of Environmental Sanitation.

The new task force will include a worker from the New York State Integrated Pest Management Program and New York City Bed Bug Advisory Board. According to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene website, bed bugs are classified as small insects that feed on human blood. The can survive for months without feeding, and turn a brighter shade of red as their bodies swell with blood. They are largely nocturnal and affect humans while they are sleeping. The bites are painless but will become large, itchy welts in time, though they are not known to spread any diseases. They are transferred in luggage, furniture, and clothing and can travel between cracks in floors and walls.

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