How To Get Rid Of BedBugs: These Six Items Will Help

Have you ever slept in a hotel or traveled by bus and found that you later had tiny red bites on your skin? This is probably because of bedbugs.

Bedbugs are small wingless insects that feed exclusively on warm-blooded creatures. This makes us an ideal host for them. Bedbugs are oval and flattened in shape; white, brown, or burnt orange in color; and about one-fourth of an inch in length. The young ones are the size of a poppy seed. They are visible to the naked eye. They get their name because of their preference to live in home furnishings including sofas, beds, and mattresses. However, they are increasingly being found in offices across the U.S. They usually hide in dark cracks and crevices.

You would rarely know when you are being bitten, because they bite when you are asleep. A bed bug’s bite is painless because the saliva of the bed bug is an anesthetic. The feeding is complete in just five minutes. However, you might find a red welt when you are awake, one similar to that of a mosquito or flea bite. Over a period of a few weeks, you may get sensitized to repeated bites and develop an allergic response. Bed bugs are most active an hour before sunrise, which is their peak feeding time, but may also feed during the day if they are hungry or get the opportunity.

Bed bugs feed every five to ten days. They can, however, live for several months without feeding. If there is no food around, they become dormant for over a year. A well-fed bed bug lives for about six to nine months. The female bed bug lays approximately 5 eggs in a day and nearly 500 during their entire lifetime. Eggs are nearly 1 mm long and are visible to the naked eye. They have a milky-white tinge and take two weeks to hatch. It is therefore important to recheck your home periodically.

Most bites resolve within one to two weeks. Treatments focus on relieving symptoms, and include:

• Applying a topical cream, such as cortisone, to relieve itching
• Administering an oral antibiotic if infection occurs
• Giving oral corticosteroids if there is a severe allergic reaction.
• Use of antihistamines, in some cases, to relieve allergic reactions

As soon as the symptoms are treated, it will be necessary to know the way to deal with the infestation.

The following procedures are advised to get rid of bed bugs:

• Bag the infested bedding and garments and launder them at a minimum of 120° F
• Heat the items in the drier
• For items that cannot be treated by washing or by placing in the drier, wrap them in plastic and place them outdoors in a very hot and sunny location for at least 24 hours
• Vacuuming may help get rid of some of the bed dugs before treatment with insecticides
• You may find it is best to throw some infested items away (bag them before disposal)
• Insecticides are very effective in getting rid of bed bugs. A good pest control professional knows where to look for them and will treat all areas where bugs are found.

The biggest risk from bed bugs comes from secondary bacterial infections, caused by scratching the skin. They are not known to carry diseases, but can cause discomfort and disturbed sleep. If your home is infested with bedbugs, it is important to deal with them immediately.

9/14/2011 Bedbugs Invade Cleveland Nursing Home: ManorCare Nursing & Rehab In Euclid Beach Fighting Off Critters

Experts called bed bugs an epidemic in Northeast Ohio, and one place that was affected was a local assisted living facility on Cleveland’s east side.

“They told me they were looking for bed bugs,” said tenant Edward Jones.

Jones lives in the ManorCare Nursing and Rehab, Euclid Beach facility along with 140 other people. Staff members changing sheets first noticed the tiny blood suckers a few weeks ago and called in a dog trained to sniff them out.

“He looked around in my room and took off,” said Jones.

Five rooms had the bugs and were treated, but that didn’t get rid of them.

“It’s a really hard thing to get out of the way,” said Alonzo Winston, whose wife lives inside. “You’ve got people coming in here all of the time. If you had one group of people that stayed here for the year, you probably wouldn’t have bed bugs.”

Exterminators didn’t find any bugs in his wife’s room. But on their second sweep through the building two weeks ago, they found bugs in three additional rooms and had to treat them too.

On a third visit from the exterminator last week, the building was clean.

“There’s only so much you can do,” said Winston. “That’s all I can say. I think they’re doing the best they can.”

In a statement, ManorCare executives said they “followed the company’s infection control plan that includes precautionary measures with follow up inspections and ongoing employee education.”

ManorCare workers told NewsChannel5 no one was bitten but they plan to evaluate a routine bed bug check in the future.

Bedbugs On Way Up Says National Pest Association

Yuck.

Bedbugs are on the uptick in hotels, on public transport and in other public places.

So says a new survey from the National Pest Management Association (NPMA) survey. It found that infestations — even in hospitals — are up over last year.

Even the pest-control industry “has been surprised” by the resurgence of bedbugs and “where they’re being found,” NPMA public affairs VP Missy Henriksen tells me.

According to the just-released NPMA/University of Kentucky 2011 “Bugs Without Borders Survey,” involving 415 pest-control specialists, the creepy crawlers have multiplied and are found in places you might not expect.

Survey findings include:

* 99% of pest professionals have seen bedbug infestations in the past year (up from 95% in 2010)

*80% of pest professionals have treated bedbugs in hotels/motels, compared with 67% in 2010

*73% of pest professionals believe bedbugs are the most difficult pest to treat
*54% have treated bedbugs in college dorms, up from 35% in 2010
*46% have treated bedbugs in nursing homes, vs. 25% in 2010
*38% have treated bedbugs in office buildings, compared with 18% in 2010
* 36% have treated bedbugs in schools and day care centers, vs. 10% in 2010. That’s an amazing increase, as is the 31% who say they’ve found bedbugs in hospitals, vs. 12% in 2010
*18% have treated bedbugs in trains, buses or taxis, compared with 9% in 2010
*17% have dealt with bedbugs in movie theaters; 5% in 2010

RELATED:  Does your hotel have bedbugs? Check this registry

Why the increase? “Bedbugs are hitchhikers,” Henriksen says. More of us are traveling, and we lead increasingly mobile lives. Also, strong chemicals formerly used to treat bedbugs haven’t been allowed for decades, freeing the little biters to thrive.

The good news, if one can call it that, is that infestations can be treated, by steam, heat, freezing, chemicals, vacuuming or a combination of the above, Henriksen says. She offers some tips for travelers:

*When checking into a hotel, check behind the headboard and on the mattress for stains — blood or fecal matter indicating bedbugs may be present.

*Try to avoid leaving luggage on upholstered surfaces. The safest place is in the bathroom, on counters or in the shower, because the bugs don’t like uncarpeted or non-upholstered surfaces with no place to hide.

*While many find sites such as bedbugregistry.com, which contain reports by travelers and others about infestations, useful, Henriksen warns that since complaints are anonymous, they could be written by disgruntled competitors or employees. And a bedbug infestation that’s here today could be gone tomorrow if the hotel has a good pest control policy, she says. “And hotels are much more proactive now,” she says. Maybe, but if I see multiple, detailed reports of problems at a hotel, I don’t make a reservation. Better to be safe than sorry.

*The bad news is that more bedbugs are being found on trains and planes, she says. So it’s important to be vigilant when you arrive home.

That means immediately taking out all clothes and washing and drying them on “hot,” she says. Or bag them and send them to the dry cleaner if they’re delicate. Vacuum the suitcase thoroughly and dispose of the vacuum bag, she says.

Good tips. Do readers have any more? Have any of you brought bedbugs home from a trip and how did you eradicate them?

Continue Reading More: Bedbugs On Way Up Says National Pest Association

7/7/2011 NASCAR Fans Race From Hotel Bedbugs: Louisville Kentucky LaQuinta Inn Infested

It has been a travel nightmare for an Alabama couple in town for this weekend’s NASCAR race. They told us they found bed bugs crawling around in their bed at their Louisville hotel. 

When we called the LaQuinta Inn and Suites on Alliant Avenue off Blankenbaker Parkway, the front desk confirmed bed bugs in one room. A corporate spokeswoman didn’t return our call and e-mail, but the guests in that room had plenty to say. 

James and Joanna Nicholas say they checked in at the LaQuinta Inn and Suites Tuesday night. Joanna woke up Wednesday morning with a blood thirsty biter on her arm. 

“On the top side of the bed you didn’t see anything, but when we took off all the sheets and pushed the mattress off that’s where we found them underneath the mattress,” James Nicholas said. 

James says right away he called the corporate office in Texas but was referred back to the front desk in Louisville. 

“It was back and forth arguing. We want to go to the different hotel. In the back of your mind, if the bugs are in one room, probably in others,” he said. 

In the end, they got their first night free, moved to another room and Thursday morning will check in to the LaQuinta by the airport. 

This hotel is not alone in Louisville. The Bedbug Registry lists 25 hotels in the metro with bed bugs.

Continue Reading More: NASCAR Fans Race From Hotel Bedbugs

7/3/2011 Top 10 BedBug Myths: The insects, making a comeback around the globe, cannot fly and are really not interested in hanging out on your body–but they do occasionally bite during the day

Once a pest of the past, bedbugs now infest every state in the U.S.. Cimex lectularius—small, flattened insects that feed solely on mammalian and avian blood—have been living with humans since ancient times. Abundant in the U.S. prior to World War II , bedbugs all but vanished during the 1940s and ’50s thanks to improvements in hygiene and the use of pesticides. In the past 10 years, however, the pests have staged a comeback worldwide—an outbreak after the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney was a harbinger of things to come. This revival may be the worst yet, experts say, due to densely populated urban areas, global travel and increasing pesticide resistance—something to consider as the summer travel season gets underway.

“By every metric that we use, it’s getting worse and worse,” says Coby Schal, an entomologist at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. Health authorities and pest control operators are regularly flooded with calls, and the epidemic may not have yet peaked. And because bedbugs are indoor pests, there are no high or low seasons throughout the year, he adds, only continual bombardment. “It’s just the beginning of the problem in the U.S.,” Schal says.

Spreading rapidly with the bedbugs is a mass of misinformation about their biology and behavior. Straight from the experts, here are the facts behind some of the most notorious myths about the diminutive bloodsuckers.

Myth 1: Bedbugs can fly
Bedbugs lack wings, and therefore cannot fly. That is unless you put a blow dryer behind them, says Stephen Kells, a bedbug researcher at the University of Minnesota. Then they’ll fly about 1.2 meters. On their own, bedbugs crawl about a meter a minute, he says.

Myth 2: Bedbugs reproduce quickly
Compared with other insects, bedbugs are slow to reproduce: Each adult female produces about one egg per day; a common housefly lays 500 eggs over three to four days. Each bedbug egg takes 10 days to hatch and another five to six weeks for the offspring to develop into an adult.

Myth 3: Bedbugs can typically live a year without a meal
Scientists debate this point, but evidence suggests that at normal room temperature, about 23 degrees Celsius, bedbugs can only survive two to three months without a blood meal. But because they are cold-blooded, their metabolism will slow down in chillier climates, and the insects may live up to a year without feeding.

Myth 4: Bedbugs bite only at night
Although bedbugs are generally nocturnal, they’re like humans—if they’re hungry, they’ll get up and get something to eat. “If you go away to visit a friend for a week and you come back and sit down on the couch, even though it’s daytime the bedbugs will come looking for you,” Schal says. Keeping a light on, then, unfortunately does not keep these tiny vampires away.

Myth 5: Bedbugs live exclusively in mattresses
“‘Bedbug’ is such a misnomer,” Kells says. “They should also be called pet bugs and suitcase bugs and train bugs and movie theater bugs.” Bedbugs spread away from beds into living areas and can be seen on any surface, he says, including chairs, railings and ceilings.

Myth 6: Bedbugs prefer unsanitary, urban conditions
“Bedbugs are terribly nondiscriminatory,” Schal says. Bedbugs can be found anywhere from ritzy high-rises to homeless shelters. The prevalence of the bugs in low-income housing is therefore not a result of the insect’s preference, but of dense populations and the lack of money to pay for proper elimination strategies. “Any location is vulnerable,” Kells says. “But some people are going to have a harder time getting control of them because it is such an expensive treatment.”

Myth 7: Bedbugs travel on our bodies
Bedbugs do not like heat, Kells says. They therefore do not stick in hair or on skin, like lice or ticks, and prefer not to remain in our clothes close to our bodily heat. Bedbugs are more likely to travel on backpacks, luggage, shoes and other items farther removed from our bodies.

Myth 8: Bedbugs transmit disease
Bedbug bites can lead to anxiety, sleeplessness and even secondary infections, but there have been no reported cases of bedbugs transmitting disease to humans. They do, however, harbor human pathogens: At least 27 viruses, bacteria, protozoa and more have been found in bedbugs, although these microbes do not reproduce or multiply within the insects. Canadian researchers announced (pdf) in the June issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases that bedbugs isolated from three individuals in a Vancouver hospital carried methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, aka MRSA. Still, there have been no reported cases that the bugs actually transmit human disease.

Myth 9: We should bring back DDT
When the controversial pesticide DDT was banned in 1972, most bed bugs were already resistant to it, Schal says, and today’s populations are even more widely resistant thanks to the use of a new class of pesticides. Pyrethroids, the main class of pesticides used against bedbugs today, targets sodium channels in bedbug cells, just like DDT. Consequently, as bedbugs develop resistance to pyrethroids, they also become cross-resistant to DDT.

Myth 10: You can spray bedbugs away
Thanks to pesticide resistance, those cans of spray at your local hardware store simply will not do, Schal says, adding: “Relying strictly on chemicals is generally not a good solution.” The most effective solutions are fumigation and heat treatments, but these can cost a cool $2,000 to $3,000 apiece for a single-family home. Scientists are diligently pursuing other strategies, including freezing and bait similar to that used for cockroaches. In the October 2010 issue of the Journal of Economic Entomology Schal and colleagues at the U.S. Department of Agriculture published a technique that employs inexpensive infrared and vibration sensors to track bedbug movement, which could be applied to the development of automated traps that detect the pests.

Continue Reading More: Top 10 BedBug Myths

6/20/2011 Bedbug Lawsuits Causes Concerns For Insurers

Jeffrey White, a research entomologist with Bed Bug Central in New Jersey, says the bed bug problem is worldwide, though he has seen a dramatic increase in the Northeast. “We use New York City as the barometer for what’s going to happen across this entire country over the next five to ten years.”

A simple review of the online resource, bedbugregistry.com, which shows real time reports of bed bug infestations, confirms the higher incidence of bed bugs in the upper Northeast.

White says he’s seen a rise in calls for expert advice and retention. The number of calls has increased dramatically in the past six months. “We are averaging at least one call a week.”

White notes the calls are evenly split between defense and plaintiff attorneys. The defendants involved are mainly hotels, group homes, apartments, and property management companies.

In White’s experience most lawsuits involving bed bugs settle prior to trial and he is only asked to review the case files and provide an opinion. He emphasizes taking proactive measures to identify and prevent bed bugs early on. Then, he recommends an aggressive action plan to treat the problem.

“Where people are finding themselves in a lot of hot water is when they stick their head in the sand about bed bugs. They don’t have any type of action plan created. They show up and don’t know how to react to the problem. Weeks go by and no action is taken, or they call the cheapest exterminator they can find and they come in and don’t do anything even close to a good treatment for bed bugs.”

Documentation is just as important, White points out.

“That is where a lot of cases have had to settle. People claim they did everything they could have done, but the paperwork does not reflect their claims.”

Pest management records and documentation is equally important. White hasn’t seen many pest control companies named in lawsuits; however, they can get pulled in at any moment.

While most of the lawsuits White has seen involve bodily injury and property claims for medical bills, scarring and furniture replacement, he has noticed a number of plaintiffs also claiming emotional distress.

“We’ve seen a lot of people that are claiming psychological trauma.”

Emotional distress claims range from not being able to sleep at night to having problems at work as a result of the lack of sleep.

During a breakout session of the Orkin-sponsored virtual bed bug summit held in April, Michael Weisburger, president of the PlanetPCO Insurance Group, emphasized that media attention is playing a major role on how bed bug claims are perceived.

“In the event of a highly publicized claim situation, the public will dictate whether or not the damages are “real”. What’s overstated and sensationalized is real! Insurance companies have to contend with all of this hysteria. Insurance companies are having a difficult time getting their arms around how to measure what losses exist and what potential losses exist in claims involving bed bugs.”

While typical property policies don’t cover damage or treatment of bedbugs, general liability policies do come into play. When investigating a bed bug claim and the potential for subrogation, adjusters should check to see if the insured is a named additional insured on the pest management company’s policy.

The NPMA’s Web site has a section devoted entirely to bed bugs. The NPMA recommends visual inspection as the preferred method of determining whether a bed bug infestation exists. The size and color of an apple seed, bed bugs like to travel hiding in suitcases, boxes, and shoes.

“Bed bugs can be very hard to detect until their levels of infestation get to be large,” says Henriksen.

A bed bug hatches from an egg and has five nymphal stages where it will shed an exoskeleton. Each time the new shell will harden and in the final stage it will become a male or female. The bed bug enjoys a blood meal at each stage and will feed multiple times as an adult. The lifespan of a bedbug is typically three months, though they can live up to a year if food is limited. The female will go through multiple reproductions, laying approximately five eggs at a time and between 20 and 100 in her lifetime.

Henriksen recommends watching out for itchy bumps or welts. Bed bugs tend to bite in a pattern or line. When changing sheets it’s a good idea to inspect the bed, mattress, headboard, box spring, and dust ruffle. Pepper-like flakes can be a sign of bed bug excrement or blood debris.

Continue Reading More: BedBug Lawsuits Causes Concerns For Insurers

6/13/2011 Toronto Bedbug Infestations Up By 40%: 2010 Had Huge Spike

Reports of Toronto bed bug infestations spiked by nearly 40% in 2010, says a report released Friday by Global News.

City officials recorded 2,106 infestation reports in 2010, a 38% increase over the 1,528 cases reported in 2009.
The Global report was compiled with City of Toronto data obtained through access-to-information laws.

The numbers do not necessarily mean there were 38% more bedbugs in Toronto in 2010, it may just indicate a bedbug-savvy populace that is more inclined to report their bedbug problem, says Reg Ayre, manager of Healthy Environments for Toronto Public Health. “I’m not seeing a massive exponential growth of bedbugs across the city,” he says.

However, there’s no denying Toronto remains in the throes of a bedbug renaissance. In 2005, the city recorded only 190 cases of bedbug infestation. Three years later, that number had ballooned to 1300. According to bedbugregistry.com, a online bedbug reporting site, Toronto is the “bed bug capital of Canada” with 2270 bedbug infested buildings. Vancouver is a close second, with 1944 reports concentrated largely around downtown.

This year marked the launch of a dedicated City of Toronto bedbug task force, funded by a portion of a $5 million anti-bedbug fund earmarked last year by the Province of Ontario.

In person or over the phone, the task force provides advice to bedbug-afflicted residents. In extreme cases, such as when bedbugs have survived a string of fumigations, the task force will send an inspector to take a closer look. The group has also been called upon to handle bedbug removal for elderly, handicapped or drug-addicted residents who are unable to tackle the problem themselves. “We helped at least 110 vulnerable clients who normally fall through the cracks in the supportive system,” says Mr. Ayre. Inspectors have reported coming upon residents whose bodies were crawling with bedbugs.

The bedbug task force’s funding runs out in March 2012. “We’re hoping to get the province’s ear on this to have this as ongoing funding so we can really get a handle on the problem,” he says.

About 5 millimeters long, bedbugs subsist exclusively on blood from humans and other warm-blooded animals. They do not spread disease, but they do leave painful welts after biting a victim. Despite their name, the insects can live in anything from couches to luggage to clothing, a trait that enables them to spread with remarkable speed. An entire apartment building can be infested by nothing more than a resident carrying home a bedbug-laden suitcase after a trip to New York.

Almost non-existent in the developed world following the close of the Second World War, bedbugs have staged an extraordinary comeback since the mid-1990s. Some experts blame tighter restrictions on indoor pesticides. “What made this problem pretty much go away for decades was the availability of very effective, long-lasting insecticides that were cheap, affordable and available not only to pest control companies but to consumers over the counter,” said Dr. Michael Potter, a University of Kentucky entomologist, speaking to Postmedia in 2010.

The epidemic has prompted the growth of a massive anti-bedbug industry. In Toronto, the Yellow Pages abound with companies that will poison, scrub or cook bedbugs out of a home. In 2009, a Toronto business became the first in Canada to offer bedbug-sniffing beagles.

Despite the invasion, the vast majority of Torontonians sleep in bite-free peace. Even in the most bedbug infested neighbourhoods, officials recorded an average of only two bedbug reports for every 1,000 residents.

Continue Reading More: Toronto BedBug Infestations Up By 40%

5/24/2011 2011 Most Bedbug Plagued Cities List: NYC Takes Top Spot According To Pest Control Giant Terminix

New York, for the second year in a row, according to a study just released by pest-control giant Terminix. Not really a surprise, since NYC is a populous metropolis with well-publicized infestations everywhere from apartment buildings to businesses such as department stores, magazine offices, even Lincoln Center.

Terminix reports an increase in bed bug infestations in most states during the past year, in part because consumers are more aware and on the lookout for the tiny pests, Terminix entymologist Paul Curtis told me.

The company’s list of most bed bug-plagued cities, based on customer complaints validated by Terminix and infestations discovered during pest calls:

1. New York
2. Cincinnati
3. Detroit
4. Chicago
5. Philadelphia
6. Denver
7. Washington, D.C.
8. Los Angeles
9. Boston
10. San Francisco
11. Columbus, Ohio
12. Dayton, Ohio
13. Baltimore
14. Louisville, Ky.
15. Dallas

This is the second year Terminix has put out a list. Baltimore, Dallas and San Francisco appear on it for the first time this year, replacing Indianapolis, Cleveland and Minneapolis.

Bed bugs have always been around, especially since strong chemicals such as DDT were banned, says bug expert Curtis. But today, “People are more aware and communicating” about the issue,” though “there’s still a stigma attached to having bed bugs,” he says. Businesses such as hotels are loath to let customers know about infestations, because that would deter potential clientele. So it can be very difficult to gather accurate information on the extent of bed bug infestation.

I asked Curtis whether it’s true that you can get bitten in seats on planes, trains and buses or in theaters. “There’s no question,” he said. “This is an insect looking for a dark place with a human host, looking to get a blood meal” And bed bugs are “consummate hitchhikers,” moving around easily on people and in bags, he says. Plus, they inject an anesthetic when they bite, so you may not feel it. Some people don’t get bite marks, he says. In other cases, a bite may not show up for a few days, making it hard to tell where you got it.

What to do? Be really careful bringing traveling bags and clothes into your home, he says. “When I get home I put my clothes in a plastic bag. They go into the washer and then the dryer on high (heat kills bed bugs). I vacuum my luggage.”

In hotels, Curtis always strips covers off the mattress and inspects it and the area behind the headboard and under box springs for dark spots (bed bug fecal matter), blood (from a feeding), the bugs themselves (which can range from head-of-a-pin size to appleseed-like), or for rows of tiny eggs.

He does not use hotel drawers and keeps his luggage on a rack as far away from the bed as he can. Bed bugs like to “harbor close to their food sources,” he says. So watch out for beds and upholstered seating. If you want to get extreme, you can place suitcases in big plastic bags that zip closed and you can leave luggage in the bathroom, which is less likely to harbor bed bugs. “But there is no silver bullet” for eradicating them, he says. Heat, cold and multiple treatments are often tried, especially since bugs can lie dormant for a long time.

Terminix has a bed bug learning center online, with answers to many questions about the critters. Other pest control companies, such as Orkin, have posted tips for bed bug detection and treatment.

The good news is that bed bug bites generally don’t cause harm and that “30%-40% of people never have a reaction to them,” Curtis says. Many never realize they were bitten.

Prevention is the key to avoiding extensive and expensive treatments of homes and businesses (which can mean throwing out mattresses and replacing carpets). You also can look at bedbugregistry.com, which contains about 20,000 user-submitted reports, to see if any infestations have been reported at hotels where you’re planning to stay. I checked out a couple of fleabags where I have stayed (and one where I refused to check in because the room looked sketchy), and both had client reports of bed bug bites. In those cases, I was surprised to see how unsympathetc and unhelpful users say management was in responding to the issue.

Continue Reading More: 2011 Most Bedbug Plagued Cities List, NYC Takes Top Spot

5/22/2011 Kansas At Start Of Bedbug Infestation: Experts Say

Some pest experts say Kansas is only seeing the beginning stages of a bed bug infestation.

Bed bugs are tiny terrors that can cause big problems.

“I thought it might be just a few, but I didn’t realize there would be that many of them,” said Howard, who didn’t want to provide his last name because he’s a little embarrassed about the bed bug infestation in his home.

The notorious hitchhikers made their way to Howard’s mattress by catching a ride on second-hand furniture.

“The adult bed bug is about the size of an apple seed,” said Kent Foley, owner of Arrest A Pest, Pest Solutions.

If the insects are old enough, they’re big enough to see, but usually they’re too young and too small.

“One of the things that makes control of bed bugs so difficult is because of their size and the early stages,” said Foley.

Foley suggests checking your sheets and around the box spring and mattress for bed bug feces and blood — signs that you have bed bugs.

“The blood stains are an indication of where the bites have happened on the person,” said Foley.

Recent research shows the blood-sucking bugs carrying the dangerous staph infection MRSA, but at this point, the pests have not been known to spread any diseases.

The best tool for controlling bed bugs in your home is the washer and dryer.  Exterminators suggest that when you come home from a trip or your child comes home from college to take the luggage directly to the laundry room.  They say washing and drying your clothes on the hottest setting will kill the bed bugs and their eggs.

It’s a precaution many college students are taking.

“When it comes down to it, you have easily hundreds of people in your room throughout the year and you don’t know what they’re bringing in and what they’re taking out,” said Martha Close, a student at Kansas State University.

If bed bugs do make it inside your home, early detection and treatment are key.  Experts advise against over-the-counter products to kill bed bugs saying they can actually make the infestation worse.  They suggest calling in the professionals.

Continue Reading More/Watching Video: Kansas At Start Of Bedbug Infestation

5/17/2011 Bedbugs May Cause Anxiety Paranoia & Mood Disorders: New York Langone Medical Center Doctor Evan Rieder Tells MedPage Today

The media frenzy surrounding reports of bedbug infestations in New York may increase acute anxiety and mood disorders.

Although the numbers of cases are few — just 10 in the study reported here — Evan Rieder, MD, of Langone Medical Center, and colleagues are urging colleagues to be aware of the risk associated with the current bedbug outbreak.

“They’ve occurred in patients with a history of psychiatric illness and without,” Rieder told MedPage Today during an interview at his poster at the American Psychiatric Association meeting here.

Among the 10 patients diagnoses included anxiety, depression, and relapse of controlled bipolar disorder. Others were diagnosed with monosymptomatic delusional disorder — imagining that one is crawling with pests, even though no infestation exists.

“If you’re always struggling with seeing the world as an unsafe place, its easy [for something like this] to bolster your delusions,” said Kenneth Silk, MD, of the University of Michigan, chair of APA’s scientific program committee, who was not involved with the study.

Silk relayed the example of working in an emergency department in Michigan the morning after September 11 and seeing a series of bipolar disorder patients — a greater number than usual, he said — with exacerbations of mania: “We felt the event definitely had something to do with the exacerbations of illness.”

As the prevalence of bedbug infestation has risen considerably in New York City and globally in recent years, so has worry about the insects, Rieder said.

Some savvy pest control companies have coined the term “bedbug psychosis” to describe the paranoid feelings that often accompanying a confirmed infestation.

Rieder and colleagues presented detailed review of six of the 10 cases, who ranged in age from 21 to 75. Two of the patients — 21- and 23-year-old women — who relapsed after their bedbug ordeal had controlled bipolar disorder, while a 75-year-old woman had a schizophrenia.

“Any doctor seeing patients [with bedbug infestation and preexisting psychoses] should be on alert,” Rieder told MedPage Today. “These people can decompensate even if they’ve been medically stable for a significant period of time.”

Two others who developed some form of psychiatric illness only had a history of depression or anxiety — including a 39-year-old male patient who developed delusional disorder — and one, a 22-year-old woman, had no prior medical or psychiatric history.

Most of the conditions resulted from increasing anxiety and depression, tied to various factors including greater social isolation and financial distress due to the expense of fumigation, the researchers said.

Rieder and colleagues also conducted a review of the literature and found that bedbug-related psychiatric issues have not been addressed. Thus, more research is needed into the mechanisms underpinning the association, they said.

Rieder speculated that bedbugs create a unique problem compared with other pests such as cockroaches and mice because their effects are felt a bit more personally, as the latter don’t have such a close, physical effect on humans.

Bedbugs are also much harder to detect and exterminate, which could reduce a patient’s ability to feel confident about being secure in their space, Rieder said.

Similarly, he said, the bed is associated with comfort and protection, and not knowing whether the pests are there can undermine that.

“There’s something about the sanctity of the bedroom and the fact that bedbugs are attracted to warmth and blood that violates something that’s really personal,” Rieder said. “Mice and rats aren’t taking a blood meal from human beings.”

Silk agreed, noting that does seem to be a personal intrusion compared with other pests — “especially if it involves a place that you retreat to for comfort.”

It’s also unclear why certain patients develop psychotic symptoms in response to real or threatened infestations, while others do not — an area that also needs further review, the researchers said.

They concluded that physicians who diagnose bedbug infestation or those who treat patients already dealing with an infestation should screen those patients for new psychiatric symptoms.

Continue Reading More: Bedbugs May Cause Anxiety Paranoia & Mood Disorders