5/25/2011 Bedbugs Found For Second Time At Washington DC Hospital: United Medical Center Dealt With Already This Past March

The D.C. Department of Health confirmed that United Medical Center is dealing with its second case of bed bugs since March.

DOH spokesperson Dena Iverson said a patient complained about being bitten on Tuesday, May 17. She said a pest control technician came to the hospital that day.

Iverson said bed bugs were found in two rooms. While those rooms were treated, “[the hospital] moved everyone out of that area,” she said.

According to a source who declined to be identified, as many as six rooms may have been treated as a precaution.

Just two months ago, on March 7, UMC said a patient was discovered with bed bugs in the hospital’s psychiatric unit. Extermination began on March 8. In that incident, hospital staff said bed bug sniffing dogs detected the bugs in only one patient room. However, four rooms in total were treated as a precaution.

According to Iverson, the rooms received a chemical treatment rather than a heat treatment. She said using chemicals is equally effective as using heat to kill bed bugs. However, chemicals take longer because they require a different application method.

Iverson also said the bugs were tested for MRSA. The test results are still pending.

Scientists in Canada recently found the pests are able to carry the dangerous staph infection MRSA or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

It is unclear where in the hospital this latest outbreak was located. United Medical Center has not returned calls or emails for comment.

D.C. law does not require hospitals – or any business, for that matter – to disclose bed bug incidents to health officials or the public. However, DOH officials say they were notified by UMC.

DOH has also offered to train UMC staff on how to identify and respond to bed bugs.

Iverson said “hospitals are like hotels.” With frequent visitors and close sleeping quarters, environments like hospitals and hotels can create ideal conditions for a bed bug infestation.

According to Iverson, the rooms have received a chemical treatment to kill the bugs. She said using chemicals is as effective as the more traditional heat treatments. However, chemicals take longer because they require a different application method.

Iverson also said the bugs found last week were tested for MRSA. The test results are still pending.

After studying hospitals in Canada, scientists recently found that bed bugs are able to carry the dangerous staph infection MRSA or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

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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

5/20/2011 Ohio Bedbug Complaints Double In Public Housing: Lucas County Parqwood Apartments Amongst The Worst

Bed bug complaints in public housing have doubled since last year, according to the Lucas County Health Department.

It’s so bad at one apartment complex that residents have been displaced and now crews are doing routine inspections with a specialized dog! However, it’s a problem that can easily be prevented.

Bed bugs are such a problem at Parqwood Apartments that special dogs were brought in to inspect each unit. Paul Bollinger, regional manager of Lucas Metropolitan Housing Authority, says, “Very similar to a drug dog or a cadaver, very same concept. There taught to sniff certain things, and the bed bug has a unique smell that’s only picked up by a K-9.”

This is the second time in less than a year that dogs have been used to inspect every apartment. “Been dealing with them for the past 24 months. The last 18, we’ve gone exclusively to doing heat treatments as opposed to chemical,” says Bollinger.

Since September, nearly 70 apartments have received heat treatment. During that time, residents were displaced. According to the Lucas County Health Department, complaints have gone up 50 percent since last year!

“It’s an issue of re-entry. We’re comfortable that when a unit is heat treated that it’s pest free, so our problems come back from reentry.”

In many cases, bed bugs are carried into a home after vacation, but authorities from lmha aren’t blaming hotels. “If they’re shopping at second hand stores, garage sales and getting used items from friends and family, if they’re not diligent in inspecting those items, they’re not bringing them back in, then we’re working against each other.” For those of you second-hand shoppers out there, simply putting clothes in the dryer on high heat will kill bed bugs. Experts also suggest getting a steamer, which will allow you to kill them on furniture.

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5/10/2011 Thailand Denies Bedbug Spray Killed Sarah Carter: Despite 60 Minutes Report Chlorpyrifos Found In Hotel Room

Thai experts have dismissed allegations a toxic insecticide caused the sudden death of 23-year-old New Zealand tourist after she fell ill in her Chiang Mai hotel, the Bangkok Post reports.

Sarah Carter, 23, became violently sick on February 3 while staying at the Downtown Inn in Chiang Mai and died a day later.

Her two friends and travelling companions, Emma Langlands and Amanda Eliason, also fell ill but later recovered.

An investigation aired by TV3′s 60 Minutes showed trace elements of the chemical chlorpyrifos, used to kill bed bugs, were found in the hotel room Ms Carter was staying in.

United Nations scientist Ron McDowall, who carried out tests on behalf of TV3, said the symptoms suffered by Ms Carter and the other tourists who died suggested they were killed by over exposure to the chemical.

But Chiang Mai Public Health Office deputy chief Surasing Visaruthrat told the Bangkok Post the investigation’s conclusion “carries little weight”.

Thorough checks conducted by the doctors when the three tourists were admitted to the hospital found no traces of insecticides and an autopsy found no toxic substances in Ms Carter’s body, he said.

“We can’t jump to a conclusion that toxin exposure was the cause of the death because the substance was allegedly found in the hotel room alone, not in the victim’s body.”

Dr Surasing yesterday chaired a meeting of the investigation team. The meeting, attended by doctors and experts from various agencies, ended with no conclusion on the deaths.

Test results of samples collected from the victims’ bodies were sent back from laboratories in the United States and Japan, the Bangkok Post reported.

Sarah Carter’s father, Richard, said TV3 had presented a strong case chlorpyrifos had caused his daughter’s death.

The 60 Minutes investigation showed teams of Thai workers intensely cleaning rooms on the fifth floor of hotel, where Ms Carter and her friends became ill.

Mr Carter believed this was an attempt by the Thai authorities to get rid of evidence on her death in order to minimise damage to the country’s lucrative tourism industry.

Green Party toxics spokesperson Catherine Delahunty yesterday called for Government to consider banning chlorpyrifos in New Zealand.

A kiwifruit worker was hospitalised in 2008 after being accidentally sprayed with Lorsban, in which the active ingredient is chlorpyrifos, she said.

“It is very worrying that this highly toxic chemical is still being used in New Zealand.

“Now it has been implicated in the deaths of tourists in Thailand, we must look more closely at its use here in New Zealand. Other countries have banned its use, particularly in homes and gardens.

“If it is dangerous in our homes, it’s also dangerous to use in growing our food, and in the workplace.”

Environmental Risk Management Authority guidelines show chlorpyrifos is acutely toxic to humans, very toxic in aquatic environments and toxic in soils.

Ms Delahunty said keeping it in use in New Zealand compromised the country’s “clean, green” brand.

“Our livelihoods depend on our clean, green brand. We cannot afford to sacrifice our environment and our people for the sake of saving a few bucks by using an acutely toxic insecticide.”

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5/8/2011 Bedbug Spray Linked To Thailand Tourist Death: May Have Had Reaction To Overdose Of Insecticide

TOURIST Sarah Carter may have died mysteriously in Chiang Mai earlier this year from reaction to an overdose of insecticide, a New Zealand television show speculated tonight.

The ‘Sixty Minutes’ program took samples from a Chiang Mai hotel room for testing and found traces of an insecticide, chlorpyrifos, which is banned from domestic use in some countries.

A Phuketwan reporter visited the Laleena guesthouse on Phi Phi soon after the deaths while samples of household chemicals were being taken for testing, but no cause of the fatalities was ever established.

Sarah Carter’s death was one of seven in Chiang Mai over a period of several weeks earlier this year. The deaths have yet to be adequately explained by local authorities, who believe they were coincidental.

According to New Zealand reports, the ‘Sixty Minutes’ program has produced ”credible evidence” that Sarah Carter died due to insecticide poisoning.

Chemical samples were taken from the bedroom that 23-year-old Ms Carter stayed in at the Downtown Inn, at a time when the entire fifth floor was being pulled apart and cleaned.

Before leaving for Chiang Mai, ‘Sixty Minutes’ spoke to a New Zealand scientist who suspected insecticide poisoning.

”I think she’s been killed by an overzealous sprayer who has been acting on the instructions of the hotel owner to deal with the bed bugs,” chemical expert Dr Ron McDowall, who works for the United Nations cleaning up toxic rubbish dumps, was quoted as saying on the site 3news.co.nz.

He said the traces brought brought back were small, but the fact that the chemical was found three months later, in a room that had been scrubbed, points to chlorpyrifos poisoning.

Among other theories is one that goes that the heavy use of chemicals on foodstuffs grown around Chiang Mai may have left residues in a meal eaten by Ms Carter and her two friends, who also fell ill but survived.

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