5/27/2011 How NYC Became Americas Most BedBug Infested City: Problem Has Plagued Hotels, Subways, Retail & Even NYPD Police Cars

It probably isn’t much of a surprise, but bedbugs are taking a bigger bite out of the Big Apple so far this year, according to one exterminator company.

For the second consecutive year, Terminix ranked the city first in the nation for bedbug infestations, edging out Cincinnati, Detroit, Chicago and Philadelphia.  (In better news for New Yorkers, a rival ranking by competitor Orkin ranked the city only the seventh worst for bedbug cases.)

Terminix’s city rankings are based on the number of customer complaints and infestations discovered by employees of the company’s 350 U.S. branches. The company wouldn’t release specific data on just how many bedbug complaints it gets, but it said the problem is multiplying.

Bob Young, an entomologist and Northeast and Midwest division manager for Terminix, estimated that he has logged two to three times more bedbug calls over last year, following high-profile cases in which bedbug invasions forced several Manhattan businesses to close temporarily.

Is any borough of New York more infested than the others?

“Manhattan,” said Young, who is based in New York. He the added: “Clearly, Brooklyn and Queens. The Bronx. Even in the rural areas. They’re all over the place. These things, they hitchhike.”

Business for bedbug exterminators boomed last year. Bedbugs start at $500 a room, and off-site fumigation of personal belongings can add another $1,000, Young told WSJ columnist Anne Kadet last year. High-end residential jobs involving art and antiques can cost as much as $20,000.

This summer projections for bedbug activity probably won’t help New Yorkers feel more at ease. ”It’s a larger and larger problem each day,” Young said. “College students seem to bring them home with them.”

Young, who has been with Terminix for 15 years, said he started seeing the critters hit New York in the early 2000s. Since then, complaints have risen ten- to fifteenfold, he said, as the public becomes more aware of their presence.

Last year, bedbugs shut down the flagship Niketown store on East 57th Street, the Hollister Epic store in SoHo and a Victoria’s Secret on the Upper East Side, among other locations. And the insects made a debut at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

This year? “They’re even in police-department squad cars,” Young said.

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2/18/2011 New England Bedbug Outbreak Leads To One Day Summit: Attendees Gather To Learn New Techniques To Battle Bedbugs

Scores of property managers, pest exterminators, and others are gathering today at a Dedham hotel to learn new inspection techniques and treatments for bedbug infestations.

Throughout the day, about 200 attendees will learn new methods for finding and treating bedbugs, the biology behind the pests, and results of new studies on the bugs.

“Unfortunately, the problems are growing in New England and throughout the country,” said Missy Henriksen, the National Pest Management Association’s vice president for public affairs.

11/22/10 NYC To Purchase BedBug Sniffing Dogs: City Is Looking For 2 Male Trained Dogs To Sniff Out Bedbugs And Their Eggs

Now hiring: two city inspectors capable of smelling bedbugs. Must walk on four legs.

New York City is moving forward with a plan to purchase bedbug-sniffing dogs for the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. According to a request for information issued Monday, the city is looking for two male dogs trained to sniff out live bedbugs and their eggs.

Most of the funding for the dogs will come from the departments existing enforcement budget, according to an HPD spokesman. The dogs will be deployed citywide and “used to compliment and enhance our existing code enforcement activities,” the spokesman explained.

The city is looking to train up to six dog handlers as part of the initiative. The dogs will be certified by either the National Entomology Scent Detection Association or a similar group.

As The Journal reported in August, there are two major companies that dominate the market for bedbug-sniffing dogs in the U.S., and each one is affiliated with a different certification organization. A trained bedbug-sniffing dog costs about $10,000. Most of the dogs come from rescue shelters.

Pepe Peruyero, the owner of J&K Canine Academy in High Springs, Fla., has about 65 dogs working in the New York metropolitan area. His dog-training company is now affiliated with New York outfit called Bed Bug Super Dogs. Bill Whitstine owns Florida Canine Academy in Safety Harbor, Peruyero’s major rival. Each company is tied to a different certification regime.

Training and certification of bedbug-sniffing dogs has become a hot-button issue within the industry. The National Pest Management Association hopes to release official training protocols for bedbug-sniffing dogs next year.

Jim Skinner, president of NESDCA, said that he has not been contacted by the city. He emphasized that proper training and a strong relationship between handler and dog are essential for successful bedbug detection. If the city is only looking for trained dogs without qualified handlers, Skinner warned that government officials are “going down the wrong road.”

“It’s not about purchasing a canine, it’s about the training that you continue to do on a regular basis. It’s not just, ‘Hey, I got a dog that sniffs out bedbugs’ and you just give them to anybody,” Skinner said. “It’s how that person works with the canine and the relationship they have as a team.”

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11/21/10 Bedbugs On New York City Subways: MTA Fumigating Ninth Street Station In Brooklyn After Recent Siting In Subway Booth

11/8/10 New York City Declares Full War On Bedbugs: Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer Calls For The Eradication Of Bedbugs

10/31/10 BedBug Outbreak Puts NYC Tourists On Alert

FORGET the threats of terrorist attacks or cyber warfare – what is really terrorising New Yorkers is a tiny creature just a fraction of an inch long that is extremely itchy.

Cimex Lectularius, otherwise known as the bedbug, has struck some of the city’s most famous institutions, including the Empire State Building, the United Nations, the Waldorf Astoria and Bloomingdale’s.

The worst infestation of the blood-sucking parasite for decades has hit so many places that Michael Bloomberg, the mayor, has set up a bedbug advisory board, because he fears they could damage the city’s tourism industry. He also plans to appoint a “bedbug czar”. There is even an iPhone app, bedbug alert, which warns of infestations.

With the United States seized by bedbug hysteria, Joel Stein, a columnist for Time magazine, described how his wife forced him to take off his clothes and shower on entering the house after travelling.

“We were once a nation deathly afraid of statistically improbable but powerful things: witches, communism, Mexicans taking our jobs,” he wrote. “Now we are freaked out about bedbugs.”

The parasites have no respect for authority. Last weekend trained dogs were sent into the UN headquarters to sniff out bedbugs that had embedded themselves in a set of antique chairs in a conference room. They were quickly replaced with bug-proof plastic and steel chairs before any diplomatic incidents.

The Waldorf Astoria is being sued by a Florida woman who claimed her daughter was bitten while staying there. The hotel insists it found no evidence of bedbugs in her room.

Last month the Niketown store had to close for fumigation, as did Victoria’s Secret and Abercrombie & Fitch. Bloomingdale’s was also hit, although officials were quick to make it clear that they had found just one parasite in its 59th Street premises and this was quickly disposed of.

Empire State Building officials found a bedbug in the basement and the Lincoln Center for performing arts announced that it had discovered traces of the vermin the day after its annual autumn gala, attended by the stars Sarah Jessica Parker and Natalie Portman.

Some entrepreneurs are trying to cash in on the hysteria by staging Bedbugs!!!, a musical. The songs include Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite! and He Pierced Me.

The iPhone bedbug alert shows maps for 10 cities with red dots to represent places where the pests have been found. Reports are constantly updated and users submit their own sightings. The app also has a “bedbug tutorial” explaining what to look for or how to tell if you have been bitten.

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10/30/10 NYC Bedbugs Scaring Off Tourists

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City’s bedbugs have climbed out of bed and marched into landmarks like the Empire State Building, Bloomingdale’s and Lincoln Center, causing fresh anxiety among tourists who are canceling Big Apple vacations planned for the height of the holiday season.

Some travelers who had arranged trips to New York say they are creeped out about staying in hotels and visiting attractions as new reports of bedbugs seem to pop up every few days. And officials in Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration are concerned about the effect on the city’s image and $30 billion tourism industry.

The discoveries of pests at high-profile places are often not full-blown infestations, or even in public areas. Bloomingdale’s reported finding exactly one bug in the famous department store, the Empire State Building had them in the basement and Lincoln Center’s were in a dressing room.

But those reports, along with bedbug discoveries in movie theaters, hotels and clothing chain stores, are causing skittish travelers to call off trips planned months ago.

Industry professionals — who have privately told city officials that they are nervous about bedbugs hurting New York’s reputation — say publicly that they are not aware of any bedbug-related cancellations. But several would-be tourists tracked down by The Associated Press say they are aborting their trips here because they fear the bloodsucking pests.

“It sounds like you can get them anywhere, any time of day and not know it until you get home,” said Patty Majerik, from Baltimore.

She said she may not travel to Manhattan next month with her children, ages 7 and 10, like they do every year around the holidays to shop, catch a Broadway show and see the Radio City Christmas show.

“I’ve got four people traveling on a train, in cabs, going to stores and theaters, and they could be in any of these places? I hate to say it, but I doubt we’re going to come this time,” Majerik said.

Suzanne Baldwin said she is forfeiting money spent on reservations for a November trip to New York City from her home in Florida. She had already grown accustomed to checking hotel rooms for bedbugs — and has done so in New York before — but she is now overwhelmed at the idea that the bugs have spread beyond hotels.

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10/28/10 Are Tourists Overreacting To New Yorks BedBug Scare?

With New York City’s bedbug sightings spreading to landmarks such as the Empire State Building, Bloomingdale’s, and Lincoln Center, tourists are canceling vacations at the height of the coming holiday season. Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office is worried the panic will hurt the city’s $30 billion tourist industry at a time when the local economy can’t afford to take another hit. Is this just a result of media-fueled “bedbug hysteria,” or are these tiny pests really a good reason to avoid New York?

The bedbug threat is way overblown: Bedbugs are just the trendy “annoyance/epidemic/infestation” of 2010, says Sergio Hernandez at The Village Voice. They have not disrupted life enough to justify the panic, and, despite the breathless reports, bedbugs are not killing New York’s tourism industry. If some visitors really are so irrationally scared, maybe the city’s hotels should “start handing out bug spray” instead of pillow mints.
“Are bedbugs scaring tourists away from NYC?”

People’s fears may be overblown — but they’re still strong: Bedbugs may not carry disease the way mosquitoes and rats can, says Joel Stein at Time, but that doesn’t mean they can’t provoke “hysteria.” They are gross, for starters. They suck your blood, they’re extremely difficult to eradicate, and they can invade our homes, which are supposed to be “fortresses” in which we are safe from threats in the outside world. That plays on some very primal anxieties.
“What’s so bad about bedbugs?”

Continue Reading More: Are Tourists Overreacting To New Yorks BedBug Scare?

10/28/10 NYC Bedbug Outbreak Takes Bite Out Of Tourists

10/15/10 New York City: NYC BedBug Outbreak Has Tourists Crawling Away

As Radio City’s Rockettes start practicing for the Christmas show and retailers plan their holiday windows, some tourists are canceling their annual trips because of bedbugs.

New York City’s (NYC) bedbugs have climbed out of bed and marched into landmarks like the Empire State Building, Bloomingdale’s and Lincoln Center, causing fresh anxiety among tourists who are canceling Big Apple vacations planned for the height of the holiday season.

Some travelers who had arranged trips to New York say they are creeped out about staying in hotels and visiting attractions as new reports of bedbugs seem to pop up every few days. And officials in Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration are concerned about the effect on the city’s image and $30 billion tourism industry.

The discoveries of pests at high-profile places are often not full-blown infestations. Bloomingdale’s reported finding exactly one bug in the famous department store, the Empire State Building had them in the basement and Lincoln Center’s were in a dressing room.

But those reports, along with bedbug discoveries in movie theaters, hotels and clothing chain stores, are causing skittish travelers to call off trips planned months ago.

Industry professionals—who have privately told city officials that they are nervous about bedbugs hurting New York’s reputation—say publicly that they are not aware of any bedbug-related cancellations. But several would-be tourists tracked down by The Associated Press say they are aborting their trips here because they fear the bloodsucking pests.

Continue Reading More: New York City BedBug Outbreak Has Tourists Crawling Away

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