This piece was produced by Bulwark Exterminating and Dream Systems Media, very cool.
Find it at: http://www.rockymountainmattress.com/blog/2012/05/22/how-to-check-for-bed-bugs-like-a-professional/
For more information on bed bugs and mattress replacement feel free to comment below.
With all the gloom and doom around bed bugs the authorities have fought long a hard to stiffle any claims made about bed bugs carrying diseases but per the Medical Entomology Team at Perdue:
“At least 27 agents of human disease have been found in bed bugs, including viruses, bacteria, protozoa, and parasitic worms. None of these agents reproduce or multiply within bed bugs, and very few survive for any length of time inside a bed bug. There is no evidence that bed bugs are involved in the transmission (via bite or infected feces) of any disease agent, including hepatitis B virus and HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. ” http://extension.entm.purdue.edu/publichealth/insects/bedbug.html
Can bed bugs carry disease? Yes. Many professionals have suspected this all along. So the next argument being debated is this:
Bed Bug Bites
So yes they carry disease causing bacteria and virus, but does that mean they can actually transfer it from one human host to the next. It is a very frightening though indeed, and no need to scare the public if it’s not yet proven, RIGHT? But today’s reports leave the possibility very suspect. The Blaze reported yesterday afternoon that a medical Microbiologist became suspicious after seeing a rise in MRSA patients and bed bugs in a poor part of town. So the scientist and his friends collected 5 bed bugs from the neighborhood and found MRSA in 3 of the 5. Circumstantial evidence?
While these findings may not be conclusive, the thought is eery. Protect yourself… And if true, you REALLY don’t want the bed bugs to bite.
Soooo Just a reminder… Get Bug Repellent.
DDT nearly wiped-out the bed bug population in America until the EPA banned its use on June 14th, 1972. DDT was widely used around beds, furniture and other favorite bed bug hideouts. Some reports say it was generally effective at killing bed bugs for about a year after treatment but was also considered harmful to human health and to the environment. Although we all grew up hearing the phrase, “Sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite,” I don’t think most of us knew what bed bugs were or what pests bed bugs could become if they made it into our home.
Now that bed bugs are on the rise again, it is interesting what information you can find from Search Engines. On Google Trends, it shows which terms are being searched for and ranks them according to their increase in search volume. Below, you will find some search terms related to bed bugs that are increasing; the last column even shows how much the volume of the search term has increased:
What is also interesting to know is what people are actually searching for. According to one search engine, some of the popular searches related to bed bugs are:
Another interesting automatically-generated bed bug info-graphic is dynamically created by searching for bed bugs in Google’s Insights tool. I used Google’s tool to create the map below. There are a couple of observations I had when I viewed this map for the first time. The first thought I had was that I was not surprised that the darkest shaded area, and therefore the area with the most search volume related to bed bugs, were in the states of New York and New Jersey. When it comes to bed bugs, New York is kind of the Mecca. I assume it is because of all of the international travel that goes through New York or it could be other reasons but I was not surprised to see that most of the nation’s bed bug search queries came from New York and New Jersey. With all of the travel and the great weather in Florida, I was also surprised that there weren’t more instances of bed bugs in that state; along with the other southern states. The mild and moist weather through the south keeps many bugs happy all year long.
West of the Mississippi, I was surprised to see such high search volume for bed bugs in Arizona and Colorado. I expected to see more search volume in California, Oregon and Washington.
Is there really a problem with bed bugs in Phoenix?
Over the last couple of years we have heard numerous reports of how bed bugs are taking over the east coast in cities like New York, Tampa, and Chicago. Seldom, though, do we hear of the growing problems that we face here in Phoenix and throughout Arizona. Marcy and I inspect homes, apartments, condominiums and commercial properties on a daily basis. My partner, Marcy, is a two and a half year old beagle terrier trained to find bed bugs.
I started K-9 Bed Bug Inspectors in January of 2011 after working for a local, family-owned and operated pest Control Company for the last 5 years. While working for Bulwark Exterminating I have watched the local bed bug problem grow at a very rapid pace and realized that Phoenix was about to experience a problem that has already plagued so many cities across the nation. So in an effort to help with the problem and educate as many people as possible, I started K-9 Bed Bug Inspectors.
K-9 Bed Bug Inspectors are a full service company dedicated specifically to the education, detection and eradication of Bed Bugs. One of the things that I find most interesting as a professional is that the majority of people that I meet in Phoenix still are not aware that we have a problem with bed bugs in our city. This couldn’t be further from the truth and as long as people in Phoenix continue to be uneducated on the severity of the problem that we are facing it will continue to get worse.
Some of the biggest misconceptions that people have are that bed bugs only live in dirty or low income homes. Marcy and I have been inspecting homes and businesses all over the valley, including some of the nicest homes in Scottsdale and Paradise Valley and other areas of Phoenix where homes are worth well over a million dollars. Socioeconomics is not a concern for bed bugs all they want is blood so whether your bank account has 5 dollars or 5 million dollars in it, the bed bugs don’t care; we all bleed red and that’s what they are after. In fact, those with the means to travel are prone to carry bed bugs home with them from areas of the country and world with bigger infestations than our home state.
With the economy the way it has been and the housing marked being hit so hard there are some who have taken the opportunity to invest in foreclosures and turn them into rentals. Most of my clients that are in this position have the most to lose with the current threat of bed bugs because of the potential loss of profits on their investment. Let’s say, for example, that you own a single family home that you are renting out as a small investment and your taking in $300-$400 dollars after expenses. If that property becomes infested with bed bugs and you don’t have any agreements in place with the tenants then you are responsible for treating your property for the pests. A typical bed bug infestation on a single family home of about 1500 square feet can cost anywhere from $1500-$2500 dollars to treat. That could take months to recoup the loss and start making a profit again.
I give this conservative example to illustrate the devastation that bed bugs are having all across the country and now they are in Phoenix and will be here for a long time to come. I estimate that 50% percent of our populations will have dealt with bed bugs over the next 5 years and the problem is not expected to peek for another 10 years. Bed Bugs are being considered a pandemic by the country’s leading entomologists and because of their resilience to the pest control products that are on the market today, bed bugs are proving to be quite the adversary to most pest control companies. Bed Bugs are in Phoenix and are here to stay so do your part in educating yourself and those around you and then maybe just maybe we can avoid the sort of devastation and nightmare that our fellow Americans are living in other cities.
Bulwark Exterminating created this video with K-9BedbugInspectors.com testing bug repellent against bed bugs. Could the solution to the EPA spending $550,000 on research be that simple? Does bug repellent prevent bed bugs? 1st test is in and the results look promising. Bedbug repellent just might solve the nation’s woes of the spreading bedbug epidemic. From the bedbug dog sniffing team in Phoenix AZ, and your local pest control company, Bulwark Exterminating, this is one video you will want to watch.
Wouldn’t it be great to know that bug repellent can keep your home bedbug free? After round one the results seem positive. The second part of this video we test the repellent after a short feeding to see if it works again. AJ Richards, owner of K9 Bedbug Inspectors, allowed this common bed bug to latch onto his untreated forearm. The bug did indeed begin the blood sucking process. Richards then moved the bug to his opposite arm treated with an advanced formula insect repellent, containing 7% Picaridin. The bed bug scattered around Richards’ arm, refusing to attach itself. Once returned to the original untreated arm, the tiny insect immediately resumed its feeding.
The bedbug did indeed avoid the sprayed arms on both test subject. Well call me crazy, but carrying some bug repellent in my suitcase is now a no-brainer. Spraying down my luggage with bedbug repellent? Yep. Spraying down my clothes prior to going to a movie theater that doesn’t carry a bedbug inspection seal? Yep. I would even consider spraying myself down prior to ridding a mass transit vehicle at night, airplanes included. Getting a bedbug infestation is not an enjoyable experience. Treating a bedbug infestation can cost a couple of thousand dollars.
Yes, two successful trials, and our hopes are soaring. Bedbug repellent here we come. But this is just the preliminary tests. We are currently under way testing how long the repellent will be effective in detouring the bed bugs. Will it last through the night? Is it only affective for 10 minutes?
Bed Bug feeding on human
Today is the start of the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Bed Bug Summit in Washington DC. The government sponsored 2-day event will discuss regulation, research and prevention on a national level for multiple industries. This is the EPA‘s second such conference in two years, as the first was held in 2009 in Virginia.
Bed bug summits have become an event of high demand lately. In September of 2010, the first ever North American Bed Bug Summit took place in Chicago. With a more traditional summit atmosphere, bed bug experts and professionals gathered to discuss the ever-growing problem that continues to plague major cities and small towns across the county. Consider these summits to be the Super Bowls of bed bug extermination.
So what’s in the playbook? ABC News reported the agenda in Chicago consisted of seminars focused on detection and treatment. Vendors from all over the nation were on site with their anti-bed bug products. For example, on display was an air tight bag designed to seal your laundry during travel, after-which dissolves in the washer, eliminating the risk of opening the bag and letting those little critters escape. Seems like a good idea!
If you haven’t experienced bed bugs first hand, count yourself lucky. ABC also reported that at least 5 states have actually solicited help from the Department of Defense, which gives a whole new meaning to “national security”. I would love to be there for that mission. “Lock and load! Weapons are hot!” right before they bust down the doors to little Jimmy’s room and secure the area. We have veterans here in the company, so our respect goes out to all the men and women that keep us safe.
While we do no target bed bugs specifically, we do advise proper prevention and detection before hiring a professional to service your residence. Bed bug sniffing dogs are a unique and effective way to determine the presence and severity of any infestation. To our Arizona neighbors and businesses, we recommend AJ and his trusty dog Marcie, over at K9 Bedbug Inspections.
Thomas Ballantyne ( @Thos003 ) interviewing Griffen Pest Solutions ( @griffinpest )
US Bed Bug Reports | InstectReport.org & bedbugregistry.com
Bed bugs are a hot topic for many U.S. cities. Fortunately most of the metro areas Bulwark Exterminating covers have not been red zones. But I understand Griffin is experiencing a lot of bed bug requests.
Griffin: Griffin Pest Solutions corporate headquarters is located in Kalamazoo, Michigan, plus we have service branches in Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor as well. We service most of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula and Northwest Indiana. Cities in our service area include: Detroit, Ann Arbor, Battle Creek, Lansing, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, Flint and South Bend, IN.
Griffin: We have seen a significant amount of bed bug business from the greater Detroit and Ann Arbor areas. This is no surprise as Detroit has been listed by several national pest control companies as one of the top 5 most infested bed bug cities in the U.S. Our bed bug heat treatment service teams are booked two to three weeks in advance. As business continues to grow, we are anticipating adding a 3rd shift.
Our biggest customers for bed bugs this year have been apartment communities and hotels. However, we have also treated college dorms, homeless shelters, hospitals, assisted living centers, recreational facilities, housing commissions and a good number of residential homes. Clearly bed bugs are spreading, with no end in sight.
Thos003: There is a lot of doom and gloom around the whole bed bug topic. The products that nearly made bed bugs extinct 30 years ago are no longer allowed by the EPA. So controlling bed bugs now is a whole new ball game. We are having to re-invent a solution.
Griffin: Bed bugs are known as hitch-hikers. They are easily transported on people and their belongings. Some of the most common ways of getting bed bugs include picking them up while traveling. By simply putting your luggage on the bed in a hotel, bed bugs could latch on, or crawl in your luggage and you can bring them home with you.
Thos003: Are there other ways for them to spread beyond them being carried by their hosts?
Griffin: If you live in multi-unit housing, such as apartments or dorms, where you share a common wall, you may get bed bugs from your neighbor. Bed bugs only have to travel about 6 inches, through your walls, ceiling, or floors to reach you. Unfortunately, there is not much you can do to prevent this from happening.
Adult Bed Bugs grow to 3/8 inch
Another common way to get bed bugs is to buy used furniture at garage sales, antique shops or resale shops. Furniture is rarely inspected and bed bugs can easily hide in furniture cracks. Once inside your house, the bed bugs will multiply. People need to understand that bed bugs are not a cleanliness issue. Bed bugs are a people issue.
Thos003: A lot of bugs go dormant during the cold seasons. What about bed bug?
Griffin: Living in a cold weather climate, we typically see insect activity dramatically decline in the winter. However, with bed bugs we do not anticipate a drop in activity. Bed bugs are on the rise across the country and Michigan has just scratched the surface of the bed bug issue. With the cold weather, people will be spending more time indoors, where it’s warm. Bed bugs live where people live, so the cold weather does not affect them.
Thos003: Wow, Christmas coming up soon and a lot of travelers. How will this affect bed bugs?
Kids are coming home from college; people are traveling to visit family and friends, and bringing bed bugs with them. We expect to see a spike in bed bug activity about 45-60 days after the holidays. This is about the amount of time it takes for bed bugs to multiply to a significant infestation level.
Griffin: When traveling, people need to be vigilant. If they’re staying in a hotel, inspect the room before you bring your luggage to the room. When doing an inspection, bring a bright flashlight. Look for insects the size, shape and color of an apple seed. Bed bugs also shed their skins as they grow, so you may see some casings. Pull back the bed sheets and check the mattress for small rust stains, bed bug excrement, about the side of a pencil eraser. Look under the mattress, inside the end tables and most importantly, behind the headboard. If you can take the headboard off the wall, do it. Hotels can change out bedding and mattress, but usually don’t switch the headboard. If there are no bed bugs behind the headboard, you can be reasonably sure your room does not have bed bugs. If you see any signs of bed bugs, ask for another room nowhere near the room you just came from…or check out of the hotel.
We also tell people not to place luggage on the bed or floor. Keep it as far away from the bed as possible. When traveling, our team puts luggage in the bathtub. We also travel with large zip-lock clothing bags and put all dirty and unworn clothes into the bag. When you get home, immediately dump the contents of the bag into your clothes dryer and turn it on the hottest setting for at least 30 minutes. Don’t overload the dryer though. You need the hot air to circulate. Vacuum your luggage and then store it in your garage or basement, away from where you sleep. Be sure to remove the vacuum bag, double bag it and throw it away. I know all of this seems excessive, but it is well worth the hassle. Getting rid of bed bugs can be very expensive.
Thos003: That is some great advice. I’ve got some of my own precautions I use when traveling. The bit about keeping the luggage away from the bed and floor is priceless. But honestly never considered placing it in the tub. Thanks! I am sure there are lot of people searching the internet right now for some tips on controlling bed bugs. Lot of good and some bad advice online as well. Are there some other resources people should use online for bed bug advice?
Griffin: Yes. Be proactive before you travel, check out www.bedbugregistry.com and www.tripadvisor.com. On these sites, consumers report bed bugs. BedBugRegistry is straight forward. However, on TripAdvisor, you will need to search by city name and key words “bed bugs”, and then read the consumer comments. If a property is listed or a consumer comments about bed bugs, you may want to stay somewhere else.
Thos003: Awesome. And while these precautions may seem extreme, getting a bed bug infestation in my own home isn’t something I would ever want to experience. So again, great advice. I would also add one more tidbit for the holiday season, send all of your new clothes through a dry cycle when you bring them home from your Christmas Shopping.
Learn more about bedbugs on www.GriffinPestSolutions.com webpage about Bed Bugs.
Don’t let the Bed Bugs Bite, or ruin your mattress
The Beginning of the Bed Bug Epidemic
Posted on October 14th, 2010 by Andy
Howard Stern’s studio was hit with bed bugs and Stern’s paranoia kicked in, “I was scratching every minute.” Bill Clinton gets mocked on late night TV for having yet another guest besides his wife in bed with him, which is only fitting that a politician gets lumped together with other blood suckers. From Abercrombie and Fitch in New York to airplanes and movie theaters, bed bugs are back with a vengeance. New York being a very transit city and having mass numbers in skyscraper apartment complexes is perhaps at the epicenter of this bed bug pandemic. Reports from New Zealand are now flowing in about their country experiencing a rapid rise in these creepy crawly blood suckers. There is no doubt, that the old rhyme has found a new time.
Where do bed bugs hide?
These parasitic insects feed on the blood of mammals. They were so named bedbugs due to fact that they are most commonly found in bed mattresses. Bed bugs being nocturnal would make the bed of the un-expecting host their home, for easy access. Prior to the invention of electricity, many more hours were spent in bed at night. In today’s fast paced open 24 hours for business, bed bugs nocturnal life style has hit the streets as well. Your mattress no longer matters. Bed bugs will infest couches, the cushions of transit vehicles, the movie theater’s recliners. If there is a night life, a little fabric, and enough to drink, bed bugs can and will invade.
How do bed bugs spread?
Bed bugs primarily spread from the clothing or fur of the host as the host travels. Hotels are frequented by mass volumes of visitors, and are even the retreat of individuals whose homes are being treated for bed bugs. Bed bugs also spread as laundry is being moved. Large apartment complexes are rapidly infested by the proximity of the residents. Bed bugs will also drop to the carpet, and slip through cracks. So they can spread by crawling from room to room, contaminating multiple dwellings in apartments. Bed bugs are difficult to control because most people do not know when the intrusion begins.
Signs of bed bugs.
Bed bugs will often go undetected for the first week or two, allowing time for the population to grow. Their bites carry no sting to them, so most will only begin to notice bites as the numbers increase. The multiple bites will look like a rash. Bites may also line up in a row, which is a distinctive characteristic to bed bug bites. Spots on sheets from blood or brown spots of bed bug fetus are good signs to look for. Bed bugs can also be found hiding in the corners of the mattress. Or in the crevices of screws on the bed posts. Checking your hotel mattress isn’t a bad idea when traveling. Look for blood spots on the mattress itself and check the corners. It may even be wise to carry your own protective bed bug cover or stay in hotels that use mattress covers.
How to protect yourself.
Prevention is worth a pound of cure. Get mattress covers. While this will not guarantee protection of your home, it is the best deterrent you have. And with bed bugs they are far easier to prevent than cure. You should also wash all of your clothes, used or not after traveling. Storing your suitcases away from your bed is also advisable. If your home becomes infested, you can attempt to treat your home for bed bugs yourself. There are do-it-yourself pest control solutions for bed bugs but due to the tenacity of these creatures, it is best to call a professional pest control service. Treatments for bed bugs will take time and effective solutions are not cheap. Find a company that will guarantee their work and that will continue to come back until the problem is solved. Cooperate with the company you employee as well. You may be asked to wash all of bedding, on a regular schedule. You may be asked to keep clothing of the floor and away from beds. Bed bug treatments may even require that the premises are vacated for a few weeks until the site is sterile.
In conclusion, if you don’t want the bed bugs to bite then learn to protect yourself. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
The bedbug epidemic is damaging many businesses. Hotels, apartments, and other residential rentals are the more obvious victims to this spreading problem. But they are not the only ones. Airplanes and movie theaters have been listed before, but this is a new one. A retail clothing store gets hit and bad enough to close up shop for the 4th of July. But this wasn’t just any retail clothing store, this was Hollister of New York, NY. And a few days later Abercrombie & Fitch closed for bed bugs as well.
Up until about 2 years ago the bedbug problem in the US was pretty much extinct. Quoting the Illinois Department of Health’s website the bedbug “remains an occasional invader with infestations arising in homes and swank hotels as well as apartment buildings and homeless shelters.” Not only is this information outdated, but it incorrectly reinforces the idea that bedbugs are associated with a lack of care on the establishments part. It does correctly say that hosts have no idea that they are even catering to these blood suckers. “The bed bug’s adaptation to humans is so complete that its bite is rarely felt until well after the bug leaves its victim.” Thus controlling this epidemic is extremely difficult because by the time the problem is realized it’s a full blown infestation. And hosts will unknowingly carry them from hotel to home, from home to the retail store, from the retail store to the movie theater. Bed bugs will infest any location frequented by humans.
Fortunately getting rid of bedbugs in sheets and linens isn’t too difficult. The pest control company in New York assisting Hollister wants to assure people that the clothes will be fine.
“Bedbug expert Timothy Wong, the technical director of M&M Environmental who worked with Moving Right Along to help treat Hollister’s merchandise and is intimately familiar with the case, says that the clothes are fine after undergoing fumigation in an off-site warehouse — that process is foolproof (and smellproof — you’d never know the clothes had been treated, Wong says)”
http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2010/07/is_hollisters_bedbug_problem_r.html
But the problem could be far from over. If the bedbugs hit both Hollister and Abercrombie and Fitch then the pests could be coming from a warehouse. Plus, it’s going to be difficult for the stores to regain the millions lost while the problem is being solved.
http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/pcbedbugs.htm
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/07/03/2010-07-03_bedbugs_shutter_2nd_store_seaports_abercrombie__fitch_infested.html
http://mmbuzz.mandmenvironmental.com/2010/07/bed-bugs-shut-down-new-york-retail.html
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