Bed Bugs

Why are Bed Bugs spreading so rapidly?

• Phenomenal explosion in major metropolitan regions
• Increase in travel, loss of pesticidal tools & changes in how the industry operates
• Multi family housing & where they’re from
• Cruise ships
• Bed Bugs are master hitch hikers & hard to detect in low numbers
• Public generally does not know what bed bugs are, how to avoid them, how to recognize a problem
• Most modern insecticides are not effective

How are Bed Bugs being spread?

• Furniture company delivering new furniture on same truck they took old furniture away on
• Furniture donated through Goodwill, Salvation Army and other thrift stores
• Yard sales
• Dumpster diving/curbside shopping

Biology of Bed Bugs

• Feed exclusively on blood – take approximately 5 minutes to feed
• Leave host after feeding and hide nearby
• Life cycle – must take blood meal between life stages
• Egg
• 5 instar stages
• Adult
• 7 days between each instar stage
• 35-48 days from egg to adulthood
• Females will lay 1-5 eggs per day (up to 200 in a lifetime)
• Adults can live 6-8 months(sometimes >1year)

Inspection and Detection

• Equipment: flashlights (good for moderate to heavy infestations), Bed Bug detecting dogs (can find a single egg/bug), traps, heat (hair dryers)
• Where to look: box springs, bed frames, cracks, crevices, 85% will be close to where host is when resting majority of time, will go to ceiling corners in colder months

Behavior

•  Nocturnal - normally move & feed at night
•  Don’t jump or fly – move into suitcases at night – can move fairly fast
•  Very mobile and can travel between apartments and dorms
•  20% of apartments could be infested & not aware of problem
•  Move into other units above, beside & behind location of initial infestation
•  People that are bitten don’t always have a reaction
•  Bed bugs will make bites in a line along person’s skin
•  Not vectors – not know to carry diseases

Selecting a Pest Control Vendor

•  Services offered, abilities, experience, staffing
•  Control options
•  Conventional insecticide treatment (2-4 follow-up visits on average)
•  Steam – very time consuming
•  Freezing “cryonite units”, chest freezers (1 week minimum)
•  Fumigation – no residual chemical afterwards
•  “Thermal Remediation” Heat to 120°F for 5 hours (clothes dryer will kill bed bugs – 30 minutes on hot cycle)
•  Nuvan Prostrips – DDP – Alternative to fumigation – not approved in living spaces
•  Health Department Complaint Calls – schools, medical offices, nursing homes, lodging facilities, homeless shelters, etc.
• Educate and inform staff at these facilities
• Early detection
• “Packtite Closet” – Bed Bug Killing Heater
• Bed Bug Dog Certifications:
• World Detector Dog Organization ( WDDO)
• National Entomology Scent Detection Canine Association (NESDCA)
• A University of Florida study showed that properly trained dogs had a 90% accuracy in detecting bed bugs in low level infestations where humans were only 20-30% accurate and taking approximately 1 hour to check the same space that only took a few minutes for the dog to check.