Thursday, December 24, 2009

Bed Bugs at FOX NEWS

While grappling with MSNBC and CNN for viewers, Fox News has also been battling a smaller, more insidious enemy closer to home: bed bugs in its Midtown Manhattan newsroom. In an interview on Monday, Warren Vandeveer, senior vice president for operations and engineering at Fox News, said the cable channel had realized it had a problem a few weeks ago, when an employee “caught a bug and showed it to us.” An exterminator determined that the incursion was limited to a “very small area in the newsroom.” But the source of the bugs was not determined until the exterminator inspected the homes of about 20 employees. Mr. Vandeveer said the exterminator later described one employee’s home as having “the worst infestation he had seen in 25 years in the business.” After making large bags available for employees to stash their belongings, and replacing a number of fabric-covered desk chairs, Mr. Vandeveer said that the treatments had ended about a week ago, and that the problem had been contained. “It’s totally eradicated,” he said.


Source By: JACQUES STEINBERG
http://www.newtechbio.com/catalog/m1_export.php?export=rss

Friday, December 18, 2009

Lewiston Housing Authority: catch a bed bug and then we’ll help you

The Sun Journal reports that tenant Misti Oliviera had bed bugs, but the Lewiston, Maine Housing Authority would not help her until she showed them a bed bug body (dead or alive):

“I was told there is nothing they can do until I physically catch one,” she said. “I can’t catch one. I’ve been looking and trying to catch one because I want these gone; it even says online that these suckers are so hard to catch sometimes you need a professional just to even catch one.”

Bed bugs are indeed difficult to catch. You may be bitten for a while before ever seeing one.

It’s true that an infestation needs to be confirmed before treatment occurs. But are tenants the best ones to search for a sample?

It wasn’t until a building maintenance worker, who was in her apartment about a week and a half ago for a different reason, saw evidence of the bugs, that the Lewiston Housing Authority scheduled an extermination appointment for her apartment.

(This is similar to the NYC Department of Education policy discussed here and here, which requires teachers to bag and send in a bed bug sample before any action is taken in their classrooms.)

Olivieri has two children; her 1 1/2 year old had a “serious infection from picking a scab left from a bed bug bite,” and had been taken to the doctor.

Jim Dowling, executive director of the Lewiston Housing Authority, confirmed that the working policy for bed bug treatment is to ask the tenant to show a bed bug body first.

“If someone reports bed bugs, but doesn’t catch one or have anything to show us, it’s very hard to know whether there are bed bugs there or not,” he said. “It saves (us) from tearing a unit apart looking for bed bugs, which can sometimes be hard to spot.”

It’s true bed bugs are hard to spot. And it can be expensive to have someone follow up on all suspected infestations.

However, not getting a professional in to search for signs of bed bugs means many tenants may go months, even years, living with bed bugs.

This is a terrible situation, and in the end, I suspect it will cost the Housing Authority or other landlords more money than they would spend if they promptly responded to suspected cases of bed bugs. Because during that waiting period, bed bugs will spread further — both within the building, and outside it.

It’s well known that bed bugs are difficult to find; experienced PCOs tell us they take hours to locate samples.

Other housing authorities (in Milwaukee and Seattle) have invested in bed bug sniffing canines. A well-trained dog in the hands of an experienced and talented handler can be an effective tool for locating bed bugs.
Another option for the Lewiston Housing Authority would be a set of active bed bug monitors (such as the Nightwatch), which could be deployed to apartments where bed bugs are suspected.

Bed bug inspections and active monitors are not cheap, but detecting bed bug infestations before they get out of control and spread makes it easier to get rid of bed bugs and prevent them spreading further — and this saves a lot of time, energy, and money, both for tenants and their landlords.


Sourced By: Nobugsonme

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Clermont hotel shut down, strippers unaffected

An infamous Atlanta hotel known for its campy lounge with baby boomer strip dancers has been shut down.

The AJC was the first to report the Clermont Motor Hotel was ordered to close by Dec. 31 after a visit by Fulton County health inspectors uncovered a laundry list of violations, starting with, uh, the laundry.

"There are several issues that would have to be addressed," said Kevin Jones, a manager with the Fulton County Department of Health and Wellness. Dirty linen, old bedding and bed bug stains were among them, he said. Inspectors also found mold growing on the walls, black water spilling from faucets and broken toilet fixtures.

An employee at the front desk refused comment Wednesday night and would not give a reporter the manager's contact information. A sign on the door said the hotel closed Dec. 12, but residents have until Dec. 31 to find new lodgings.

The basement Clermont Lounge, and its aging troupe of strippers, is unaffected by the hotel's closing.

Chuck Jeffress, 39, a security guard at the lounge, lived at the hotel and said it was easy to find another place to call home. He said he had no problems in his 1-bedroom unit, which cost him $185 a week. He said the plumbing worked and he did not know of any mold problems. Bed bugs were not a problem because he used his own bed and bedding.
"I think it sucks that the health department has issued their holy edict just because the water is brown," said Jeffress.

He enjoyed his time at the Clermont, but won't miss living above the loud parking lot or paying $10 to have visitors after 11 p.m.

"My friend says it's the only hotel in America that hookers can't get into,"Jeffress said Wednesday night as a group of women watched a lone stripper.

The hotel inspection was triggered by a change in ownership. Prior owner Inman Park Properties was trying to sell the Clermont but couldn't dump it fast enough. The lender, Fairway Capital Partners of New York, foreclosed.

Matt Shulman, a partner with Fairway Capital, said his firm took over the property after Inman Park Properties failed to make payments. "Obligations were not met," he said. "We tried to defer payments."

Inman Park Properties could not be reached for comment. The real estate agent who tried to sell the property said a deal nearly closed, but he said Fairway Capital wouldn't approve it.

"It was under contract," said the agent, Gene Kansas. There were plans for a renovation, and Kansas helped select an architect who proposed slick upgrades like luminous polycarbonate walls. "It was going to be great, but I guess Fairway had other plans," he said.

Kansas said the collapsing market for commercial real estate, and the foreclosure, would cut the value of the property in half. Less than half a year ago, Inman Park Properties was asking $6.5 million. The Clermont had potential because of its location on Ponce de Leon Avenue and its oddball history, he said.

The Clermont was built in 1924 as an apartment building. It was converted to a hotel in 1940. Decades ago it earned its reputation as a hip spot for a younger crowd to watch overweight, older dancers. Last year, writers from the famous comedy outfit Second City visited the lounge for a skit about Atlanta. One of them mused that it seemed to hire dancers based on their "internal" beauty.

Fulton's Jones said Fairway submitted a remediation plan that his department deemed "inadequate." He said the county was working to help relocate the hotel's 38 long-term tenants. The lounge wasn't inspected because it remains under the permit of the operator, who is leasing it.

Shulman said the health code violations predated his company's ownership. He said the deteriorating condition was one reason his firm decided to foreclose. "We were concerned about the safety of the underlying collateral," he said. "I was worried that the roof might cave in."

Shulman said Fairway would do all it could in the short term to "stabilize" the property and to keep the lounge open. Long term plans include everthing from selling the property to redeveloping it and bringing in new management, he said. " We don't want to be seen as the big bad investment house that shut the Clermont down."



By Ty Tagami
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Clermont hotel shut down

An infamous Atlanta hotel known for its campy lounge with baby boomer strip dancers has been shut down.

The AJC was the first to report the Clermont Motor Hotel was ordered to close by Dec. 31 after a visit by Fulton County health inspectors uncovered a laundry list of violations, starting with, uh, the laundry.

"There are several issues that would have to be addressed," said Kevin Jones, a manager with the Fulton County Department of Health and Wellness. Dirty linen, old bedding and bed bug stains were among them, he said. Inspectors also found mold growing on the walls, black water spilling from faucets and broken toilet fixtures.

An employee at the front desk refused comment Wednesday night and would not give a reporter the manager's contact information. A sign on the door said the hotel closed Dec. 12, but residents have until Dec. 31 to find new lodgings.

The basement Clermont Lounge, and its aging troupe of strippers, is unaffected by the hotel's closing.

Chuck Jeffress, 39, a security guard at the lounge, lived at the hotel and said it was easy to find another place to call home. He said he had no problems in his 1-bedroom unit, which cost him $185 a week. He said the plumbing worked and he did not know of any mold problems. Bed bugs were not a problem because he used his own bed and bedding.

"I think it sucks that the health department has issued their holy edict just because the water is brown," said Jeffress.

He enjoyed his time at the Clermont, but won't miss living above the loud parking lot or paying $10 to have visitors after 11 p.m.

"My friend says it's the only hotel in America that hookers can't get into,"Jeffress said Wednesday night as a group of women watched a lone stripper.

The hotel inspection was triggered by a change in ownership. Prior owner Inman Park Properties was trying to sell the Clermont but couldn't dump it fast enough. The lender, Fairway Capital Partners of New York, foreclosed.

Matt Shulman, a partner with Fairway Capital, said his firm took over the property after Inman Park Properties failed to make payments. "Obligations were not met," he said. "We tried to defer payments."

Inman Park Properties could not be reached for comment. The real estate agent who tried to sell the property said a deal nearly closed, but he said Fairway Capital wouldn't approve it.

"It was under contract," said the agent, Gene Kansas. There were plans for a renovation, and Kansas helped select an architect who proposed slick upgrades like luminous polycarbonate walls. "It was going to be great, but I guess Fairway had other plans," he said.

Kansas said the collapsing market for commercial real estate, and the foreclosure, would cut the value of the property in half. Less than half a year ago, Inman Park Properties was asking $6.5 million. The Clermont had potential because of its location on Ponce de Leon Avenue and its oddball history, he said.

The Clermont was built in 1924 as an apartment building. It was converted to a hotel in 1940. Decades ago it earned its reputation as a hip spot for a younger crowd to watch overweight, older dancers. Last year, writers from the famous comedy outfit Second City visited the lounge for a skit about Atlanta. One of them mused that it seemed to hire dancers based on their "internal" beauty.

Fulton's Jones said Fairway submitted a remediation plan that his department deemed "inadequate." He said the county was working to help relocate the hotel's 38 long-term tenants. The lounge wasn't inspected because it remains under the permit of the operator, who is leasing it.

Shulman said the health code violations predated his company's ownership. He said the deteriorating condition was one reason his firm decided to foreclose. "We were concerned about the safety of the underlying collateral," he said. "I was worried that the roof might cave in."

Shulman said Fairway would do all it could in the short term to "stabilize" the property and to keep the lounge open. Long term plans include everthing from selling the property to redeveloping it and bringing in new management, he said. " We don't want to be seen as the big bad investment house that shut the Clermont down."

Sourced By: By Ty Tagami
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Bed Bug Control

The city has put its pest infestation statistics online, allowing New Yorkers to see just how vermin-ridden our neighborhoods really are. The new Environmental Public Health Tracking Portal allows visitors to create maps depicting the percentages of households infested by roaches as well as rats and mice.

According to Brick Underground, Manhattan's least buggy community is the Upper East Side, where only 9.5 percent of households spotted a roach every day for a month. In Greenwich Village, the Financial District, StuyTown, and Turtle Bay, 12.7 percent of residents polled spotted roaches daily, compared to 19.1 percent of in the Upper West Side. Statistics show that 23 percent of Chelsea, Clinton, and Midtown homes had roach problems — but those numbers were greatly eclipsed by the Lower East Side and Chinatown's 42 percent and East Harlem's 51 percent.

Meanwhile in Brooklyn, 26 percent of Williamsburg and Greenpoint residents spotted roaches in their homes daily, edging out Brooklyn Heights and Fort Greene's 25.4, and Park Slope's 18.6.

Borough-wide statistics reveal that Staten Island had the lowest percentage of infestations, with just 7 percent of residents recording roach sightings and 8.7 percent recording mouse sightings. In both cases, Staten Island was followed by Queens, Manhattan, Brooklyn, and finally the Bronx, where a whopping 46.3 percent of residents spotted roaches in their homes in the past month, and 49.8 percent saw mice or signs of mice in the past 90 days. The stats are well and good (and rather disgusting), but the folks at Bedbugger.com are angry that the city isn't tracking the most horrific of infestations — bed bugs.

Sourced By: Ben Muessig

Monday, December 14, 2009

Firm kills bed bugs with heat

The latest technique to eliminate a stubborn pest has bedbugs feeling the heat - and dying.

A Michigan-based pest control company with Cincinnati roots used heat to treat a Westwood apartment infested with bedbugs Friday.

As it turns out, bedbugs are fairly resistant to cold temperatures. Unlike many insects, they don't like it hot, said Mark "Shep" Sheperdigian, an urban entomologist and vice president of technical services for Rose Pest Solutions of Troy, Mich.

Temperatures of 113 degrees will kill bedbugs, but it can take hours Sheperdigian said.

Crank the thermostat up to 120 degrees or higher, and the little bloodsuckers dry up and die "in minutes," he said.

Kevin Stacy, special service manager for Rose, and two co-workers set up four large electric heaters in the three-bedroom apartment, then set up fans around the apartment to help circulate the heat.

The setup, powered by a diesel generator, will kill bedbugs in an apartment, hotel room or dorm room measuring up to a 1,000 square feet or so, Stacy said. In bigger spaces, the crew just sets up more heaters and fans.

Sensors are set up throughout the space being treated to make sure an even temperature is achieved.

At about 9:30 Friday morning, temperatures in the apartment hovered around 120 degrees, and bedbugs on a headboard and nightstand could be seen scurrying for cooler climes.

Also visible were dusty white-ish areas that were actually bedbug eggs and rusty brown stains on walls around the bed and behind a set of stereo speakers that had been infested.

High heat can damage some items, including oil paintings and some antique furniture, Stacy said. Those items are treated separately.

Homeowners prepare for the treatment by bringing bedding, clothes and other items out of closets and setting it up in baskets. The crew comes in and shuffles items up to the top of the basket to make sure the heat reaches everything.

Chemical pesticides kill bedbugs, but not their eggs, which means homes might have to be treated several times. It's also hard for exterminators to tell where exactly the bedbugs are located, so spot treatment is difficult.

Heat treatment kills the eggs as well, so unless the bedbugs are somehow re-introduced to a home, one treatment is all it takes, Sheperdigian said.

But it's not cheap: Treating a single apartment, motel room or dorm room costs about $1,000 to $1,500, which is more expensive than conventional treatments, he said.

Bedbugs, which had largely vanished from the United States by the 1950s, thanks to the pesticide DDT, began re-emerging in early 2000s.

Rose got its first bedbug call in 2002, Sheperdigian said.

"Now we're up to hundreds of calls every year. It is growing geometrically," he said.

The Cincinnati Health Department received 352 bedbug complaints about bedbugs in the first nine months of 2009.

Bedbugs are widespread enough that State Rep. Dale Mallory, D-West End, and State Sen. Eric Kearney, D-North Avondale, are introducing resolutions to the Ohio General Assembly that ask the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to allow a special exemption approving the chemical pesticide Propoxur for household use against bedbugs.

Rose Pest Services started offering heat treatment against bedbugs in July with a single four-heater system, Stacy said.

They've added two more units since then, and have ordered still more. They're one of a handful of companies nationally offering the service.

Sourced By Peggy O'Farrell

Friday, December 11, 2009

Suits seek receiver for apt. complexes

Complaints of bed bugs infestations, faulty plumbing and numerous notices threatening utility service disconnection have led hundreds of residents at three area apartment communities to ask a Hamilton County Common Pleas Court judge to appoint a receiver to take over the management of their complexes.

Tenants at Park Valley Apartments in Mount Airy, Williamsburg of Cincinnati in Hartwell and Woodbridge on the Lake Apartments in West Chester have filed separate lawsuits claiming that Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio-based Karam Managed Properties has failed pay utility bills on time and isn't keeping up with critical maintenance jobs.

Earlier this year, gas and electric services were cut off at each of the complexes for up to two weeks, because Karam had failed to pay its bills, according to the lawsuits. Park Valley and Williamsburg residents were also left without water, and trash collection services were stopped - leaving dumpsters overflowing, according to court documents papers.

Tenants also say Karam failed to properly exterminate apartments that had contained bed bugs and roaches, allowing the infestations to spread.

"We've been stating that there has been a problem with these properties since August, and since then nothing has changed substantially," said Susanna M. Meyer, a lawyer with Westwood-based Hyle & Mecklenborg, which represents tenants at each of the complexes.

"Karam has continued to say that the problems have been fixed, but clearly they have not," she said. "Building violations still exist and there are substantial balances" as of Wednesday due to the Cincinnati water works and Duke Energy.

Karam has denied many of the allegations in court filings, and opposes the assignment of a receiver at any of its properties, said the firm's lawyer, William Ellis of downtown-based Roetzel & Andress

Ellis said tenants are not in jeopardy of losing utility services and haven't been since the cut off earlier this year.

"By the time they filed the lawsuits, it was already taken care of," Ellis said. "Karam is doing everything they can do to make this work for the tenants and the only impediment to this are the plaintiff's filing the lawsuits - trying to reduce their rents and give (Karam) bad publicity."

Court documents state that Karam has invested more than $10 million in its properties since their purchase more than two years ago.

Meanwhile, the tenant's motions have been joined by an additional request for a receiver by Prudential Mortgage Capital Funding. The lender claims Williamsburg Acquisitions LLC, has defaulted on several provisions of its $52.5 million loan for the more than 1,000-unit Williamsburg complex, which was built in 1968.

Among other issues, Prudential claims the Williamsburg loan fell into default after several mechanics liens were filed by contractors who say they haven't been paid for work at the complex.

Separate lawsuits from vendors and contractors claim that more than $1.2 million in mechanics liens have been filed for work the Williamsburg property, more than $424,000 in liens for work at Park Valley (which was built in 1973) and 11 mechanics liens with an unknown total for jobs at Woodbridge.

In addition to the three communities engaged in the receivership battle, Karam manages the Ferncrest and Renata Apartments in Westwood and Bavarian Woods Apartments in Middletown.

Ellis said he was not engaged in negotiations involving Prudential.

"Karam has worked diligently to correct everything," he said. "They bought these properties and put a lot of their own money it and they have continued to do so throughout the course of all of this."

Most people when they travel

Most people when they travel on holidays or vacations who stay at hotels and resorts never think of it, but they may have some uninvited guests. Bed bugs definitely don’t make good hotel or resort roommates when you’re on a vacation or holiday. Once thoughts to be eradicated from North America, the legendary little pests known as bed bugs have been making an unwelcome comeback in hotels and homes. Bed bugs are easy to transport in luggage and very hard to get rid of. For this reason they have become an especial nuisance for hotels, who are not eager to publicize their infestations. Until a reliable, safe pesticide becomes available, the credit in avoiding bedbug encounters will be the only reliable way to ensure they don't spread into your own home.


Sourcer by: by Raphael

Hey bed bugs, now's your chance

Kansas will no longer conduct safety and health inspections of hotels thanks to cuts to the state budget.

According to the Associated Press, Kansas Agriculture Secretary Josh Svaty made the call after his agency lost $303,000 in another round of spending cuts announced last week.

The Ag Department licenses and inspects hotels throughout the state to ensure they're safe and clean.

All currently licensed hotels have been inspected; but new inspections will have to wait until the funding is restored.

Source: Submitted by David Klepper

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Bedbug attacks New York City

A bedbug epidemic has exploded in every corner of New York City - striking even upper East Side luxury apartments owned by Gov. Spitzer's father, the Daily News has learned.

The blood-sucking nocturnal creatures have infested a Park Ave. penthouse, an artist's colony in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, a $25 million Central Park West duplex and a theater on Broadway, according to victims, exterminators and elected officials.

Once linked to flophouses and fleabags, bedbug outbreaks victimize the rich and poor alike and are spreading panic in some of the city's hottest neighborhoods.

"In the last six months, I've treated maternity wards, five-star hotels, movie theaters, taxi garages, investment banks, private schools, white-shoe law firms, Brooklyn apartments in Greenpoint, DUMBO and Cobble Hill, even the chambers of a federal judge," said Jeff Eisenberg, owner of Pest Away Exterminating on the upper West Side.

The numbers are off the charts: In 2004, New Yorkers placed 537 calls to 311 about bedbugs in their homes; the city slapped 82 landlords with bedbug violations, data show.

In the fiscal year that ended in June, 6,889 infestation complaints were logged and 2,008 building owners were hit with summonses.

They must get rid of the pests within 30 days or face possible action in Housing Court, the city Department of Housing, Preservation & Development says.

The scourge has left no section of the city untouched: Complaints and enforcement actions soared in 57 of the 59 community boards.

In the most bedbug-riddled district, Bushwick in Brooklyn, HPD issued 172 violations this year, up from four in 2004; it responded to 476 complaints, up from 47.

Central Harlem chalked up 269 complaints, up from nine. Williamsburg and Greenpoint, home to the city's hippest galleries, racked up 148, up from 11 in 2004. Astoria and Long Island City saw the tally climb to 345 from 41.

Bedbugs come out of the woodwork at night to feed on human blood, biting people in their sleep and leaving large, itchy skin welts that can be painful. They are not believed to carry or transmit diseases.

A surge in global travel and mobility in all socioeconomic classes, combined with less toxic urban pesticides and the banning of DDT created a perfect storm for reviving the critters, which had been virtually dormant since World War II, experts say.

Prolific reproducers and hardy survivors, they can thrive in penthouses, flophouses or any environment where they can locate warm-blooded hosts, said Louis Sorkin, an entomologist at the Museum of Natural History who keeps a colony of 1,000 bedbugs in his office and lets them feed on his arm.

BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Beagle sniffs out bed bug

STAMFORD -- To fight an ongoing pest problem, St. Luke's LifeWorks turned to a 3-year-old expert last week.

The organization, which provides housing and education to those in need, hired Ellie, a beagle, and her handler through Bliss Exterminators to determine which offices and residences in the Franklin Street headquarters have been besieged by bed bugs.

After discovering bugs in the first-floor city health clinic earlier this month, St. Luke's was forced to halt clothing donations until protocols could be put into place to prevent the spread or reintroduction of the bloodsucking parasites, which reappeared in many communities in the past few years.

"Our priority is our people," said Johnnie Malloy, St. Luke's chief learning officer. "We're hoping to resume the clothing donation soon, but for now, people should consider other places, like Person to Person, the Salvation Army and Goodwill."

Ellie, an energetic brown-and-white dog, strained at her leash Friday as her owner, Charlie Mastroberti, calmly led her around the perimeters of the lobby in the large downtown complex searching for a live bed bug he had hidden in a prescription pill bottle.

When Ellie sniffed a recycling bin, she scratched at the box and looked expectantly at her owner.

"Good girl," Mastroberti said, giving the a dog treat. "It helps her get on track, and the reward system gets her psyched."

Using beagles or other dogs to find bed bugs is becoming standard in the pest detection and control industry.John Pascarelli, a regional account manager for Bliss Exterminators, said the company, which serves Connecticut, New York and New Jersey, has six dogs trained to find bed bugs that are no bigger than an apple seed.

Ellie has a 98 percent bed bug detection rate compared with human detection, which can be as low as 30 percent, Pascarelli said.

"We could spend a week here and not be nearly as successful as a dog in a couple of hours," he said.

Ellie was trained at J&K Canine Academy in Florida and is certified by the National Entomology Canine Scent Detection Association, Mastroberti said.

Pascarelli said he met with building residents before the inspection last week to explain to procedures and treatment, and relieve any anxieties.

"They were thrilled to get the dog inspection," he said.

After the two-hour inspection, Bliss found four areas in the building that showed bed bug activity: three residential areas and one office space.

Pascarelli said it was "minor activity" for a building that size.

Treatment will begin this week, he said.

Malloy said that in the meantime, the organization is in need of new twin bed sheets.

It's not connected to the bed bugs, she said, but when you serve 250 people, you always need new sheets.



Source:
By Devon Lash
STAFF WRITER

Tenants fight bed bugs

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- For almost a year, tenants in a public housing facility have been fighting a bed bug problem. Operators of Green Gardens said they have tried to get rid of the pests, but many residents want tougher action.

"I have one that I just caught," tenant Patricia Flores said Wednesday morning. She had the small bug in a paper coffee cup.

Flores has lived in the facility since January, and she's battled the bugs the whole time.

Green Gardens is a 114-room facility on South Union Avenue that houses Kern County Mental Health clients. The small units are what director Randy Coats calls "single room occupancy."

"This has become a real issue," he said, referring to the on-going bed bug problem. Coats is executive director of Golden Empire Affordable Housing, the nonprofit agency that runs Green Gardens.

He said the bed bugs have been extremely tough to get rid of. "Out of the 15 or 20 residences that ended up with the problem, we still have four or five that are in their fourth of fifth spraying."

Flores lives in one of the units where there's been repeated spraying, but the bugs still come back. The last pesticide treatment was about ten days ago, and she says the insects were back in a couple days. She's convinced the treatments so far aren't good enough.

But Coats said their efforts to get rid of the bugs have been complicated by some residents not exactly following the instructions for handling their belongings that may have become infested with the bugs.

"They have issues," Coats said of some of the tenants. "Sometimes it's hard for them to understand the instructions and to follow the instructions to the letter."

Residents have to bag up things like clothes, and then wash them to remove any bugs. Coats said some tenants put the clean clothes back in the same plastic bags -- and those bags could still have had bugs hiding inside. But, they're trying to deal with that problem.

"We have in the last two weeks taken a more aggressive position with the residents and asking for the old bags, so we can throw them away," he said.

Coats said some tenants also removed furniture when the rooms were going to be sprayed, but then took that furniture back inside later. Again, bed bugs could have been hiding in the furniture -- and got back into the rooms that way.

Coats said the staff is personally helping some residents prepare their belongings before spray treatment is done of their rooms. He said maintenance staff is also caulking around areas like baseboards to keep the bugs from moving between rooms.

The staff will also wash down bed frames outside the rooms, to make sure bed bugs don't somehow hide in those areas.

Joy Webb is on the tenant council, she thinks the facility operators didn't take the problem seriously enough at the beginning. "I think at first, yes," she said -- asked if the situation had been neglected. "I don't think that now, the staff is really trying to do what they can do."

Bed bugs are making a come-back across the U.S. Experts say the insects feed on the blood of warm-blooded animals, that's why they will often come out at night, bite a victim, and then hide again during the day.

It's thought bed bugs spread by hitch-hiking to different places on things like suitcases, coats, purses and furniture. It may be we're seeing more bed bugs now because people are traveling more, and experts think some products that were used to treat them are not available now.

Kern County director of public health nursing Cindy Wasson said bed bugs can leave a rash, especially if someone is sensitive, but they do not spread disease.

Patricia Flores has been bitten repeatedly over the past months. On Wednesday, she pointed to red marks on one knee -- bites from the pests. And she had photos of other bites in the past on her arms and feet. Some of those were red and swollen.

Randy Coats said his agency has already switched to a different pesticide company, hoping to get rid of the bed bugs. And he's heard the pests are very difficult to kill off with each repeated pesticide treatment.

"Every time you try, it's harder to eradicate them the second time," he said. "They build up a resistance to the chemicals."

A batch of rooms will be sprayed again next Monday. Coats said if that doesn't do the job, they'll meet with the exterminators to see if something stronger could be used. Some experts now recommend very high heat or strong vacuums to kill the bugs.

Flores is convinced more than just a few rooms need to be treated. Tenant council member Donna Van Harreveld agrees with that. "When you spray one room, then they travel on to the next room," she said.

As for treating the entire facility, Coats said that could be considered, too. "If this doesn't work, maybe it's time to just treat the unit completely. Even if it has to be painted, and whatever else it takes, to put everything up, and then bring items back into the unit on a single item basis."

Patricia Flores says something more -- and stronger -- has to be done. "I'm asking them to literally take this thing and do it the right way," she said. "You can't live like this."

Source: By Carol Ferguson, Eyewitness News
WASHINGTON - The federal government is waking up to what has become a growing nightmare in many parts of the country — a bedbug outbreak.

The tiny reddish-brown insects, last seen in great numbers before World War II, are on the rebound. They have infested college dormitories, hospital wings, homeless shelters and swanky hotels from New York City to Chicago to Washington.

They live in the crevices and folds of mattresses, sofas and sheets. Then, most often before dawn, they emerge to feed on human blood.

Faced with rising numbers of complaints to city information lines and increasingly frustrated landlords, hotel chains and housing authorities, the Environmental Protection Agency hosted its first-ever bedbug summit Tuesday.

Put on by an EPA's federal advisory committee, the two-day conference which drew about 300 participants to the Sheraton Crystal City Hotel in Arlington, Va., will provide the agency with advice and recommendations.

The Sheraton has had no reported bedbug problems, according to a popular online registry, so at least conference participants will be sleeping tight.

"The problem seems to be increasing and it could definitely be worse in densely populated areas like cities, although it can be a problem for anyone," said Lois Rossi, director of the registration division in the EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs.

And the EPA is not alone in trying to deal with the problem. An aide to Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., says he plans to reintroduce legislation next week to expand grant programs to help public housing authorities deal with infestations

Many of the programs cover cockroaches and rodents, but not bedbugs. The bill will be called the Don't Let the Bedbugs Bite Act.

"It was clear something needed to be done," said Saul Hernandez, Butterfield's legislative assistant.

In 2002, EPA classified bedbugs as a public health pest.

But there are few chemicals on the market approved for use on mattresses that are effective at controlling bedbug infestations. The appleseed-sized critters have also developed a resistance to some of the chemicals on the market.

Few chemicals to stop them
The EPA, out of concern for the environment and the effects on public health, has pulled many of the chemicals that were most effective in eradicating the bugs from the U.S. over the last 50 years — such as DDT — off of shelves.

Increasing international travel has also increased the chances for the bugs to hitchhike from developing countries which never eradicated them completely.

"This is a worldwide resurgence," said Dini Miller, an entomologist and bedbug expert at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, who until 2001 only saw bedbugs on microscope slides dating from the 1950s. Now she gets calls several times a day from people who are often at their wits end dealing with the problem.

"I can't tell you how many people have spent the night in their bath tubs because they are so freaked out by bedbugs," Miller said. "I get these people over the phone that have lost their marbles."

Allergic reactions. Bedbugs are not known to transmit any diseases. But their bites can cause infections and allergic reactions in some people. The insects release an anticoagulant to get blood flowing, and they also excrete a numbing agent so their bites don't often stir a victim's slumber.

Those often hardest hit are the urban poor, Miller said. These are people who cannot afford to throw out all their belongings or take the sanitation measures necessary to rid them of the problem. Extermination can cost between $400-$900.

Because the registration of new pesticides takes so long, one thing the EPA could do is to approve some pesticides for emergency use, Miller said.

Another tactic would be to test pesticides that are allowed to be used by farmers to control bedbugs to see if they are safe in household settings.

The pesticide management industry will be pushing for federal funding for research into alternative solutions, such as heating, freezing or steaming the bugs out of bedrooms.

Source: Associated Press