BedBug University: NA Bed Bug Summit 2011

Opening today is one of the largest conferences in the world dealing with those pesky little bed bugs. The collection of speakers and exhibitors is also one of the largest collection of experts on bed bugs that you will find in one place.

Steve and I will be attending this years Summit, continuing the company's commitment to excellence through continuous training and education on the cutting edge. Next week’s blog will review the conference in depth and talk about the new advances, lessons and science on bed bugs.

Off to Chicago where a deep-dish pizza awaits.

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Bed bugs: Do this First!

What is the first thing you do when you suspect you have bed bugs?  It is probably the wrong thing to do.

You should NOT throw out your mattress. You should not spray your entire house with retail pesticides. You should not try to ‘do it yourself’. You should not buy Diatomaceous Earth and spread it yourself all over your house. You should not carry infested furniture through the apartment building to the dumpster. You should not throw out your bed frame and put your bed on the ground. You should not stop sleeping on your bed and start sleeping on the sofa.

There are a lot of ‘should nots’.  This is because a lot of these activities can actually exacerbate the problem and spread the infestation, beyond the infestation point.

1)      If you suspect bed bugs but your mattress/boxspring is not overly soiled, you are simply throwing away money. You can economically encase your mattress and boxspring with bed bug proof encasements instead of spending hundreds or thousands on a new bed set(s).

2)      Never set your bed on the ground as it allows even easier access for bed bugs to you at night.

3)      Every single legal chemical or non-chemical ‘green’ alternative spray on the retail market are ALL “Contact killers”. This means that you have to find the bed bugs in order to kill them. If you spray your house with chemicals, it could simply drive bed bugs further into their hiding spots. They spend 90% of their time in cracks/crevices.

4)      Diatomaceous Earth (DE) is a great tool if applied properly. However most retail DE bottles lay down a very thick coating of DE that bed bugs will simply avoid. Professional application equipment for DE dustings, apply a very thin layer of dust that bed bugs crawl through instead of around, therefore being an effective residual killer.

5)      Carrying infested furniture through your house/apartment building simply spreads the infestation from one point to another and exacerbates the ability to get rid of them. Wait for professional treatment of infested furniture, before moving them. At the very least, buy plastic disposal bags for furniture before moving them.

6)      If you change your sleeping habits from the bedroom to the living room, you are simply drawing bed bugs out of the bedroom and into your living room, thereby spreading the infestation. Seek professional help for treatment and options to protect you where you sleep, without spreading them through your house.

The first thing you should do when confronted with bed bugs, is call a professional. Bed bugs have been named the “most difficult pest to control” by the National Pest Management Association survey’s of pest professionals.  Let a professional give you treatment options and advice before you try to tackle it yourself.

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Art Imitates Life with new novel: Bedbugs

Yes, if you thought these creepy crawlies were just a nightmare you did not want to see, now you can read about them in a new thriller novel “Bedbugs” released last week. The novel details a new couple’s struggle to find out what evil is lurking in their fabulous new apartment and stumble upon, Bedbugs.

Back to reality and the dealing with Bed bugs on a wide-spread pandemic scale, what is new in the science and pest industry? I am afraid to say that a new report from www.raveable.com was released that states Bed bugs were up 330% in Las Vegas, with other such large increases in a host of cities across North America. Overall the hospitality industry reports of bed bugs are up 250%.  What can you do as a traveller to protect yourself? Follow our tips and protect yourself, educating yourself and being aware of your surroundings are key.

Closer to home, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has agreed to the provinces offer of 3 public health nurses to help combat bed bugs in the big city. Also after the trials of a few high profile cases in Sarnia-Lambton, its Mayor Mike Bradley is calling for a public forum to be held on how to effectively deal with the issue and charges the Lambton County Council with dealing with the county-wide issue. There is a familiar sound to this call.  Municipalities all across Ontario and Canada are waking up to a new reality that Bed bugs are here to stay, and that we as a society need to be active in their prevention in order to get them under control. We cannot hide from them anymore, we need to educate, prevent and treat bed bug issues before and as they arise.

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2011 Bugs Without Borders Survey

Before I go into detail about this weeks topic, a personal story. Myself and a group of friends travelled over the previous weekend to a popular Michigan travel destination. Upon arrival at the hotel, because of my awareness, room inspections were completed and low and behold... Bed bugs in 1 of the 3 rooms where we were staying. The hotel agreed to move our 3 rooms to another wing of the hotel and after 3 more room inspections we were satisfied that we were clear. Unfortunately with bed bugs you must always be vigilant and not complacent.

This week I am going to relay information posted by the National Pest Management Association's "2011 Bugs without Borders Survey: New Data Shows Bed Bug Pandemic Is Growing" that was recently released. You can find the entire article here : http://www.pestworld.org/Bed-Bug-Survey-2011.

Some of the highlights of this survey of Pest Professionals:

1) 99% have encountered Bed Bug infestations in the last year (11% a decade ago)

2) 9 of 10 Pest Pro's dealt with bed bugs in homes, but they are especially on the rise in Pulic Areas:

-College Dorms - 54%, up from 35%

-Hotels/Motels - 80%, up from 67%

-Nursing Homes - 46%, up from 25%

-Office Buildings - 38%, up from 18%

-Schools/Day Cares - 36%, up from 10%

-Hospitals, - 31%, up from 12%

-Transportation - 18%, up from 9%

-Movie Theatres - 17%, up from 5%

3) Over 70% of Pest Pro's name Bed Bugs as the hardest to control

4) Most Professionals feel Bed Bugs are year-round with a minority stating they get more bed bug calls in the summer.

5) Visual inspections are still the #1 monitoring/identification tool used. Although canine detection units are on the rise.

6) 25% of Consumers still attempt to DIY with bed bugs, but engage in often dangerous techniques and are mostly ineffective in their attempts.

You may ask why are Bed Bugs growing to such Pandemic porportions and why can we not get rid of them?

The answers lie in a multi-faceted answer. The largest factor that has allowed bed bugs to spread so effectively is that no one insecticide/pesticide is 100% effective in killing bed bugs on contact and residually. Current bed bug strains are resistant to most pesticides, meaning if you sprayed 100 bed bugs, only a portion of them would die, depending on the active ingredient. Most insecticides have very little residual effect, meaning after the pesticide is 'dry' bed bugs are not harmed by them.

Now remember bed bugs spend most of their time hiding in places that alot of the time are inaccessible, like in wall voids, electrical outlets, under carpets and the like. So if you have to kill them "on contact" it would be virtually impossible to find them all. Pesticides are just part of the problem. Other issues includes very porous multi-family home structures where bed bugs can move from unit to unit easily. This porous nature allows them to spread and move easily, while the moderate and heavily infested units are treated, the lightly infested units go unnoticed.

Furthermore, DIY's and people that do not report the problem until they are largely infested compound the problem. Increased international travel has also caused the spread not only of bed bugs but of different strains of bed bugs that have different resistance levels to multiple pesticides currently used. Imagine in an apartment building, bed bugs from South America, India, and Asia, all transported from the host countries with varying degrees of resistances to the differing pesticides used in the industry. One pesticide will not control them all and so integrated pest management approaches and alternate methods need to be used now more than ever.

Steve's Pest Management, treating bed bugs for 8 years, with over 10,000 treatments in the last two years, has developed a 5-Layer Defense process against bed bugs that includes either no or very little pesticide use. Our process comes with one of the best warranties available today. Visit our website at http://www.stevespestmanagement.com.