Today’s exciting news is that the Cincinnati Department of Health is hosting a bed bug conference on August 14, a day-long conference, as part of a strategy to raise public awareness. The conference will be an opportunity to educate the public, environmental health workers and pest control professionals and will address the real issues of the bed bug resurgence: landlord/tenant issues, prevention, inspections, and treatment protocols. Dr. Susan Jones of Ohio State University and Rickell Howard, a legal aid attorney, will speak.
This is smart, so smart… it’s what San Francisco’s Department of Public Health did in 2006.
Here are some features of the bed bug problem in Cincinnati, from the press release via the Cincinnati Beacon:
The city of Cincinnati is predominately comprised of old buildings, a harborage for bedbugs. An estimated 28% of the population lives below the poverty line while 58% reside in apartments or rental units. According to the Cincinnati Health Department, these factors have played a considerable role in the resurgence of bedbugs, resulting in a projected 35% increase in reported cases in 2008, primarily from residents in Avondale, Fairmount, Mt. Auburn, Over the Rhine, Price Hill, Roselawn, Walnut Hills and Westwood. Most concerning is that the experience of other cities suggests that complaints to health departments represent only a small portion of actual bedbug infestations.
[Emphasis added.]
Cincinnati, population 332,252, received more than 757 bed bug complaints in 2007.
Are we obsessed with Cincinnati and Hamilton County and their Joint Bed Bug Task Force and its draft Strategic Plan? Yes, yes we are. Next question.
Sigh. What about us, you ask? When is New York City going to do something comparable? Are we going to have to roll our own? Maybe!
What would it be like to have our own New York City bed bug conference? What would the essential components be? We are going to start planning one. We think that we need to address:
- the bed bug itself – accurate information about its biology, its weaknesses (hmm, are there any?)
- the real questions that arise between landlords and tenants – useful information from lawyers or advocates
- the nitty-gritty of bed bug control – views from savvy bed bug specialists plus the best DIY techniques
- our policy dreams – nope, can’t leave this one out
What else, if you had your druthers?
New York County Civil Court at 111 Centre Street
There was a bed bug infestation, now eradicated, at the Resource Center at New York County Housing Court.
Our source tells us that two court regulars, a pro se attorney and a tenant advocate, separately mentioned this in conversation, matter-of-factly. Neither the Housing Part Supervisor nor the Deputy County Clerk’s office would confirm or deny when we called.
An enterprising journalist should report on the rise in bed bug housing court cases, interview regular people who are struggling. We would like to know their stories, not just read the press releases of high-profile cases.
Have there been bed bugs where you work? How were they handled? And, more important, are they gone?
When I can’t sleep I think about how many New Yorkers are up at this hour because of bed bugs. Afraid to go to bed, or unable to sleep. Flashlight in hand, searching, always searching for bed bugs, for signs. Or perhaps they’ve graduated from the flashlight to the cutting edge, an LED headlamp. Serious tools for a sorrowful job—paid for with plastic of course, along with plastic bags, plastic bins, plastic everything. Some sectors of the economy are getting a stimulus…
Maybe they’re deep into 40-plus tabs of an internet maze, looking for the killer tips, hesitating before the bed bug potions that seem almost plausible at this hour, reading sad bed bug stories in order to feel less alone.
If you’ve never had bed bugs, can you understand what this means? Somehow, I hope the answer to that question is yes.
This is what I’ve been reading lately, perhaps it may help illuminate what it’s like, if you’re lucky enough to be visiting us in a context that is not personal:
- Nina Paley – the ordeal of having bed bugs during the festival circuit of her acclaimed animated film, Sita Sings the Blues, I can’t even imagine…
- Unlucky in Bugs – a New Yorker coping bravely and documenting the process step-by-step… it will be sweet when success comes!
Oh and as a bonus, here’s one fabulous New Yorker who really, really gets it, as well you might if you knew a dozen people who’ve been personally affected and, not insignificantly, if you’d lived in Greenpoint. (And do yourself a favor and don’t miss Mangy’s photos.)
As for New Yorkers who don’t get it? Wouldn’t it be fun to name them? Maybe we will, some day.
Bed bugs are literally on the cover of the World Health Organization’s new book, Public Health Significance of Urban Pests.
The aim of this new publication is to present “evidence on which to base policies.” Nothing could be sweeter to us. We now can cite an authoritative source for many of the issues we’re concerned about and we have a new tool to counter the incomprehensible positions of our city government.
This book has been a long time in the making and the bed bug chapter actually does not cite the most recent research. Many of the findings, therefore, may be old hat to those of you who have closely followed the larger bed bug story. It’s still an essential publication. To give you an example, it’s one thing for us to tell you about a possible connection with asthma (and other direct and indirect health problems) and quite another to read—and be able to cite—this:
Besides the effects of direct bites, airborne common bedbug allergens that are always released during infestations may produce bronchial asthma. Within a group of 54 asthmatic Egyptian patients, 37.1% reacted positively to a common bedbug head and thorax extract, and 50.1% reacted positively to an abdominal common bedbug extract (Abou Gamra et al., 1991). Numerous routine bedbug bites can contribute to anaemia and may even make a person more susceptible to common diseases (Usinger, 1966; Snetsinger, 1997). Some people can develop a general malaise from numerous bedbug bites; that, along with the loss of sleep and extreme itching of bug bites, can lower a person’s vitality and make individuals listless and almost constantly uncomfortable.
The bed bug chapter was written by Harold J. Harlan (retired U.S. Army medical entomologist and urban entomology expert—and author of the Armed Forces Pest Management Board’s Technical Guide [PDF]), Michael K. Faulde (Central Institute of the Bundeswehr Armed Forces Medical Service, Department of Medical Entomology/Zoology, Germany) and Gregory J. Baumann (Vice President, National Pest Management Association).
The chapter should be read in full but I want to highlight the items of interest to us:
Large multi-unit buildings common to poor areas can be very hard to rid of bedbugs. Once bedbugs become established, any control effort that does not include checking the whole building at nearly the same time, along with a coordinated occupant education and treatment effort (as needed), will usually fail, because the bugs will frequently move away from any partially treated and potentially repellent active sites into adjacent rooms. Their movements are generally unencumbered, because they readily move through wall voids and along utility lines, heating ducts, elevator shafts, and laundry and mail chutes.
- recommendations range from the perennial more research is needed to the key recommendation in our view:
Efforts should be undertaken (or at least planned) by appropriate government agencies to address locally evident problems that relate to the difficulties encountered by poor and low-income people in dealing with bedbugs and their control and with housing or building quality. Community-wide or citywide programmes may be needed and possible, if properly supported and well coordinated.
In New York City and elsewhere, of course, bed bugs are not a problem exclusively of the poor and making that connection in framing possible policy solutions poses more questions than answers. Other emphases of the article bear closer examination but I believe the publication of this book is something to celebrate. We’ll investigate this connection between poverty and bed bugs further in another post; it’s a particular interest.
There are various ways to access the book. You can download it for free in PDF format from WHO/Europe or from the National Pest Management Association or you can buy a copy through their websites. In addition, the UK’s Chartered Institute of Environmental Health has prepared a crib sheet of sorts with very nice pictures and bullet point summaries.
For hard-core bed bug news followers, however, nothing but the whole thing will do—here is a direct link to the PDF.
You may also want to check out more interesting WHO reading on the current state of housing and health research.
The New York City Council has started to keep tabs on constituent complaints across the city. A limited view of the data for June was released yesterday. You can download a PDF of the press release here. While the Council is not releasing specific data on the number of bed bug complaints in relation to other issues New Yorkers contacted their Council Members about(*) in June, the Housing and Building category is at the top of the list citywide, accounting for 29% of inquiries. The breakdown for Housing and Building complaints in each borough is: 29% in the Bronx, 24% in Brooklyn, 32% in Manhattan, 16% in Queens and 24% in Staten Island. Queens is apparently the shiest when it comes to calling Council Members with housing grievances.
It should be no surprise that bed bugs get their own subcategory among 47 other subcategories of Housing and Building complaints, ranging from illegal hotels to construction permits and various New York City Housing Authority issues.
It is unfortunate that the Council is choosing not to release CouncilStat data on the number of bed bug inquiries, as the information would help supplement the data available from HPD-serviced bed bug complaints to 311.
A Council spokesman told the New York Daily News that CouncilStat should not be compared to the 311 Citizen Service Center, that:
“It’s more of a tool to manage the institution.”
Well, then, we await the impact of the use of this tool.
The tracking of bed bug issues being brought to the Council’s attention is encouraging but it is also evident that the Council does not yet see the bed bug issue as something they can get any political mileage from. The press release highlights 3 cases where Council Members intervened on behalf of constituents. I hope that one day New York City Council Members will see the high incidence of bed bugs in our city as an issue that requires their personal attention and concern, and will want to tout their work on behalf of New Yorkers suffering from bed bugs. That day is not yet here. It’s also worth noting that the impetus for action in other cities has come from forward-thinking politicians. So, we might see some action yet.
In the meantime, please consider calling your Council Member to discuss your bed bug problems! Squeaky wheel and all that.
(*) Yes, of course, we asked; somehow we got past the “are you a reporter?” question.
UPDATE, July 14: There is a good article in today’s Gotham Gazette, by Courtney Gross, about the CouncilStat data; she notes that the list of subcategories in each category of complaints was not part of the press release. (True, so if you want to read the list of subcategories, this is the list we got from the City Council’s press office last week: list of CouncilStat subcategories. Because our focus is on bed bugs I did not think of providing the full list but it may be useful.) She also mentions that although council members got detailed reports, district snapshots were not part of the released data. As noted, we hope more details are offered in future releases.
I find myself reading today’s reactions to the Butterfield bed bug bill with the uneasy thought that our own legislators (and we) better turn out to be a lot savvier than this if we hope to get anywhere.
New York vs Bed Bugs doesn’t have a position on H.R. 6068, a bill that would provide annual state grants for hotel inspections. However, we must, a bit in horror, take notice of the errors in judgment, sheer bad luck and, crucially, lack of support that will very likely doom this bill.
We want our own legislators to take steps to stop the spread of bed bugs in New York City—and we have very specific ideas about what those steps should be—and they certainly involve crafting legislation and a compelling narrative to win the support of regular New Yorkers.
Therefore, as part of our education and based on careful observation, herewith 4 easy steps to bed bug legislative doom:
Step #1
With cluelessness aforethought, ensure that your bill is undermined with every mention, before any possible merit can be discerned, much less discussed, by choosing a glib phrase, an instant joke, a juvenile deflection of your embarrassment as the title of your bill. Name it, because nothing says “kick me” quite like it, The Don’t Let the Bed Bugs Bite Act of 2008.
(It occurs to me, you know how there are countries—whether peculiarly enlightened or oppressive not quite our brief today—where there is a list of baby names that parents are not allowed, simply not allowed, to choose for their own children!? Perhaps something like that is in order, you shall not name your bill…)
Step #2
Sloppily source your findings from Wikipedia. Three-year old facts, who cares!
Step #3
Having carefully framed your bill to invite ridicule, proceed to support its introduction with a defensive, feeble press release.
“Unfortunately, it’s not a joke,” Butterfield said.
Way too late for that, Representative.
Step #4
Ah, the cruelty of the internets. Having done your very best to place your bill in the lowest-wattage light, watch helplessly as Fortuna Mala works it just so, and your lonely bill attains the notice of one Jim Harper, a Cato Institute policy wonk, on his very first week blogging about just how much the government’s legislative ambitions are going to cost us. Like pure and joyous catnip.
The comments are particularly grim—and the divide between the bedbug-haves and the bedbug-have-nevers fascinating.
Speaking not specifically to this bill but in general on the prospect of useful bed bug legislative proposals at any level of government, I wonder if it’s going to be necessary for more people (but how many more?) to get bed bugs before there is any consensus on the need for concerted action. Some of us have had the experience of friends or acquaintances who tell us, months after our own infestations, that they have suffered an infestation and that now they understand. If Jim Harper lived in New York City, would he know more people who have been personally exposed to bed bugs? Would they tell him?
What a mess this bed bug epidemic is. The people who know what it’s like don’t talk to the rest of the country.
Final thought: I wonder if Harper knows the Cincinnati-area IRS building had bed bugs? That would be quite fun to, you know, let drop in conversation with him. 
