The venue has moved to the Sheraton Cristal City:
Sheraton Crystal City Hotel
1800 Jefferson Davis Highway
Arlington, Virginia 22202
703-486-1111
www.sheraton.com/crystalcity
This is the updated information sheet. (PDF)
No registration or RSVP are necessary.
Dates and times are the same:
Date and times (the meeting is one and a half days):
- Tuesday, April 14, 2009, 9:00 am to 6:30 pm (sign-in opens at 8:30 am), and
- Wednesday, April 15, 2009, 9:00 am to 12:00 noon (sign-in opens at 8:30 am).
Bigger venue, more people, fabulous.
Previous posts on this meeting here and here.
If it were up to me, most photographs of bed bug infestations would be of well-ordered homes with no overt signs of infestation. Where the before and after pictures would be identical.
But it’s not up to me, and in fact we have our choice of photographs of advanced infestations. So advanced that we feel instinctively that only some degree of impairment of the occupants would allow bed bugs to get to that stage. We recoil. This is a problem, because we need to educate those who know nothing about bed bugs, the people who think it cannot happen to them. And these are not the images most suited for this purpose.
But these infestations unquestionably exist and challenge us.
We must help those who are living in neglect, unable to fend for themselves. But we must find them first. In multi-unit housing, we are really going to have to have a program of systematic inspection.
Entomologist Lou Sorkin recently uploaded photographs of a slipper infested with bed bugs. Caution: these images may be disturbing. Please do not click on the link below if you are distressed about bed bugs. You don’t need to see this.
If you feel you can, however, then I think perhaps you should see. This is a problem that can make you cry. But we can’t cry. We have to act. All of us.
Infested slipper, photographed by Lou Sorkin.
by Renee Corea on March 30, 2009
in News
In a blog post about the recent BBC radio report about bed bugs in NYC (the online article is available here—it features an in-the-field interview with John Furman whom we’ve also interviewed, via unexciting email however), Consumer Reports does this:
Essential information: Visit The Journal of Americans Medical Association Web site after 4 p.m. ET on March 31 to read about a study that examines the consequences of bedbug bites.
Now… never mind.
Not even the name of the authors or anything! Yes, yes, I checked the JAMA site, nothing yet.
Well played, CR.
It’s not like there’s a lot of bed bug bites research. I had been planning a mini-review of what’s available. A new paper on this subject is definitely an event. Tomorrow! 4 p.m. — did you catch that?
Please have a look at the photographs of the Stop Bedbugs DC meeting on Friday.
Congratulations to the Norwood Tenants and the people of the District!
Jessica’s take:
Wonder if we could pull something like this off here in Chicago? I hope so. The Stop Bedbugs DC Summit was an important first step for the stakeholders in DC who are interested in developing a task force– and a strategic plan– to control bed bug infestations there.
My take?
Did you see that long conference table? The packed room?
New York vs Bed Bugs recommends community and pest control industry surveys and a city-wide reporting database to track bed bug infestations in our city. Will we get it? Not sure, but I think we’ll be here until we get a comprehensive bed bug control plan, and no such thing will be complete without these tracking tools.
What information might be gleaned from surveys?
Hawai’i leads the way with methodology modeled on the 2003 Toronto study, Hwang et al. (2005).
In this study, Examination of Bed Bug (Cimex lectularius Linnaeus) Infestations on the Island of Oahu, Hawai’i (PDF), the authors collected health department data, surveyed 18 pest control companies and 16 shelters:
Abstract: Bed bug (Cimex lectularius Linnaeus) infestations have been increasing over the past several years in the continental United States. This study identified a similar rise in bed bug infestations on the island of Oahu, Hawai’i and followed up to characterize the local situation. The amount of calls and complaints regarding bed bugs to the Hawai’i State Department of Health, Oahu Vector Control Branch (DOHVCB) and Pest Control Companies (PCCs) increased in 2007 as compared to 2006. Eighteen pest management professionals (PMPs) were interviewed by phone in follow up. The number of sites treated for a company ranged from 2 to 650 in 2007, with a mean of 95.31 sites treated. Residential facilities were most commonly serviced by PMPs, shelters much less often. Eighteen employees from 16 shelters were then also interviewed using a different, in-person survey form. Eleven of these shelters had experienced a bed bug infestation, two of which were still affected at the time of the interview. Sixty-four percent of shelters’ infestations were limited to one incident, 87.50% of these were able to quickly eliminate infestations. To be able to contain an infestation in shelters such as these, training staff on prevention measures is critical. With the overall rise in infestations, updated public information is essential.
Fickle, V.J., Yang, P., Olmsted, G.K. 2008. Examination of Bed Bug (Cimex lectularius Linnaeus) Infestations on the Island of Oahu, Hawai’i. Hawai’i Journal of Public Health. 1:1, 36-39. Full-text PDF available.
Here are some interesting items from this paper:
- The Oahu Department of Health Vector Control Branch recorded 69 bed bug complaints in 2007, up from 30 in 2006, mostly from residential callers.
- PMPs serviced mostly residential locations (74%), hotels (15%), almost no shelters (0.42%), nursing homes (9%), and less commonly, cruise ships, businesses and one fire station.
- One PMP stopped servicing bed bug accounts in 2006 because “demand was too high and profits were unpredictable” and another PMP only treated bed bugs for long-standing accounts.
- Suspend SC (deltamethrin) and sulfuryl fluoride (Vikane, Zythor, true fumigation) seemed to be the tools of choice for the surveyed PMPs.
- In almost all the surveyed shelters (90.9%), mattresses and furniture were thrown out after each infestation.
- Bed bugs spread in 64% of the shelters from the original infested room.
- Most shelters only had a small number of rooms infested, but one shelter had every room and every bed infested:
The spread of the infestation in this shelter may have been due to the short walls separating units. Whereas all other shelters examined had separate rooms for every family, this shelter used cubicles with 4ft walls to separate families.
- 3 shelters had staff taking home an infestation.
- The authors conclude by noting the protocol in one shelter in Hawaii:
One shelter on the Big Island of Hawai’i was given a large walk-in freezer and pre-freezes all items for several days before they enter the facility.
The news out of Dayton, Ohio about reported bed bug complaints in several local schools, including a school closing, is not surprising.
Bed bugs will not only show up in school, they will most certainly settle in if given the chance.
Schools are challenging environments for bed bug control, but they afford unique opportunities to widely disseminate critical information about bed bugs.
One of the essential tasks for our cities is the production and distribution of educational materials pitched to particular audiences and levels of interest and engagement—the practical information needed by the occasional traveler is different from the information needed by the multi-unit resident who just discovered a bed bug infestation. Complicating things a bit more, people generally do not respond to available information about bed bugs until they have a motivating interest.
Schools can do more than send a letter home with every student (although that is itself very good). Schools can host information sessions for parents and facilitate the teaching of prevention and management for the whole community.
Teaching kids about bed bugs might also be a good long-term plan to defeat the fear and the stigma.
It’s difficult for the lay person to get access to research articles. I’m always glad of free resources and, in case you share my problem and interest, want to point out some bed bug articles you may have missed.
Check out the Summer 2006 issue of American Entomologist which is available online for free. There are several articles in this issue, an ‘instant symposium’ on bed bugs, the product of the intense interest of the 2005 ESA meeting.
This is the Table of Contents (PDF) and these are the articles:
Instant Symposium
Not Letting the Bed Bugs Bite…Bed, Lab, and Beyond (PDF)
Brian J. Cabrera and C. Kathleen Heinsohn
Bed Bugs 101: the Basics of Cimex lectularius (PDF)
Harold J. Harlan
The Perfect Storm: An Extension View on Bed Bugs (PDF)
Michael F. Potter
Bed Bugs in America: A Pest Management Industry Survey (PDF)
J. Gangloff-Kaufmann, C. Hollingsworth, J. Hahn, L. Hansen, B. Kard, M. Waldvogel
Bed Bugs: A Systemic Pest Within Society [plus a second article: Nonchemical Control of Bed Bugs] (PDF)
Stephen A. Kells:
I suspect that educating the public about prevention will be the most cost-effective procedure; however, the extent to which this information will be absorbed and used by people is unknown.
Bed Bugs – Still More Questions Than Answers: A Need for Research and Public Awareness (PDF)
Richard Cooper:
Does the presence of pesticides have any effect on host seeking behavior? In many cases, after a single application of pesticides, individuals will stop getting bitten for several weeks, despite the fact that bed bugs are still present in the environment. If pesticides are not re-applied, the clients typically begin getting bitten again 4-5 weeks later. Why is this happening?
Efficacy of Bed Bug Control Products in Lab Bioassays: Do They Make It Past the Starting Gate? (PDF)
Robin G. Todd
Foraging and Communication Ecology of bed bugs, Cimex lectularius L. (Hemiptera: Cimicidae) (PDF)
E. D. Siljander
Endosymbiotic Bacteria of Bed Bugs: Evolution, Ecology and Genetics (PDF)
Joyce M. Sakamoto and Jason L. Rasgon
I’m not sure if it would interest you but I recommend the Siljander, if only for the laundry list of substances that have been tested. Earwax. Nope, not kidding.
I guess I should say that there’s been a more recent pest management survey that is pretty much a must read. Though not a happy read.
If you care about bed bugs in the District, this is the only ticket in town on Friday.
The agenda (PDF) has been announced.
From the press release:
The summit will establish various stakeholder groups that are affected by bedbugs, and empower them to take action to combat the problem. This event will also include discussion of legislative and enforcement approaches, as well as citizen involvement through tenant groups, senior and public housing, and educational outreach through government and local businesses on the front lines of the community.
You’ll notice among the speakers New York City’s own Ray Lopez of Little Sisters of the Assumption Family Health Service.
Richard Kramer, Dini Miller, and W. Wayne White round out the morning session speakers. The Office of the Tenant Advocate and EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs will also participate.
Consider that agenda for a moment. Anything you can think of, they have it covered: legislation, enforcement, education, data collection, exploring a bed bug task force.
Yes, please. A bed bug task force for DC.
The Norwood Tenants Association and the DC Department of Health are showing extraordinary leadership. We’ve mentioned previously how hopeful this makes us.
The original language in the bill said “bed bug task force.” This change has not been unnoticed in the community.
Like we said, it doesn’t matter, we can still do this.
The purpose of the board is to study the health concerns of bed bugs and make specific recommendations to the mayor and to the city council, within nine months, on the “prevention and treatment of bed bug infestations throughout the city.”
Ten members
- An entomologist – appointed by the Mayor
- A pest management professional – appointed by the Mayor
- A community health professional – appointed by the Speaker
- A fourth appointee – appointed by the Mayor
- A fifth appointee – appointed by the Speaker
- Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
- Department of Consumer Affairs
- Department of Sanitation
- Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications
- Department of Housing Preservation and Development
Here it is worth noting in light of certain knee-jerk commentary in the media that the advisory board serves without compensation.
The advisory board could have included other NYC agencies, but it does not. It is best not to dwell on what isn’t.
And better to focus on what is actually in front of us:
The report
The board will write a report for the mayor and the city council to include specific recommendations on the following:
- “Prevention and treatment of bed bug infestations in private dwellings”
- “Prevention and treatment of bed bug infestations in public accommodations and institutions, including, but not limited to, schools, hotels, hospitals, nursing homes, jails and residential shelters”
- “Tracking and reporting of bed bug infestations”
- “Disposal of bed bug infested items”
- “Bed bug training and/or education for urban pest management professionals”
- “Bed bug training and/or education for city workers”
- “The development and most effective distribution of public education and resource materials on bed bug prevention and treatment, including, but not limited to, information on the rights and responsibilities of landlords, tenants and homeowners”
This is what we want to see happen
- The board should listen and consult. Listen to the affected public and consult, everyone. This means that they should not just listen to those who will be savvy enough to arrange meetings with them, but they should listen to those who have no access to such communication channels. What we are talking about here is the people who are affected by bed bugs. It’s one thing to look at a graph that tells you that NYCHA is underserving bed bug complaints, and quite another to hear the stories of people who are calling the NYCHA maintenance line, as they should, getting tickets for their bed bug complaints, getting told that they will receive pest control visits, and getting no such visits. If you do one but not the other, you are operating on insufficient and inadequate information. Look at everything, understand everything.
- The board should make every effort to move quickly. However, we are not so worried about the 9-month span contemplated by the bill because we are hoping that there will be some immediate changes and other changes during the process. We are really banking on this, so to speak.
- For example, we want to see the following steps taken by the relevant agencies as soon as possible (under the premise that it requires no further study to take these steps, they are so self-evidently necessary):
- make 311 calls about bed bugs available in Local Law 47 reports; if you can itemize unleashed dog complaints, you can list bed bug complaints, it’s as simple as that
- put up an educational website (at the Health Department perhaps, wherever), build it as you go, do not wait nine months for it to be recommended
- clarify the law for the vast numbers of people who are still looking for this information (it looks pretty clear to us, but we’re not lawyers), fighting with their landlords, clogging housing court—we will not reduce these cases completely, but we can make a dent by simply disseminating the right information. Are there any exceptions? What are they? Who is affected? This ought to be simple. If it is complex, it can still be communicated simply. Dissemination of this information is an urgent need and there can be no convincing argument against it.
by Renee Corea on March 23, 2009
in Photos
"vacuum bags are the best thing to happen to our poor bug-infested apartment since mattress encasements"
By cuttlefish via flickr.
"our bill was $960"
By cuttlefish via flickr.
