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.

These pages may be of related interest:

1. Greater Cincinnati Survey: 14.5% of Cincinnati respondents (7.9%, Hamilton County) report a bed bug problem
2. Bed Bugs Ltd to present the results of its London bed bug survey on December 15
3. The active spread of bed bugs in buildings: the stakes for cities
4. The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is resisting pressure to act in the city’s bed bug resurgence
5. Bite sensitivity, new data