NYC HPD now offering bed bug education community classes for non-profits and tenants groups

Posted on August 24, 2010 by Renee Corea

And they also offer free classes at their lower Manhattan offices on designated Wednesdays from 6:00-9:00 pm at 100 Gold Street, New York, NY 10038. Register for the in-person class online or call 212-863-8830.

For the non-profit and tenant groups classes, contact Pam Glaser, Director of Public Outreach and Education, NYC Department of Housing Preservation & Development, at 212-863-6721.

Also, the online bed bug course is now easy to register for with just name and email required. Access the course on this page (click “register now”).

Any important additional updates in the future will be posted to the NYC page. That page and the resources page may be updated once in a while.

[Edited to update class registration info].

Posted in Issues and Challenges | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

An interview with Steven W. Smollens: law and history in NYC

Posted on August 19, 2010 by Renee Corea

Steven W. Smollens has practiced landlord and tenant law in New York City for 34 years.

I have (in my History of the Misery of Bed Bugs collection) a set of notes, passed along like contraband, of his New York County Lawyers’ Association Jack Newton Lerner Lecture on bed bugs, Bed Bugs, Constructive Eviction, Warranty of Habitability: Comments and Cases — an outline of the wonderful story of early bed bug litigation in the city.

When May Berenbaum’s recent NYT op-ed offered (as evidence for the changing fortunes of the persecuted bed bug?) a memorable phrase from an early 20th century New York decision — “[Bedbugs] can be dealt with by the tenant by processes known to all housewives” — I bethought myself my Smollens lecture notes…

Mr. Smollens indulged my questions.

New York vs Bed Bugs: Why look at early 20th century case law in the first place? Are bed bugs and the law like bed bugs and science, where we’re missing quite a big chunk of development and thought?

Steven W. Smollens: That is a potent observation. Science left the bedbug alone for a long time. With the bedbug gone, and modern insecticides left to cope with less offensive insects, when the bedbug came back, there were initially few treatments considered legal and lethal. While our coping skills were not honed to the bedbug spread, our own modern life helped the bedbug move in to one home and business after another.

When the bedbug problem was novel, we did not pay much attention. We missed out on chances to change certain patterns, to make the risks less, and to stem the spread. We passed up early warning, education, and training for exterminators, public officials, tenants, landlords, shopkeepers, travelers, public transportation operators, used furniture and mattress sellers, flea market vendors, college dormitory authorities and the like. The public’s lack of alertness and government’s slow pace, along with housing maintenance codes ill-suited for the new pestilence, has made for a variety of claims for successful pest eradication; but often failure to control is easily passed on to the tenant, or a neighbor or the building manager or landlord and it is hard to support one method of bedbug elimination over any other.

It comes down to “now we know it.” For nearly eighty years, there was not a new bedbug case decided in New York courts involving landlord and tenant. Today’s New York court case will typically involve the application of our Warranty of Habitability statute. But by the first time a warranty of habitability and bedbug case came into the court’s domain for decision, we had missed the chance to an early end to the bedbug’s spread. Today, we can learn a lot from how bedbugs influenced our older landlord and tenant law. We should be able to see ourselves in the tenants who lived in our city one hundred years ago, and realize that by the time bedbugs made it to court at that time, bedbugs were all around.

Read on (there will be rats and bed bugs)…

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The workmanlike chlorfenapyr

Posted on August 12, 2010 by Renee Corea

Remember BASF’s bed bug prevention pitch?

The research is out and worth a close reading, not only because it is the anticipated report on the effectiveness of old dry residues of chlorfenapyr against bed bugs, a subject that sets off our collective anxieties about using pesticides preventatively, but it’s the first study of chlorfenapyr’s effectiveness against pyrethroid-resistant bed bugs.

Romero, Alvaro, Michael F Potter, and Kenneth F Haynes. 2010. Evaluation of chlorfenapyr for control of the bed bug, Cimex lectularius L. Pest Management Science. doi:10.1002/ps.2002

Chlorfenapyr is what is called a pro-insecticide in that it does not become active (toxic) until it is metabolized by the bed bug itself after absorption. It belongs to a class of pesticides called pyrroles.

It works on bed bugs as follows:

The active metabolite of chlorfenapyr (AC 303,268) inhibits the ion transport system of the respiratory chain in mitochondria, preventing the production of the energy molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP), so leading to insect death.

Yes, but let’s not be deterred.

Cell energy being the operative concept, if one wanted a handy simplification (and one does!), it seems to me they get tired and then they die:

Typical symptoms of chlorfenapyr intoxication in bed bugs include sluggish movements, prostration and limited responses upon contact stimulus (Romero A, personal observation). Such symptoms may be less apparent in commercial practice, and users should understand that bed bugs treated with chlorfenapyr succumb more slowly compared with some other insecticides.

Thank you for that image, Dr. Romero.

This is unlike the nerve-acting pyrethroids which make bed bugs hyperactive.1 Here let’s note for those who are just joining us that pyrethroid resistance is depressingly widespread (also see) and so much at the center of our troubles.

On this note, the authors raise our interest a bit:

It has been suggested that resistant arthropod populations with enhanced monooxygenase activity might have increased sensitivity to chlorfenapyr (a case of a phenomenon known as negative resistance), because pyrethroid resistance can be caused by detoxification by the same enzymes (P450 monooxygenases) that activate the pro-insecticide chlorfenapyr.

Only to pour cold water a sentence later:

In the present study, the similar rate of mortality caused by chlorfenapyr to all strains, regardless of their pyrethroid susceptibility status, suggests that the presence of pyrethroid resistance in bed bugs might not limit (or enhance) the effectiveness of chlorfenapyr.

If only pyrethroid resistance were good for something. But they found no evidence of this negative resistance (because it would be too cool for words and we should know by now such gifts are not allowed us in this great contest with our enemy).

Let’s get back to insect death, by all means.

Comparison of two chlorfenapyr formulations

Phantom is formulated chlorfenapyr and there is an aerosol and a liquid concentrate:2

Toxicity of chlorfenapyr formulations Phantom aerosol and Phantom SC - Romero et al 2010 Pest Management Science.png

Toxicity of chlorfenapyr formulations (Phantom aerosol and Phantom SC), Romero et al. (2010), Pest Management Science

Yes, the obnoxious CIN-1 strain.

It’s very interesting that the aerosol is faster as a dry residue as well.

Directly sprayed bed bugs (aerosol formulation)

Direct sprays with the aerosol caused 30% mortality to both pyrethroid-resistant strains within 4 h (data not shown) and about 50% mortality in 24 h. In contrast, direct sprays of the water-based formulation took at least 3 days (WOR-1) or 5 days (CIN-1) to cause 50% mortality. Direct sprays of the blank aerosol (formulation without chlorfenapyr) killed 25% of individuals within 4 h, which indicates that some formulation ingredients also have some contact activity. Insecticides that kill bed bugs upon contact are widely used by pest control companies because they can quickly suppress populations and provide some relief to their customers.

And:

Bed bugs from strains CIN-1 and WOR-1 showed no avoidance of surfaces treated with the chlorfenapyr aerosol.

No avoidance “presumably lessens the potential spread of bed bugs to adjoining areas.”

Dry residues (of liquid formulation)

The LT50 of (time necessary to kill 50% of individuals) for CIN-1 bed bugs exposed to a 4-month-old dry residue deposit of Phantom (liquid formulation) was 4.6 days (and it was 4.8 days for fresh deposits), which means that the 4-month-old dry residue was just as toxic as a fresh deposit. The LT90 was 8.8 days.

In other words, chlorfenapyr is that rare thing, an effective (if slower) residual pesticide against bed bugs. What challenges are tied to its slow action (continued feeding and egg-laying?) have to be set against, well, that it works.

The authors note the potential preventive value of these findings:

The ability of chlorfenapyr to remain effective over an extended period of time is encouraging because bed bugs that are not sprayed directly may still succumb after residing on treated surfaces. Most insecticides available today have limited potency as a dry deposit against pyrethroid-resistant bed bugs. Dry residual action of chlorfenapyr might also aid in preventing new infestations if likely areas of infestation are previously treated.

…but recommend further study of chlorfenapyr’s residual effectiveness on various surfaces3 and the “suitability of prophylactic applications” — which I’m afraid leaves us where we were, with the manufacturer recommending just such a course (PDF) and prudent people urging caution.

More research please.4

_____________________

This was almost the last planned post here but there will be one more. Thanks for reading. I keep a bed bug-related reading list you are welcome to follow if you are interested. Best wishes.

  1. This (PDF, University of Maryland) is very useful to understand modes of action. [↩]
  2. Labels and MSDS sheets here. [↩]
  3. In my limited experience I can recall one article, Fletcher & Axtell 1993 (PDF), that examines the variability of performance of bed bug pesticides on different surfaces — we discussed it briefly here. One PMP I’ve talked to dismissed the need for this kind of study. Puzzling. [↩]
  4. Interestingly, The Columbus Dispatch reported yesterday that researchers were conducting a four-house field trial of Phantom and Alpine dust in central Ohio. [↩]
Posted in Research | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Bed bug management policy guide for accommodation providers

Posted on August 9, 2010 by Renee Corea

From Australian medical entomologist Stephen Doggett, a draft first edition of a Bed Bug Management Policy for Accommodation Providers, “initially developed to assist community housing groups who were experiencing recurrent bed bug problems” but useful for anyone in “the hospitality industry, student and staff lodgings, and/or public housing.”

The policy recommends that all bed bug mitigation/treatment activities be carefully documented, including inspections, staff training, outside agency involvement, vacuuming routines, and treatment reports.

The most interesting suggestion here, and quite elaborated (with suggested fields), is a database:

A standardised database should be used to document bed bug infestations. This has a number of advantages; it can help ensure that procedures are undertaken, it can help in the tracking of people and potential infestations, it can be used to review the procedures within a facility, and the economic impacts of bed bugs can be recorded.

Perhaps there may be some unexplored privacy issues here with keeping certain records of occupants, prior occupants, including medical information. But there is no doubt there are many facilities here and elsewhere that desperately need an organized system of bed bug incident documentation.

Always interesting and useful documents and welcome leadership from Australia.

You can download the Code of Practice third edition here. (I’m looking forward to reading it again as I often find something new.) And look through ICPMR Medical Entomology department’s bed bug publications here.

Previous posts about articles by Stephen Doggett and colleagues: on DE, advice for general practitioners, and dispersal.

Also always relevant to remind you of the Guidelines for Prevention and Management of Bed Bugs in Shelters and Group Living Facilities from NYS IPM at Cornell.

News of the finalized third edition of the CoP via Pest.

Posted in Issues and Challenges | Tagged , , | Comments Off

NPMA/University of Kentucky global bed bug survey

Posted on August 9, 2010 by Renee Corea

The NPMA/University of Kentucky global bed bug survey hasn’t been published yet (see the NPMA press release that made the news rounds recently) but I came across an executive summary (PDF) via Pest magazine that has a bit more detail.

There were 521 U.S. and 429 international respondents.

The nature of the increase:

In a previous survey [link added-RC] of U.S. pest control firms (Potter 2008a), 6% of respondents said their companies performed more than 100 services for bed bugs during the previous year. In the more recent survey, conducted two years later, 20% of U.S. respondents reported their company doing more than 100 bed bug jobs last year and 7% reported doing more than 500. Other areas of the world where many respondents reported doing hundreds of bed bug jobs last year included Africa/Middle East (60% of respondents), Canada (37%), Asia (20%), and Europe (13%).

On views about the nexus with poverty, quite interestingly, the Europeans depart from their American counterparts:

When asked if they felt there was a correlation in their country between bed bugs and poverty, respondents to our survey were split, with differing opinions by region. In the United States, for example, 55% of respondents said that “problems tend to be worse among the poor” while 45% said “all citizens are equally affected.” A wider discrepancy occurred amongst respondents from Europe, with 77% insisting that bed bugs affected all citizens equally regardless of socio-economic standing. Nowadays, even five star hotels and high-end clothing stores are susceptible to infestation, but historically the poor have suffered the most from bed bugs.

Might this say more about European societies than about actual distribution rates?

On DIY:

More than half (51%) of U.S. respondents estimated that 50% or more of their customers tried to treat their problem themselves before calling a professional. Pest control firms reported seeing many ineffective and potentially dangerous measures used by do-it-yourselfers, including ammonia, bleach, fire, smoke, kerosene, wasp spray, and bug bombs, as well as professional-use pesticides bought on the internet.

And yet, does it not seem to you that this problem will finally subside when there are effective DIY solutions (and only then)?

Enough about global bed bug catastrophe. Let’s talk about NYvsBB.

Check this out:

In Sweden in the 1930s, almost half of all moving vans inspected had bed bugs, and a subsequent survey in Iceland showed that bed bugs were often found inside televisions and radios being serviced by appliance repair shops (Potter 2008b). The remarkable ability of this pest to “hitchhike” from one place to another means they can materialize almost anywhere…from a restaurant booth to a blood pressure cuff.

I like restaurant booth to blood pressure cuff.

But Iceland and Potter 2008b?

Respectfully say, nah.

Behold the statistical wonders of clever Finnish entomologists. 1 2 Markkula & Tiittanen (1970).

  1. If I had a nickel for every time someone turned up their nose at this here mere blog. [↩]
  2. I think Messrs. Reinhardt and Siva-Jothy read this paper for their 2007 review, as they read everything ever written, but they used the least curiosity-inducing citation possible. I found it by accident at the good old army’s library (I think). Highly recommend. [↩]
Posted in Statistics | Tagged , , | Comments Off

A pest of significant public health importance, cont’d

Posted on August 7, 2010 by Renee Corea

With people’s backs against the wall in various cities of the United States, the CDC and EPA pronounce themselves officially on the case of “alarming” U.S. bed bug resurgence: CDC-EPA Joint Statement on bed bug control in the U.S.

What one can expect from the CDC:

CDC is partnering with experts in the areas of medicine, entomology, epidemiology and environmental toxicology to better understand the resurgence of bed bugs and the methods and tools that are needed for effective bed bug control. CDC will provide timely information on emerging trends in bed bug control with the goal of developing national strategies to reduce bed bug populations. CDC recognizes that very limited research has been conducted on bed bugs during the past several decades and encourages increased bed bug research to determine the causes of the resurgence, the most effective methods of control and the potential for bed bugs to transmit disease.

And the EPA:

EPA realizes that certain bed bug populations in communities across the nation are becoming increasingly resistant to many of the existing pesticides. EPA is actively working with industry and researchers to identify new compounds (or new uses of existing compounds) to control bed bugs. In addition, EPA is working to educate the general public, pest professionals, and public health officials about bed bug biology and IPM, which is critical to long-term bed bug control.

Hopeful/desperate emphasis added.

Read the whole thing, of course. Not every day that the painfully obvious is spelled out so satisfyingly.

There are a thousand quibbles, but I will allow myself one:

In some cases, a coordinated community control program may be necessary to reduce or eliminate bed bug populations.

In some cases?

Posted in Public Health | Tagged , , | Comments Off

So, what will NYC do about bed bugs?

Posted on August 1, 2010 by Renee Corea

I was as surprised as you to learn that the city intended to release the advisory board report after all and adopt some of its recommendations. It’s tempting to think that interesting things happen when CEOs start writing to the Mayor asking for guidance.

But there were certainly people applying pressure from all sides. I am ever mindful of Council Member Gale Brewer’s sustained leadership on this issue over many years.

Let’s set aside for a moment the recommendations of the bed bug advisory board (PDF).

What do they actually plan to do? $500K is a substantial commitment (though some do not see it that way) — how are they going to spend it?

This is the press release.

And these are the relevant passages:

Based on the Board’s recommendations, the City will develop a web-based bed bug portal for public education and awareness; work to coordinate and improve bed bug abatement enforcement practices in housing and ensure up to date and effective training of pest management professionals.

and

The Bed Bug Portal will serve as a cost-effective outreach tool for any New Yorker affected by bed bugs. It will provide step-by-step instructions on how to prevent, confirm and manage an infestation, and offer information and training videos for landlords and pest management professionals. The Departments of Health and Mental Hygiene and Housing Preservation will also create joint enforcement teams to work with property owners to conduct affirmative inspections of neighboring apartments in multi-unit dwellings to help prevent and to stop the spread of bed bugs once they have been found. City agencies will also provide more extensive training for their inspectional, pest control and social service workforces to help keep up with the developing science of bed bug control, and to help tenants understand what they can do to prevent and respond to infestations.

The most promising aspects of this plan are the “affirmative inspections of neighboring apartments” — based on what the Health Department at the press conference called “enhanced expectations” of landlords and property managers (and, in referring to expecting tenants to open their doors, of tenants as well) — and the “training of the city’s inspectional, pest control and social service workforces.”

This is a lot. It’s more than I expected.

Systematically inspecting the apartments adjoining an infested apartment, on all sides, is in my view the single most effective step that can be taken. It is a lot easier said than done. There are no details available at this time (I’ve asked) about how exactly they intend to do this. If they manage to dispel the fear and short-term concerns that prevent property managers from acting rationally (according to reasonable self-interest) when faced with an infestation, then we can expect to see many infestations contained and eradicated, for less money, less time and less anguish.

Council Member Brewer talked specifically about helping the New York City Housing Authority with its bed bug control protocols. As you know, NYCHA services the pest control needs of its buildings directly with in-house pest control staff, and their resources are severely challenged. If they manage to do this and to do it well, then we will see a huge improvement in the lives of affected NYCHA residents. This alone would be a tremendous accomplishment. Successfully training social and health service providers who work for the city (to identify infestations in the homes of affected clients and patients and meaningfully participate in helping them, to prevent transmission to places they visit and to their own homes) would also be an extraordinary achievement.

Now that they’ve started, they will keep monitoring the prevalence of infestations.

I hope you will hold them accountable to these intentions. And help the city disseminate its (constructive) messages. Remember that until last week their messages were mixed, dispiriting and sometimes just wrong. The people who said those things are still there. Educating them first would be a good thing.

The list of what they will not do is long. Chief among them is not helping to establish social enterprise bed bug services for middle- and low-income households. The problem of access to affordable bed bug control services persists, and will not go away the day everyone learns to detect infestations early (and I hope that day is achievable).

The list of what the city cannot do is perhaps even longer. The city, for example, cannot regulate the pest control profession in the city. It cannot impose higher standards and cannot require additional training. It cannot fund research projects. It cannot solve Nicole’s problem. (Or will not, at some point it is effectively the same.)

I hope you will participate in this endeavor. Having a quiet chat with the neighbors, the super, the facilities manager at work, your friends and family might be a good first step. Surround yourself with bed bug-savvy people. Think about how you would go about solving an infestation if you had to. If you are responsible for a building or facility, learn and plan and keep up with developments. “We’ve never had a bed bug infestation” is not going to cut it anymore. What people will want to hear is “we have a plan for dealing with bed bugs, and have learned the following…”

Don’t stop going to the movies. The bed bugs are going to be here for a while.

I want to end by remembering what Stephen Kells wrote in 2006 (PDF):

When considering bed bugs as a systemic pest, we need to start looking for permanent sites within society that are likely to support reservoir infestations, and for temporary sites that have frequent human occupancy and provide bed bugs with an opportunity to spread to multiple sites. We must begin considering which inspection and control measures are needed in high-risk areas, what the costs in those areas will be, and what (if any) regulatory action might be necessary. 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.

There are quite a lot of challenges ahead.

Posted in Bed Bug Task Force | Tagged , , | Comments Off

WWII army barracks disinfestation photos

Posted on August 1, 2010 by Renee Corea

Well, maybe one more history post.

The papers say the city is ready to do battle, more on what that might mean later.

Of course bed bugs have always been a big deal. Eradicating them, a big production. We had a brief respite there in the 20th century with a succession of various effective and cheap (and therefore widely deployable) control methods. Now we get to spend incredible amounts of cash killing bed bugs, and be grateful for it. And the organizational logistics of eradication? Again comparable to what they once were?

All of which is to say, let’s have any excuse to look at some photographs from a bed bug disinfestation protocol at Camp Lee (now Ft. Lee), Virginia in 1943.1

Photos copyright Dr. Eugene J. Gerberg, used with permission, all rights reserved.

Soldiers’ gas masks were “often severely infested.”

infested gas mask.jpg

Continue reading →

  1. “Bedbug control by fumigation with hydrocyanic acid gas discoids,” private photo album, EJ Gerberg (1943). [↩]
Posted in History, Photos | Tagged , , | Comments Off

Johnson’s hut, now online

Posted on August 1, 2010 by Renee Corea

There are so many things I’ve wanted to write about in the time I’ve been away (and not just about historical research, heh).

But I will make do with telling you that C.G. Johnson’s Ecology of the bed-bug (1941) is now online. Check it out.

Our previous obsession with Dr. Johnson’s bed bug masterpiece here and here and here.

Best.

Posted in History | Tagged , , | Comments Off

“During the past 12 months, have you had a problem with bed bugs in your home that required an exterminator?”

Posted on August 1, 2010 by Renee Corea

The NYC Health Department announced at last Wednesday’s press conference that 6.7% (of adult residents) answered yes.

Despite the bad news, it is exciting to have this question included in the city’s health survey for the first time.

Not that there are no problems with this question. Does it not exhibit an anxiety about confirmation in its chosen proxy of professional pest control services? As there are problems, perhaps, with some of the alternatives one can think of. There must be an art to this and the Health Department, with its public health tracking expertise, may have wanted to distinguish actual infestations from unconfirmed or suspected situations. And yet, how many people self-treat? Out of necessity or preference? And how? Are they successful, with or without an exterminator? (The exterminator word, though deprecated in favor of pest management professional, is well chosen here.)

I hope this question is tweaked in the years to come.

In any case, 6.7% is high, higher than I thought/guessed based on a consideration of what the under-reporting rate might be.1

Survey data is not yet available but will be posted at the city’s environmental health tracking portal and at the yet to be realized bed bug portal.

This is the first in a series of posts wrapping up recent developments. It is not a full return of the blog.

  1. In the only other comparable survey I remember, the Spring 2008 Greater Cincinnati Health Survey’s question was “In the past year, have you experienced a problem with bed bugs in your home or apartment?” The rate was 7.9% in Hamilton County and 14.5% in the City of Cincinnati. [↩]
Posted in Statistics | Tagged , , | 1 Comment