Bedbugs

Staff training module

What is a Bedbug?A true vampire:

Feed at night

Feed only on blood

Need to be “invited in”

A female bedbugNote the round abdomen

Males are more oval in shape

Eggs are a little larger than a grain of sand, and white

Nymphs are clear when they hatch from the egg, and become darker as they feed and grow

Behavior

• Bedbugs are lazy.

• Bedbugs do not fly or jump. They walk and run to and from their host.

• Bedbugs spend most (about 95%) of their time hiding.

If they don’t fly, how do they get around???

• Hitch hiking in boxes, pockets and purses lets us carry them to new buildings (usually gravid females)

• Once in a building they spread on their own– Hide in pipe and wire chases and follow the utility

line to the next room (or the next floor)– Hitch hike on furniture, backpacks, and people

between rooms– Can literally walk under the door and down the hall

Bedbug droppings are mostly black, and found in or near tight cracks in a bedframe, couch, armchair, or other harborage

On fabric, droppings will resemble a mark from a “sharpie” marker

On hard surfaces, droppings will be raised, like Braille

Eggs are often found near clusters of droppings

Signs of activity

Symptomsaka, Bites

Treatment: Conventional

• Steam, Vacuum, Sprays, Dusts

• 4 service visits

• Lots of laundry bagged up to be hot laundered

• Targeted application to active areas

Treatment: Heat

Lethal temperature is 118 degrees F

Time consuming, but all done in one treatment

Very effective: heat reaches all areas of the room

No extra laundering necessary, minimal preps

Treatment: Heat

“Heat Fumigation”, or Hot Box

Good for “move-ins” to treat incoming belongings

Good for “spot treating” existing infested belongings

Monitoring

• Nightwatch

• Climb-ups

• Encasements

• Canine

• Visual

Stop the Spread!(don’t bring them home)

• Don’t expose yourself to bugs at work– Don’t sit in a room/common area– Bring in as little as possible to rooms– Change clothes at end of shift, seal in bag for hot

laundering

Stop the Spread!(don’t bring them in to work)

• If you suspect an infestation at home:– Launder work clothes in high heat– Keep them sealed in a plastic bag away from

sleeping areas– OR, leave them in or near the dryer until you leave

for work

Be aware that vehicles may be infested also

Stop the Spread!(work to work)

• Isolation of zones/infested areas

• Separate linen/garbage cars for each wing

• Bags for individual laundry

• Isolate incoming belongings for heat treatment in dryer

Inspection

• Look in the right areas– Favorite armchair– Wheel chairs and walkers– Don’t forget: they don’t want to be found!

• Identify the signs properly– Blood spot from squashed bedbug, or an open

wound?

In closing,

• Bedbugs do not discriminate, and are nothing to be ashamed of getting.

• The best thing you can do is to be aware of a problem and take the right steps to fix it immediately