Sandra J. lleston C h :tii"\\ Onl3 11 Watervliet Housing Authority C harles V. Patricelli

C harles A. Jesco Viet Chairman

Harry J. Cushing J effrey Czar necki

John O'Brien Roberta Gi lson Regina War ner

Administra tion Office 2400 Second Avenue

Watervliet, New York 12189 Pho ne: 518: -273~717

Fax: 518-273-4730 E-mail : Office@ Watcrvliet llousing.org

BEDBUGS

WHAT TO DO ABOUT THEM?

Tracey Roberts, C.P.A.

Ftt Arcounlanl

We have developed a plan that we think will help get rid of bedbugs and a checklist of things to do . We believe if it is followed it will get rid of them quickly and reduce the expense of a major problem.

1 CALL US IMMEDIATELY 2 THE WHA STAFF WILL LOOK AT THE AREAS AND DISCUSS WHAT THEY

FIND 3 IF UNKNOW, THEN CALL IN AN EXPERT TO DETERMINE IF THERE ARE ANY

BEDBUGS 4 IF WE CAN CONFINE THE AREA, START BY PUTTING ALL CLOTHING AND

BEDDING IN BLACK PLASTIC BAGS, WHA WILL SUPPLY, AND PUT EVERYTHING IN A DRYER.

5 ONCE DRIED, PUT THE BLACK PLASTIC BAGS IN THE GARBAGE AND PUT ALL DRIED CLOTHES AND BEDDING IN CLEAR PLASTIC BAGS, WHA WILL SUPPLY.

6 PURCHASE ZIPPED PLASTIC COVERS FOR THE BEDS, WHA WILL PRIVIDE IF TENANT IS UNABLE TO AFFORD PURCHASE, AND TENANT CAN PAY BACK THE WHA IN PAYMENTS.

7 REMOVE ALL TOYS AND OTHER ITEMS AND PUT IN PLASTIC BAGS. IF ANYTHING CAN BE DRIED LIKE STUFFED AMINALS OR THE LIKE, THEN DO so.

8 FOLLOW DIRECTIONS OF PEST CONTROL APPLICATOR FOR OTHER SUGGESTIONS. THERE WILL MOST LIKELY BE 3 DIFFERENT APPLICATIONS BY THE COMPANY TO GET RID OF THE BUGS.

9 DO YOUR BEST NOT TO SPREAD OR MIX UP ANY OF THE MATERIALS. 10 YOU SHOULD SEARCH THE INTERNET FOR OTHER SUGGESTIONS AND

IDEAS, ONE VALUABLE TOOL IS WWW.YOUTUBE.COM IT IS A GREAT SOURCE OF GOOD IDEASL

OTHER LINKS THAT WE SUGGEST http://www.howcast.com/videos/198172-How-To-Get-Rid-Of-Bed-Bugs http://to ledoblade.com/article/20 100907 /OPINION02/9060309 http://www.bedbuginfo.com/ http://www.nchh.org/Portals/O/Contents/bedbug report.pdf http://medent.usyd.edu.au/bedbug/

http://www.onpha.on.ca/AM/Template.dm?Section=Videos1&CONTENTID=6129&TEMPLATE=/CM/Conte ntDisplay.cfm

During the day, bedbugs hide here:

• Mattresses

• Box springs

• Bed frames

• Headboards

• Under peeling paint and loose wallpaper

• Under carpeting near baseboards

• In upholstered furniture seams

• Under light switch plates or electrical outlet

So, how do you know if your home is infested?

Bedbugs can be dormant for about one year before coming out again. This means that they do not need to feed for up to a whole year and they will still survive! Females can lay up to 500 eggs, 50 at one time!! Needless to say, they are quite the nuisance!

Here's how to detect them in your home:

• Check for speckling (digested blood) around electrical outlets & faceplates, crevices

where the wall meets the ceiling and the corners of the room, on the mattress and its

folds, and in cluttered areas. Also check carpets, especially underneath furniture

and against walls.

• Check for bugs, speckling and light brown (molted) skins in the nooks and crannies

of your mattresses and box springs, especially areas by your pillows. Check behind

headboards, and in the bed frame. You will be able to see the bugs and speckling,

but not the eggs (at least, not without a magnifying glass).

• Check the mattress and sheets for small smears of blood where you may have

squished a bug.

• Examine all items on and near the bed - clothes, shoes, pillows, blankets, alarm

clocks, socks, etc. Check items you leave the house with and return home with

Oackets, purses, hats, suitcases, etc.)

• Examine bites - bedbug bites can look like other insect bites

such as mosquito bites. Bedbug bites are small, reddish

bumps with a small dark center and they occur in a cluster, or

a row. They often look like a rash and can be very itchy.

Treating Bites:

You may experience hives, severe itching and blisters; however,

many people have no reaction to the bites. If you experience a

severe allergic reaction, then see a doctor. If the bites are not severe, simply wash the

area with a mild soap and warm water. Then, apply a skin cream containing

hydrocortisone. You may also want to take an oral antihistamine, such as Benadryl, to

relieve the itch. And, don't worry, studies show that bedbugs do not carry diseases.

However, if a bedbug is squished, the blood that comes out may not be your own, so

please be careful and wear gloves when treating squished bugs and bloody areas.

Wash hands well with soap and warm water after handling.

References:

"Bedbugs." Mayo Clinic Staff. MedlineP/us. Accessed from http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/bedbugs/DS00663/METHOD=print on 9/3/2010.

Solomon, Christopher. "Beating Back Bedbugs." MSN Real Estate. Accessed from http://realestate.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=25514979 on 9/27/10.

Dealing with bedbugs at home If you don't have bedbugs yet, your best defense is a good offense. Be proactive.

If you travel a lot or have many visitors, you're at a higher risk of seeing bedbugs. Be ready to notice them as soon as they enter the house. How?

• Wrap it. Even if you don't have bedbugs, it's a good idea to wrap your mattress and box spring in an encasement - imagine a big sealed pillowcase - that's approved for bedbugs, Cooper says. Bedbugs love to live and hide in the nooks and crannies of your mattress and box spring - in fact, they'll live inside them. These impregnable cases remove those hiding places and make bedbugs much easier to spot, Cooper says.

• Arrest the mess. Clutter provides hiding places for bedbugs. Keep a clean home, Potter says, and you'll have an easier time spotting them if they do arrive.

• Cup your legs. Consider buying devices such as the Climbup Insect Interceptor ­a little dishlike device that stops bedbugs from climbing up legs of beds. Bedbugs crawl up the sides of the device and fall in and get trapped, Cooper says. "It's an extremely effective early-detection tool." A less aesthetic option: Place the legs of tables and bedsteads inside glass jars or in metal cans, which are too slippery for bedbugs to climb, according to the University of California. As a temporary barrier, you can also coat bed legs with petroleum jelly.

• Beware the Trojan horse. Used furniture is like a cruise ship for bedbugs and takes them from place to place. Be wary of what you allow into your house, especially if it's upholstered furniture.

Finding the buggers So despite your best efforts, you have little welts. You think you might have bedbugs. What to do?

• Look for signs. The best place to look is around the sleeping area. Check "the seams and the tufts and folds in the mattress, especially up by the head area, where the pillows would be - those two corners," Potter says. You're looking not only for bugs but also for the telltale speckling of their fecal dots; the white eggs are much harder to see without a magnifying lens. "Usually they'll be on the underside of the box spring where it meets the bed," he says of the bugs and their evidence. "Just because there's no bedbugs on the mattress doesn't mean there's no bedbugs there." Another good place to look is behind the headboard, if you have one. Examine the bed frame, too; you may need to dismantle it to check between cracks. Use a flashlight if necessary. If you find any bugs, it's a good idea next to have a pest-control professional identify them. Some other bugs look like bedbugs.

• Gentlemen, start your laundry. If you indeed have bedbugs, start removing your clothes from the area and drying them on high heat (as above) for at least 10 minutes to kill any bedbugs, Potter says. Then keep the clothes in sealed containers or sealed garbage bags so they don't get reinfested. Prepare for some inconvenience: "People usually find themselves living out of plastic bags and Tupperware for a while," Potter says.

• Dust off the Hoover. Vacuuming can help. Attach the suction wand and run it deeply into all the crevices of the mattress and under the box spring, and along the edges of carpets. Repeat often. Be sure to empty the vacuum bag. A portable steam cleaner also works.

• Declutter. Remove any possible hiding places for the bugs. "You don't want anything stored under your bed," Cooper says. "Put it this way: The closer things are to your sleeping and resting areas, the more likely they are to be infested."

• Check the rest. Thoroughly clean and examine other items that might have been infested- especially if they are near the bed. Bedbugs can even crawl

inside electronics such as bedside clock radios, Cooper says. Some experts advise CPDF file) putting everything - even appliances - in plastic bags for inspection or quarantine. But Cooper says, "It's just not realistic to take everything you own and bag it." Use your judgment, he says.

• Call the pros. Unlike some vermin problems, bedbugs are difficult enough that they're a job for the pros, say experts like Potter. In fact, even three-quarters of pest-control experts in the University of Kentucky's recent survey said bedbugs were the most difficult household pest to manage. A professional pest company will spray insecticides that aren't available over the counter and will advise you on what else you should do. Still, don't expect the nightmare to evaporate after one visit. "The national average we found in that recent survey was three visits" by the pest-control company, and it could take as many as six visits, Potter says. "The more clutter you have, the more visits it takes."

• Deal with the mattress. Once bedbugs are in a house, most people think the mattress is a goner. Not true, Cooper says. "It's not necessary to discard the mattresses and box spring," he says. "They can be encased, as well." Previously, the encasement was used to keep bedbugs out; now, a good, bite-proof encasement will keep any bedbugs sealed inside it. They'll eventually starve and die inside, he says.

If you've gotten this far, you have a strong stomach and some even-stronger tools to help you sleep alone at night. Now sleep tight and don't let the - well, you know the rest.

l

'

How to Identify a Bed Bug Infestation Dini M. Miller, Ph.D., Department of Entomology, Virginia Tech

rodu 10n

You cannot just "get" bed bugs. They have to be brought into your home. So what is your first clue that you have brought bed bugs home in your luggage after a trip, or on a piece of used furniture that you bought at a garage sale? Most people become suspicious of a bed bug infestation when they find unexplained bites on their bodies. Most commonly a per­son wiU go to bed feeling fine but wake up in the morning with itching bites. While bites might suggest bed bugs, they are not a good method for diagnosing a bed bug infestation. This is because bite reactions are so variable from person to person. For instance, a person who has been bitten while traveling may not react for several days, and only notice the bites after they have returned home. These bites do not mean the home is infested. Alternatively, a person may not react to bed bug bites at all. This can allow an infestation to get started in their home and remain unnoticed until the bed bug population increases so much that bed bugs start to be seen. Because bites are an unreliable indicator of an infestation (they may not be bed bug bites at all), it is very important to be familiar with the other signs that bed bugs leave behind to detect a real infestation (particularly a small one). By looking for specific bed bug evidence, the infestation can be identified early before the population becomes difficult to control.

It is very important co know what bed bugs look like. The adults can easily be seen with the naked eye. Adult bed bugs are reddish brown in color, wingless, and are about the size of an apple seed. Immature bed bugs (there are 5 immature or nymphal instar stages) can also be seen with the naked eye but they are smaller than adults, and translucent whitish-yellow in color. The most difficult life stage to see is the first instar nymph. This is the youngest life stage that hatches out

of the egg. These nymphs are so small that they are difficult to see unless they are moving or have recently fed (bright red when full of blood). Bed bug eggs are also tiny, about the size of the head of a pin. The eggs are a pearl­white color and have obvious eyespots if they are older than 5 days.

Bed bugs can look somewhat different depending on their feeding status. If an adult bed bug has not fed recently, it is approximately %" long and oval in shape. In fact, an unfed bed bug can look like a flat disc. However, once it takes a blood meal the body blows up like a balloon. The bed bug elongates so that it looks more like a torpedo than a disc. The color also will be a bright red if the bed bug has fed within the last couple of hours. The bed bug will darken and flatten again over the next couple of days as it digests the blood meal.

Bed bug nymphs also change in their appearance after a blood meal. A hungry bed bug nymph is almost completely pale white or yellowish. However, once it is fed it plumps up, becomes brilliant red, and looks like a plump raspberry seed. Nymphs are the easiest to see when they have recently eaten.

Immature bed bugs have to take a blood meal in order to grow, and molt to the next life stage. The molting process is where the bed bug has to shed its "skin." Because all insects (like the bed bug) have their skeleton on the outside of their body (exoskeleton), they have to shed it in order to grow larger in size. Because each bed bug has five immature stages before it becomes an adult, it will have to molt (shed) five times. After adulthood, the bed bug no longer grows or sheds its skin. In a large infestation there will be many thousands of tl1ese molted skins lying around where they bed bugs have left them behind. In a new infestation, say in a hotel room, bed bug evidence may be very hard to find. Yet, because the largest percentage of any bed bug population is always in an immature stage, there is always potential to find these cast skins.

The molted skins of the bed bug look very similar to the bed bug itself. They are me same shape and generally translucent in color. However, you will notice that they look like an empty bed bug shell. They will be different sizes depending on the life stage of the bed bug mat molted. In small infestations, molted skins can be found almost any­where. In large infestations, most are found in areas where bed bugs aggregate togemer in groups.

h r to I tl rl

Along mattress seams

Behind head boards

In ceiling/wall jwtctions

Along baseboards

Stuck to personal belongings

Bed bugs feed every 5-7 days if a host is present. On the days they are not feeding, mey are spend their time di­gesting meir previous meal. Blood contains a lot of water so the bed bugs must condense their meal right away and excrete some of the excess liquid as waste. This digested blood is then deposited wherever the bed bugs happen to go

afi:er feeding. The excreted waste comes out in a semi-liquid &om and can be easily seen on the surfaces of manresses, bed frames and other locations where the bed bugs travel or aggregate. These fecal spots are black in color (not red because the blood has already been digested) and are ofi:en seen in groups of 10 or more. However, if the infestation is low, and the bed bug was just passing through the area, there may be only one of nvo spots in a particular location. Fecal spots can be found anywhere in a large infestation, but when the infestation is small, there are some places where fecal spots are more likely to be found. See below.

Along the mattress seams and on the tag

On the wood frame of the box springs

Behind the head board

Along the tops of baseboards or the edge of carpeting

Ceiling/wall junctions and behind pictures on the wall

At electrical outlets

In curtain seams where they gather at the rod • •• --:r

Notice that the bed bugfecal spotting can look similar to German cockroach feces that you might find in an apartment with a heavy cockroach infestation. One way to tell these nvo types of fecal spots apart is to first look for additional bed bug evidence in the area. Do you see shed skins or hatched eggs? If not, touch the fecal spots (yes, touch them). Bed bug fecal spots have a smooth feel because they consist of a dried liquid food (blood) . German cockroach feces tend to feel very granular because they contain solid wastes.

Looking for bed bug aggregations is similar to looking for fecal spots in that bed bugs ofi:en leave numerous fecal spots

-~"~-"' , where they aggregate together afi:er feeding. However, these - 1 aggregations also contain a variety of other bed bug evidence:

~~~~~-Live bed bugs (multiple life stages)

Fecal spots

Cast skins (from nymphs that have molted)

Live and hatched eggs

Although the photograph above makes a bed bug aggre­gation look obvious, these aggregations are not so easily identified if you do not look closely. For example, take a look at the photograph taken of an apartment ceiling on the next page. At first glance, this lookes like mold or mildew

problem, indicative of a moisture issue coming from the apartment upstairs. However, if you look more closely you can see that the "mold" is actually numerous aggregations of bed bugs on the ceiling. The black material is the fecal spotting described previously.

Along mattress seams, in the tufts and under the mattress tags

Behlnd the headboard

Inside the holes for set-in screws

Along wood creases in the box springs or in bed frames

Where the box springs fabric is stapled to the wood frame

Behlnd loose wallpaper

Behlnd chipped paint

Under the base of the air conditioner

. v ·

Beneath the wood fi.·aming that holds the bar in the closet

Along the interior frame of closet doors

Behlnd baseboards

· Inside the baseboard heaters

· .

J.r

..

Inside curtain rods, and on the curtains near the top where they are pleated

....

~

~

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In personal belongings, including books, stuffed animals, picture frames and hundreds of other locations

y

The first clue suggesting that you may have a bed bug infestation is often the presence of itching bites. However, bites reactions are quite variable and may not be due to bed bugs at all. Be aware of the other signs that bed bugs leave behind: fecal spots, molted skins, and aggregations.

WVirginiaTech Virginia Cooperative Extension lnvcntlhoFuturo A pa.'tt;etsJtip of V11gWa Tech tJr.d VA'{Pt,.,_., SUtro Unf;r;ts.ty WA''I'f.Cdvtcdu I VIRGINIA D EPARTMENT

~ OF AGRICULTURE AND ~~CONSUMER S ERVICES

Pictures ofBed Bug Infestations

areas.

lmar-t' crcd1t~ Uni~·crsity of 1.1inru·soto Entomo!oqy

Because bed bugs like seams, cracks and crevices, fabrics can make a possible hiding areas.

BED BUGS ON CLOTHING

Bed bugs have infested this sock. Note the size of the bugs in relation to the sock and the hand holding the sock.

lmaq~ cred1t: Unive'rsiry of Minnesota Entomoloqv

This sock can be treated the same as the backpack: vacuum the bed bugs off and put the socks in the dryer on high heat.

Page 4 of5

Now you have a few more ideas where to check for bed bug infestations and what an infestation can

look like.

http://www. bedbuginfo .com/pictures-of-bed-bug-infestations. php 1119/2010

Pictures of Bed Bug Infestations

backpack. Bed bugs are good hitchhikers. This is why it is so important to

take precautions.

Image credit: UnWerstty of Minnesota Entomology

To clean up a backpack like. this, vaccuum the bed bugs off of it into a bag

-style vacuum. (Treat the vacuum bag with diatomaceous earth to kill bed

bugs.) Then throw the backpack into the dryer on high for a while.

BED BUGS AND BED BUGS FECES ON MATIRESS

SEAM

Bed bugs hide close to where people sleep because that is where bed

bugs feed. They hide their flat bodies In crevices like the seam of this

mattress. This is also the place to look for bed bugs during the initial

stage of an Infestation.

lmaoe uedir: University of Minnesota Entomology

Before staying in a hotel, motel or hostel, look for signs of a bed bug

infestation by inspecting the mattress, box spring and headboard.

BED BUGS AND BED BUGS FECES ON BOX SPRING

Although it is cumbersome to inspect the box spring, this is a good place

to check for a bed bug infestation. The underside of this box spring shows

http://www.bedbuginfo.com/pictures-of-bed-bug-infestations.php

Page 2 of5

11/9/2010

Bed Bug Treatment Using Insecticides Dini M. Miller, Ph.D., Department of Entomology, Virginia Tech

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for protecting people from exposure to pesticides. To do this, they have very strict toxicity resting methods that chemical manufacturers must use to determine how harmful exposure to these pesticides may be to mammals (people, dogs and cats) or the environment. The rest results are carefully reviewed by the EPA before a pesticide product is allowed to be sold in the Unjted States.

If a pesticide is found to be either roo roxie or it lasts too long in the environment it will never be registered for use. However, those pesticides that are not long-term envi­ronmental contaminates and that have very low mammalian toxicity will be allowed to be used, under strict conditions. For instance, those pesticides that do not produce harmful effects (either acute or long-term effects) at a particular dose, will still be required to have a 100-1 000-fold margin of safety before they can be used in the human environment. In other words, a product dose may be reduced 100-1000 times before it can be registered (See the Food Quality pro­tection Act for more informacion). As you can imagine, some pesticides may no longer kill pests at such a low dose, and never come to market.

The use of those products that pass che toxicity testing and margin of safety is still restricted by the pesticide label. The pesticide label is a legal docun1ent that is attached to every pesticide. The label specifies where a produce can be used, and for what pest. The label also lists locations where the product cannot be applied. The label lists the protective clothing that muse be worn when applying the product and how the environment is co be protected from exposure. The federal label does not just apply to pest management professionals, bur also to consumers. If you use a pesticide in a way char is nor in accordance with the label you can receive a civil penalty for breaking a federal law.

Why is all of this important? It is important because bed bugs live indoors and there are relatively few pesticides that are labeled for indoor use (fewer are labeled for bed bug control). The reason for this is that people (particularly children) and pets have a greater risk of exposure to indoor pesticides. Consequently, the EPA has reduced the number of pesticides that are allowed to be used in indoors. While the reduction of indoor toxicants has greatly reduced the potential for human exposure to insecticide, it has also reduced the number of chemical tools we have available for bed bug treatment. At the time of this writing, we have no labeled insecticide produce that is capable of eliminating a bed bug infestation. Instead, pest management professionals conduct very thorough inspections, and then apply a combination of products to assault the bed bugs from several angles at once. This is both time consuming and ex­pensive. The treatment process is typically repeated at two week intervals (to treat any nymphs chat have hatched) until the bed bugs are gone. On the follO\ving pages are descriptions of tl1e djfferent types of products that professionals can legally use for bed bug treatment.

l

Insecticides are pescicides that are formulated to kill insects. All pes­cicides that are used to kill bed bugs are insecticides. Insecticide sprays are formulated by mixing a small volume of insecticide (the active in­gredient is typically formulated at 0.03 percenc-0.5 percent concen­tration) into a large quantity of water inside a spray tank The sprays are applied in cracks and crevices and along baseboards where bed bugs hide (see illustration). If the bed bugs themselves are sprayed in the process they will usually die from the application. However, these sprays are also supposed to leave behind active residues that kill bed bugs after the product has dried. Unfortunately, laboratory studies have found that bed bugs are not very susceptible to dried insecticide residues and do not typically pick up a lethal dose from simply walking across the sprayed area. Instead bed bugs have to sit on the dried residues, somecimes for several days, to suffer any lethal effects. But if the spray is applied in cracks where the bed bugs rest, the dried residues have a much better chance of killing the bed bugs harboring there.

Aerosol products are insecticides formulated with a propellant that allows them to be sprayed out of a can into cracks and crevices. Many types of insecticides are formulated as aerosols, so the labels on these products may list very different directions regarding where the prod­uct can be applied. For example, one aerosol label may say that the product can to be sprayed directly on an infested mamess, while another product label does not allow the spray to be applied on fabric sur­faces. It is very important that your pest man­agement professional be knowledgeable about the label directions for each product. Like the liquid insecticides, aerosols work best when the live bed bugs are sprayed with the product directly. However, a few aerosols leave residues that are ac­tive for several days after their application.

H

Dusts have the advantage over liquid insecticides in that bed bugs walking on dusted surfaces wiU become covered in the dust making direct exposure to the insecticide impossible to avoid. There are several insecticidal dusts that are labeled for bed bug control. These dusts contain some of the san1e active ingredients that are used in the liquid in­secticide formulations.

The labels for insecticidal dusts allow them to be applied in protected cracks and crevices where there is very little risk of the dust drifting out into open areas. Dusts can be used in wall voids to intercept bed bugs travelling from one apartment unit to another. They can be puffed in behind baseboards, electrical outlets and other protected locati-ons where bed bugs like to hide. One of the disadvantages of dust is that they cannot be used in as many areas as the liquid formulations. This is because dusts are easily moved on air currents, and they present an inhalation hazard for humans. Dusts have strict label directions as to where they can be placed in the indoor environment.

It is important to note that many of our insecticide products (not all) are formulated using a specific class of insecticides that has low toxicity to mammals but high toxicity to insects. These insecticides are called pyrethroids. Pyrethroids are synthetic toxicants that target the insect nerve system. Pyrethroids cause the nerves to fire con­tinuously until the insect loses control of its bodily functions and dies. Many of the liquid spray products, aerosols, and dusts contain pyrethroid insecticides. Unfortunately, pyrethroid insecticides have been used so much throughout the world that many bed bug populations have developed resistance to them. Resistance means that the bed bugs have the ability to survive the pyrethroid exposure. Resistant bed bugs are also able to pass the resistance to their offspring. The development of resistance has contributed the to the current bed bug population explosion. This does not mean that pyrethroids will not kill bed bugs. It means tbat not all of the bed bugs will die. Those that survive will go on to produce resistant offspring. Therefore, these insecticides if used alone will not eliminate an infestation.

As the name suggests, an insect growth regulator interferes with an insect's ability to develop from a nymph into a reproductive adult. There is only one insect growth regulator that is labeled for bed bug control. This IGR is hydroprene. There are two insecticide products fOrmulated with hydroprene, one is a liquid insecticide that can be used alone or mixed in a tank with another liquid insecticide, and the other is an aerosol formulation. The way that these products are supposed to work is that they are sprayed into cracks and crevices where young bed bug nymphs will come in contact with the dried residues. The IGR residues mimic insect growth hormones in the young bed bug's body. These artificial hormones cause the bed bugs to develop incorrectly. The nymphs continue to molt, but are supposed to be incapable of reproduction as adults.

Recently laboratoty studies have shown that hydroprene does not sterilize bed bugs. Instead, tl1e IGR exposure results in many bed bugs dying during or shortly afrer the process of molting to adulthood. However, those bed bugs that survive the final molt are still able to feed, mate and produce at least one batch of eggs, even if they die shortly afterward. These studies on the effects ofhydroprene were conducted in the laboratory where immature bed bugs were constantly exposed to the IGR. The affect ofhydroprene on a population living in someone's apartment is still not known.

Many people have been interested in identifYing insecticide products that might repel bed bugs from cer­tain locations, like the bed. Many liquid insecticide products that we use for bed bug control are repellent to other insects such as cockroaches and ants. However, none of our current insecticide products appear to be repellent to bed bugs, particularly afrer they have dried. The bed bugs do not avoid insecticide treated surfaces, and will sit directly on repellent residues until they become agitated from intoxication and can no longer sit still. For whatever, reason, bed bugs do not recognize repellent chemicals the way that other house­hold insects do.

The fact that bed bugs cannot be repelled is bad news for people who would like to use a repellent to keep bed bugs from biting. Many consumer insecticides have been misused by people putting these products on their beds or on their bodies in an attempt to keep bed bugs from feeding on them at night. So far, no insect repellent or insecticide product has been able to stop bed bugs from biting.

Bed Bug Prevention Methods Dini M. Miller, Ph.D., Department of Entomology, Virginia Tech

Prior to the 1950s, most people had a certain level of bed bug awareness. Whenever they left home, in the back of their minds, they were conscious that they might encounter bed bugs. People modified their behavior to prevent bringing bed bugs back home with them. For example, if a woman went to the theater, she would not just put her handbag and wrap into the seat next to her because she was aware that bed bugs might be there. If someone stayed at a hotel, they would check the room for bed bugs before unpacking their bag. Apartment managers were also bed bug conscious and made new tenants fumigate their belongings (usually in the complex's own fumigation chamber) before letting them to move in.

Because bed bugs have not been a problem in the United States for dose to 50 years, we have lost our bed bug consciousness. If we go to the movies, we throw our purses and jackets into the empty seat next to us. When we ride in a taxi, we set our computer bags on the seat and put our luggage in the trunk. If we go to the laundromat we set our clothes basket on the floor or on the top of the washer. If we stay in a hotel, we throw our suitcases on the extra bed. We don't think twice about buying a chair at a garage sale or storing our daughter's furniture in the spare room. However, all these behaviors make us vulnerable to bed bug infestation. This publication is intended to make you aware of the many ways that bed bug infestations get started in homes and apartments, and to help you protect your home against bed bug invasion.

One of the most common ways of encountering bed bugs is during travel. Whether traveling in the United States or internationally, there are hundreds of places where your luggage might come in contact with bed bugs. Bed bugs might be in your hotel room, in the trunk of the taxi, in the luggage compartment of the airplane, or in the baggage handling facility at the aitport. While you may not be able to control your bag's travel experience, you can inspect your hotel room before your sleep there, and you can inspect your luggage prior to bringing it into your home.

Inspecting your hotel room for bed bugs is very important for protecting yourself against bed bug bites as well as preventing bed bugs from infesting your bag. Hotel infestations are typically focused near the bed, so a quick in­spection of the mattress and head board is generally enough for you to determine if bed bugs are present. Before opening your suitcase:

Pull back all of the bedding at the head of the bed near the head board to look for bed bugs or their fecal stains on the mattress (usually several black spots in a group) Check the underside of the mattress tag Check the seams of the mattress and the boxsprings If possible remove the head board from the wall and inspect the back of it, particularly the holes for set-in screws and the plate that allows the head board to hang from the wall. If bed bug evidence is found, report it to the management and ask for another room.

Do not place your suitcase on the spare boo Inspect the luggage stand (where the stt·aps are attached to the metal bars) and place yow· bag on the stand away fmm the wall. Keep yow· clothing in your bag, do not unpack and place your belongings in drawers Using a flashlight, give a quick check to the closet for bed bug evidence before hanging clothes Place your shoes in an open area, not under the bed or in the closet Upon retw-ning home, unpack your luggage immediately in some location other than the bed room (bathroom, garage, mud room, foyer etc.) . Launder all clothing. Using a flashlight, inspect your bag for bed bugs. If you have reason to believe that your bag did encounter bed bugs, p lace your suitcase in a plastic bag. If the weather is warm, the bag with the suitcase can be put out in the hot sun or in the hot car for a day. Alternatively, a fumigant strip (NoPest® strip) can be put inside the bag to chemically treat the suitcase. You can also purchase a collapsible heat chamber designed fo1· heat treating luggage (PackTite Portable Bed bug Killing Unit™). Although it is not always practical, using a soft bag like a duffel style bag or gym bag when traveling will allow you to put the bag in the dryer when you get home.

By far the most common method of developing a bed bug infestation is by bringing used furniture inro your home. Used furniture comes in many forms, and while picking up a nice looking mattress sitting next to the dumpster may be an obvious risk, storing your son's furniture when he moves home from college may not be so obvious. Bed bugs can infest many items. To protect yourself:

' Never tal{e any furniture from a dumpster no matter how good it looks. The better it looks the more likely it is to be infested with bed bugs. Do not pw-chase refurbished mattresses or couches. Do not purchase furniture at a garage sale or antique store without carefully inspecting it first. Never rent furnitw·e or store anyone's furniture in your home. Do not pw·cbase used books without first inspecting them. If you purchase a new mattress (or any piece of furniture), do not have it delivered to your home. Often the same trucks that deliver new mattresses, also take the old (potentially infested) mattJ.·esses away. So yow- new mattress might pick up bed bugs on dte truck. If you are helping a fi·iend move, or transporting other people's belonging for any reason, be sure to inspect your vehicle once the belongings have been removed. While bed bugs do not typically survive the heat of a car during the warmer months, the car is an excellent bed bug habitat during the cooler weather.

Not only does infested furniture have the potential to bring bed bugs into your home, so do other people. While we do not want to avoid having visitors, we simply need to be conscious of who they are and what they might bring with them in their bags and travel accessories. For example, if your mother is coming for Christmas, and she is visiring

from your childhood home in Iowa, you may have nothing to be concerned about. However, if your mother has been at a rest home for the last several years, you may want to inspect her things (discretely) as you are unpacking them. Likewise, if your daughter is coming home to visit after travelling aboard in Asia, and she is bringing several of her Swedish backpacking buddies with her, you may want to inspect their bedroom after they leave.

Most people that have had their homes or apartment treated for bed bug infestations have been told by their pest control company co bag up (in plastic bags) everything that can be laundered and place the infested items in a hot dryer to kill the bed bugs. Because there may be several bags full of items to be laundered, many people will rake their bags ~ to the nearest laundromat. While there is no question that washing, and particularly drying, household items will kill all of the laundered bed bugs, you have to wonder what happens to the bed bugs that may get left in the empty plas­tic bags. Typically, those infested bags are stuffed into the trash cans at the laundromat. There they will remain unci! the trash is emptied. While some trash receptacles may be emptied every night, others may be left there several days, allowing hungry bed bugs to escape and potentially infest the facility, and your warm, freshly dried ~lathes.

Do not transport laundry in doth bags unless you plan to wash and dry them. Instead use white, plastic baskets that are easy to inspect when they are empty. Do not set yow- laundry basket on the floor or on top of the washer but put it back in yow- car when it is not in use. If you do not have a car, place the basket on top of the washer and inspect it thoroughly before putting dean laundry hack into it. Do not set yow- laundry basket anywhere near the seating areas or trash cans. Inspect any chairs in the seating area of the laundromat before sitting on them.

• Inspect the table used for folding laundry before placing yow- dean clothes on it. Better still, fold your dean laundry at home.

Some professions make you more at risk of encountering bed bugs than others. Obviously, if you are in the pest control business, you are at constant risk of bringing bed bugs home. However, other professions that bring you into contact with other people's living quarters will also increase your potential for bed bug encounters. For example, doctors, nurses, home heaJthcare and hospice workers, homeless shelter employees, school teachers, daycare workers, parole and police officers, prison wardens, firemen, ministers, priests, plumbers, electricians, movers, painters, handy­men, apartment managers, hotel managers, hotel maids and maintenance personnel, taxi and limousine drivers, should aU be familiar with bed bugs and on the look out for them in their day to day activities. If you belong to a profession where you are required to visit people's homes that you know or suspect have bed bugs, it is best to wear dedicated clothing and shoes that you can bag up in your vehicle, so that you avoid taking bed bugs into another person's home or your own. Also you need to be aware of not sitting on the couch or laying your hand bag or

backpack on the furniture. Also be sure to inspect your clothing and the bottom of our shoes immediately after you leave a person's home and before you get into your vehicle. Some professions now provide Tivec ™ suits for employees that who make regular visits to client's homes as part of their job.

Slowly but surely bed bugs are also making their way into office buildings. If you work in an office building, it is best to keep you hand bag and personal items in a desk drawer rather than setting them on a chair or the floor. Hang your jacket on a hanger in your office or cubicle. Do not just hang it on the back of your office chair. If you find a bed bug in your office, catch it in a plastic bag for positive identification. Be discrete {bed bugs can cause mass hysteria in an office) and contact the building maintenance personnel immediately*.

Early detection is critically important to putting a bed bug problem behind you quickly and efficiently. So, if you find a bed bug in your home, don't freak our! You don't have time. You will need all of your rational faculties focused on the tedious bed bug elimination process. First, catch the bed bug if you can and preserve it in a plastic bag for positive identification. Next, try to isolate the location where the bed bug was seen. Then call a qualified and experienced pest managemenr company to do an inspection. Comply with all of the pest managers directions on preparing your home for inspection and treatment. If your pest control company confirms from your specimen that you do have bed bugs, you may want to purchase high quality mattress encasements for your mattress and box springs. The encasements will not prevent or control bed bugs, but they will keep you from having to throw the bed away, and will prevent bed bugs hiding in the bed from escaping and biting you. Encasements will also prevent any new bed bugs from infesting the box springs (a favorite harborage for bed bugs that is very difficult for your pest manager to treat). Your pest management company may also suggest that you place ClimbUp™ devices under the bed and furniture legs to detect additional bed bugs that might be infesting the home. The ClimbUp™ devices, when used properly, are excellent for intercepting bed bugs as they attempt to climb the bed legs to feed on you when you are asleep. The mattress encasements and ClirnbUp™ devices are the best methods for preventing bed bug in­festations from progressing undetected. They are also excellent tools for determining whether or not a small infestation has been eliminated.

The purpose of this publication is not to make you paranoid about bed bugs, but to heighten your awareness about encountering bed bugs during your daily activities. Because there is currently no simple and inexpensive way to eliminate bed bug infestations, we are seeing their populations becoming more and more widespread. It is for this reason that we need to develop a bed bug consciousness so that we can modi1jr our behavior to avoid bringing bed bugs into our home.

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Bed Bug Action Plan for Apartments Dini M. Miller, Ph.D., Department of Entomology, Virginia Tech

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Bed bug infestations have been a nightmare for apartment managers. Apartment communities have seen their pest management expenses go from $30,000 to over $100,000 in a single year. Many apartment managers have ad­mitted to hiring and firing 3 or 4 pest management companies because none were able to get the bed bug problem under control. Some complexes have even dosed or sold because they could no longer afford to treat communities that were 50-90% infested.

One of the reasons that bed bug management has failed so miserably in apartments is that control has been ap­proached on a unit by unit basis. Managers have attempted to charge tenants for bed bug control, causing many ten­ants to stop reporting infestations. Management has also neglected to take a leadership role in addressing bed bug infestations, relying on the efforts of their pest management company who may be inexperienced in bed bug control but offers an inexpensive price.

It is time for a change. It is time for management associations to take charge of what is happening in their build­ings. It is time to accept the fact that bed bugs are now regular member of the aparunent community and their man­agement must become part of the regular maintenance program. It is also time to hire a pest control company with documented experience in bed bug management and to develop a community action plan for bed bug management in multi-unit housing.

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Apartment managers need to become bed bug experts. Your employees need to know what bed bugs look like and how to identifY bed bug evidence so they can recognize a bed bug infestation when they see one. Have your experi­enced contract pest management professional (PMP) train your employees to recognize bed bug infestations, and where to look for bed bugs hiding in vacant units.

Be prepared to take a leadership role in bed bug man­agement. Requiring that residents pay for bed bug remedi­ation has resulted in widespread infestations. If you are to have any hope of controlling your bed bug issues you must be prepared to pay the bill. If your complex is not paying for bed bug management, you have no control over the bed bug infestations (you might not even be aware of them) or the potential contamination of your buildings by residents attempting to control the bed bugs themselves.

Develop a community-wide bed bug awareness program. Apartment managers have been very reluctant to develop a community-wide program because it is like admitting that the complex has bed bug problems. However, bed bugs have become so widespread that not having a plan, or attempting to hide the fact that infestations have occurred in your buildings no longer makes sense. Let your tenants know when they sign the lease that you are on top of the bed

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bug issue and your complex has a plan for dealing with bed bugs. Let them know that you expect their cooperation with that plan. So what should be included in your bed bug awareness program?

Printed. literat\U'e describing bed bugs and their evidence. Use color pkt\U'es. Make sure the document is available in English, Spanish, and other languages. But do not rely on yow· tenants to read the literature, many may not be able to read English or even their native language. Go over it with them in person to make sure that they know what to look for. Signs posted near the dumpster warning residents about bed bugs on discarded furnitW'e. The signs should also show how to mark or damage infested furniture so people will leave it alone. Notices encouraging tenants to report bed bug infestations right away. Let them know that they will not be penalized or charged for bed bug treatment unless they fail to provide access to their apartment, or do not cooperate with bed bug management efforts as requested by the PMP. Give a copy of your bed bug action plan to each resident, so that they understand what will take place in their apartment during a bed bug treatment. Let them know their responsibilities regarding access and preparation of their unit. Go over the action plan with them. Place signs in laundry area warning residents not to put bed bug infested plastic bags in the trash. The bags need to be put in the dumpster outside.

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When an infested unit is reported, your action plan will be to call the pest management company immediately to set up an inspection appointment. Make the resident aware of the appointment and remind them that they muse provide access co the unit. An experienced pest manage- (\• ment company will give a cursory inspection of the • apartment and then provide a treatment cost estimate \ based on the size of the unit, the amount of clutter, and r the size of the infestation*.

Some companies will have extensive preparation in­structions requiring that residents strip their beds, empty their closets and drawers, launder everything they own, and place everything that can't be laundered into plastic bags. While chis does make treatment of baseboards, cracks and crevices easier for the PMP, the resident now has a huge laundry bill and has to live our of plastic bags. Many PMPs complain that residents fail co comply with preparation instructions. It is easy to see why. A new way of thinking is to have tenants prepare for treatment by simply picking up and bagging cloches chat are not already scored in drawers or closets, and removing items from under the bed (but not moving dtem into an uninfested

Mt IIOd Clutter removal Mattress encasements ClimbUpTM devices Steam Vacuuming Desiccant dusts Liquid insecticide fmmulations Aerosols insecticides Insecticidal dusts

room). With this minimal preparation, the PMP can see the infesta­tion as it is, without the bed bugs being stripped off the bed, bagged, or moved around the unit. Whatever your pest management com­pany requires, make sure that the resident agrees to comply with all PMP instructions, or risk nor having their unit treated.

Bed bug treatment should be performed by two pest control pro­fessionals working together to apply insecticides and non-chemical bed bug treatment methods. The fuse treatment should be intensive. Two subsequent inspections/treatments should be made at two week intervals to treat any nymphs that might have hatched. See the listed treatment methods. For a complete explanation of each method see Non-Chemical Bed Bug Management and Bed Bug Treatment Using Insecticides.

At the two week follow-up visit, the PMP will inspect the Climb Up TMdevices, the mattress encasements and other infested locations identified during the initial treatment. The PMP may also provide a survey asking the resident if they bave seen bed bugs or bad any bites since the last visir*. If not, the pest management company will most likely discontinue any further inspections afi:er the second follow-up visit. However, if the resident reports additional bugs or bites, the fol­low-ups will generally continue at two week intervals unless further visits are terminated by the management*.

Your plan must include how units that are adjacent to the infested unit will be addressed. Bed bugs will move between apartment units. In fact, an infestation next door may be the source of the infestation in the unit tbat is being treated. Therefore, inspection and possibly treatment of units sharing a common wall with an infested unit must be standard procedure*. Apartment manager are ofi:en reluctant to have adjacent units inspected because of the expense, and fear of alarming the residents in those units. However, if you truly intend to control a bed bug infestation it is absolutely essential that the units on either side and the units above and below be inspected for bed bugs at two week intervals over the next 4 weeks. If bed bugs are found in any of the adjacent units, the units adjacent to that unit must also be inspected.

Quite ofi:en, adjacent units will have bed bugs but the infestation is too small to detect during a visual inspection. A proactive and relatively inexpensive method for detecting these small infestations is to install Climb Up Insect in­terceptors TM under the legs of the bed and other furniture (see Non-Chemical Bed Bug Management). The presence or absence of bed bugs in the ClimbUpTM at the two week inspection intervals is a good indicator as to whether the adjacent units bave bed bugs or nor*.

While you can expect the bed bug population to be gready reduced afi:er the initial treatment, it is not reasonable to expect that the population is gone. In fuct, bed bugs may be even more obvious the first 24 hours afi:er treatment because they are sick and wandering out into the open. Do not treat these bugs with insecticide, within d1e next two days the bed bugs should start to die in large numbers. However, even if bed bugs appear to be gone a week afi:er the initial treatment, follow-up treatments need to be made within two weeks to kill any nymphs that may have hatched during the treatment interval. Afi:er the treatment and two follow-ups, if the tenants have not seen any bed bugs nor received any bites, the population can be considered controlled. However, no one can guarantee that the bed bugs are completely gone, so the resident should continue to be on alert for bed bugs.

If an infestation is particularly large, many follow-up treatments may be required, but no one can predict how many. In a cluttered environment where populations have been established for a year or more, the bed bugs may never be eliminated (unless the building is furuigated). In these cases suppression of the population, so that the tenant is not being bitten constandy; may be the best that can be achieved even if the follow-up visits continue indefinitely. In these cases, it is very important that the apartment management and the resident have realistic expectations of what the control measures will and will not do.

Bed bugs in vacant units are not only a control issue but a legal issue because you cannot guarantee that unit is completely fi:ee of bed bugs (other than by using chemical furuigation). So, how can you rent it out again? If you are only using conventional treatment to address a vacant infested unit, consider the following:

Bed bugs become inactive when there is no host present and may not contact insecticide treated surfaces There is no reliable bed bug monitoring device to use when a host is not present Bed bugs may move to adjacent units looking for food

The best solution is to have the unit treated intensively. Your pest management company can drill the wall voids and remove the baseboards and crown molding to treat these locations with dust. They can also apply a thorough treatment of insecticides to crack and crevices. Adjacent units can also be monitored with Climb Up™ devices. If no bed bugs are found after three inspection/treatments, made two weeks apart (yes, six weeks), and all of the treatment eff01ts and inspection results have been documented, it may be safe to rent the unit again. However, be prepared to respond immediately if the new resident makes a bite complaint.

Alternatively, the apartment could be inspected by a scent detection canine (bed bug sniffing dog). Using a trained dog to detect bed bug infestations is an excellent method for determining if bed bugs are scill present or not. Bed bug dogs can tell the difference between a live and dead infestation, and they can usually detect even a single bed bug egg. However, there are currently only a few dogs available for this purpose. So hiring an experienced bed bug dog and handler for apartment inspections purposes will be expensive.

r.1 lH I u u u n Although not yet widely used for bed bug elimination, chemical fumigation is becoming more popular for

treating entire buildings when repeated insecticide treatments have fuiled. In locations that house elderly or health impaired residents or that have excessive clutter, whole building fumigation may be the only option for getting rid of the bed bugs completely. Unlike all other treatments, chemical fumigation (Vikane ®) guarantees that all of the bed bugs and eggs will be gone (until the resident bring them in again). Vikane ® can also be used in a fumigation chamber where residents place their belonging (books, electronics etc.) inside a sealed trailer where they are fumigated by a certified PMP.

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Heating units are now becoming available for treating apartments units. The unit is treated by raising the ambient temperature to 135°F. This temperature will not damage the resident's belongings bur the heated air will penetrated all cracks and crevices where bed bugs live causing them to reach their thermal death point (114-ll5°F). While heat treatment is usually 100% effective, building construction features sometimes create heat sinks that provide refuge for bed bugs. So it is recommended that heat treatment be supplemented with a single insecticide application to harborage locations.

Heat can also be used to treat cl1e residents' belongings in a chamber. However, unlike chemical fumigation, heat does not have to be applied by a certified pest management professional. Heat chambers and even apartment heating packages can be purchased by the apartment management company and applied by trained employees in their buildings.

A bed bug action plan for apartments should include employee education, a corrununity wide awareness program, and a bed bug reporting procedure that the resident agrees to upon signing the lease. The action plan should also include the hiring of an experienced pest management company and the provision of two follow-up inspections/ treatments for each infested unit and adjacent units.

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