Bed bugs showing up in variety of venues
It’s been 10 years since word got out that Pittsburgh reached another step toward becoming a cosmopolitan city: Bed bugs were turning up in increasing numbers in hotels and apartments, where none had been expected before.
This sign of well-traveled residents and visitors seems to be here to stay. In its 2018 report on metro areas with the highest concentrations of bed bugs, Terminix put Pittsburgh at No. 22.
Senior living communities now have a protocol for bed bug removal, and schools are reporting problems with the bugs, according to Bill Todaro, entomologist for the Allegheny County Health Department.
“For rich or poor, young or old, bedbugs are a nasty problem,” he said. The latest study from the National Pest Management Association said the top three places where professionals are called to treat bed bugs are single-family homes, apartments and condominiums, and hotels and motels.
Other places with high
numbers are nursing homes, schools and day care centers, office buildings, college dorms, hospitals and public transportation.
Bed bugs hide in dark places close to where humans sleep and usually crawl out at night to feed. They inject a substance that keeps people from feeling the bite. Itchy welts may appear the next day.
Having them in the home is not a sign of poor housecleaning.
The county entomologist said school nurses are contacting him with the newest trend: Children bringing bed bugs to school in their shoes, their clothes and their backpacks.
“The teachers shake the kids down … bed bugs are crawling out of their backpacks,” he said. “It’s worse than lice.”
He expects their parents can’t afford commercial pest control, but he said keeping the bugs out of children’s clothes is possible.
“The kids change their clothes right by the bed, [and] the bed bugs get into their shoes,” he said. “You can beat that by having the children put their clothes on in another room.”
The good news is there are ways to clear living spaces of the small bloodsucking wingless insects. But Mr. Todaro said monitoring the situation to prevent a recurring infestation isn’t always done.
Older adults living in apartments independently or in congregate housing, where support services are available, can be particularly susceptible to uncontrolled bed bugs, he said. For example, he said, the residents may not be able to follow pest control instructions after their home is treated.
If they are doing the bed bug removal themselves, he said, “They just need physical help. You have to take the bedroom apart, take out all the clutter, take the bed apart, clean it and treat it.”
On top of that, he said, “There’s a step nobody seems to take. It’s a monitoring step.”
It begins with pulling the bed away from the wall and then pulling other furniture away from the bed. Then each leg of the bed should be placed into a bed bug trap.
“If they would just put these traps under the legs of the bed, they would know if they still have bed bugs or not,” Mr. Todaro said. “Without the monitoring tool, they’re just spinning their wheels.” Bed bugs can affect their well-being, he said.
“Elderly people worry about it. They have heirloom furniture they love, but it has bed bugs. They don’t want family to visit; they don’t want to visit others. They become anti-social and isolated.”
People who use wheelchairs also face obstacles in bed bug control, Mr. Todaro said, because the wheelchair, like any piece of furniture, has to be taken apart and treated. They would need a replacement in the meantime. Aides for people with disabilities going in and out can transfer bugs from one place to another, he said.
“Social service people, case workers are scared to death of this stuff.”
In rental housing, maintenance people could be helpful but might not be paid enough to tackle the whole job, Mr. Todaro said. To get control of bed bugs, he said, apartment managers could compile a list of tenants who need help and check on their places for signs of infestation.
“Every month they could look in on Grandpa Smith, who’s in a wheelchair and see if bed bugs are in the trap.” However, he added, “[Landlords] just don’t seem to organize themselves to be proactive and pre-emptive. … They spray some chemicals and walk away from it.” As a result, the bed bugs survive.
“They’re never all gone. They’re in the apartment downstairs, next door,” Mr. Todaro said. “It’s awful, just awful.”
People may blame furniture for bringing in the pests, he said, but a purse or a backpack can bring in enough bugs to start a problem. Tenants don’t want to complain to the health department, he said, if they’re afraid they’ll lose their lease, especially if it’s Section 8 housing and rent-controlled.
“Most calls I get are people who live in multifamily houses; I get three to four calls every day, at least.”
The health department doesn’t get calls from singlefamily homeowners, he said, because they often hire their own pest control.
“The commercial industry has some good tools to work with,” Mr. Todaro said, although they’re not available in hardware stores.
His department has information for people who are tackling the job themselves; it’s available online at https://www.alleghenycounty.us/Health-Department/Programs/Housingand-Community-Environment/Bed-Bugs.aspx.
“There are pesticides available online, traps available online,” he said. “People can buy stuff that’s proven effective.” If people have the physical strength to pull beds apart and do the necessary steps, he said, they can be successful. That includes getting rid of clutter.
The bedroom is bed-bug central, he said, “Seventy percent of the bugs are in the bed. The rest are in the furniture, the molding, the wall sockets by the bed.”
A senior housing professional who’s familiar with measures to prevent and treat bed bug problems said the insects show up in all types of places around here:
“They’re present in public places, movie houses, public transportation. People spread them unknowingly, on their shoe, on their purse,” said Margaret Martin, senior director of quality, education and compliance at UPMC Senior Communities. Facilities include assisted and independent living, along with medical services in 18 Pittsburgharea locations.
Bed bugs can move from one apartment to another in congregate living spaces, hiding in the walls, Ms. Martin said. “They can hibernate for 18 months — that’s problematic.” And, she said, the two main types of professional pest control treatment — chemical and heat — can be very expensive.
The heat process requires residents to move out for a least a day, she said. In UPMC cases, she said, residents have been able to move into a place in the same building.
Ms. Martin said the steps for bed bug control start with training for the UPMC staff in all the buildings and a separate training book for housekeeping and maintenance. It includes signs of bed bugs — the bugs themselves in mattresses and sheets, the exoskeletons after molting, rust–colored spots on the mattress or nearby furniture, and a sweet, musty odor.
“The most important thing is to be upfront with your residents and staff that there’s always a potential for this,” Ms. Martin said. If the signs are there, she said, “we immediately enlist Pestco. They’re usually there the same day. They do a thorough inspection and identify the potential area.” Pestco uses a dog trained to sniff out the bugs, and the dog returns for a follow-up inspection.
To monitor bed bugs after treatment, Ms. Martin said, traps are helpful, but they’re not required.
If people are planning to move into congregate living, she recommends the same precautions used when staying in a hotel.
“You want to see the apartment that you’re going to be staying in,” she said. “You want to be able to look into all the crannies and crevices. Look for any signs of bed bug activity: brown spots and pieces of bugs.”
“They’re never all gone. They’re in the apartment downstairs, next door. It’s awful, just awful.”
— Bill Todaro, entomologist for the Allegheny County Health Department