Don't let the bedbugs bite!

[clarityat3am]

You're not dreaming, that's a bedbug
Blood-sucking pests spreading from NYC to rest of U.S., world

NEW YORK (AP) -- Bedbugs are back, and they're not just rearing their rust-colored heads in New York City. Experts say they're spreading to other states and countries.

Exterminators who handled one or two bedbug calls a year are now getting that many in a week, according to the National Pest Management Association.

"There's an epidemic going on throughout the country, and New York seems to be the hotbed," said Jeffrey Eisenberg, a pest control expert.

Bedbugs are turning up in hospitals, schools, movie theaters and health clubs. Recent reports put them in a New Jersey college dorm and a Los Angeles hotel -- where one guest filed a $5 million lawsuit. Apartment tenants have taken landlords to court over infestations.

The current generation of exterminators has been caught unaware by these pests, which were all but forgotten for decades. They blame the comeback on several factors, primarily increased global travel and the banning of potent pesticides like DDT.

"We feel like we're starting from scratch," said Eisenberg, who returned this weekend from a conference where bedbugs were a priority. "The only thing we know is that we don't know anything."

The tiny vermin avoid light and attack in the middle of the night. About the size of a flattened apple seed, they hide in cracks and crevices in furniture and walls.

They're efficient and active travelers, often hitching rides on clothing and jumping from host to host when people brush up against each other on the subway, in elevators or on crowded streets.

And they invade even the cleanest apartments and swankiest neighborhoods.

"We've always had pests in New York City -- we have rats, cockroaches, et cetera -- but bedbugs are new," said city Councilwoman Gail Brewer, who is calling for a bedbug task force. "We're not doing a good job focusing on it."

Fighting an infestation is a costly, time-consuming process. Belongings must be removed from the home to be thoroughly washed or dry-cleaned, followed by meticulous vacuuming, before the exterminator can even begin work. It often takes several visits.

People who have bedbugs rarely see them. The only signs are pepper-like spots of their fecal matter, specks of dried blood on bed sheets and, of course, the bites. The scourge is nearly impossible to eradicate; the creatures can go a year without feeding, they reproduce rapidly and don't die easily.

"Now it's just us against these bugs," said Sofia Capinha, a 20-year-old college junior whose New Jersey dorm room has been infested since September.

Between calls to campus officials and visits from an exterminator, she and her roommate have tried covering her mattress in a zippered plastic cover and greasing bedposts with Vaseline to keep the bugs from crawling up.

Nothing has worked. Two nights after they returned from holiday break, she was bitten again -- on the face.

In New York City, Brewer announced new legislation Sunday that seeks to halt some common mattress industry practices that exacerbate the problem.

She wants a ban on reconditioning mattresses -- essentially taking old ones, refurbishing them and selling them like new, which can spread the bugs into stores and homes. The legislation would also require separate transport of old and new mattresses. A mattress purchase often includes the removal of the old one, and several used and new mattresses mingling in a truck produce a bedbug free-for-all.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

 

[Billy Rotten]

My girlfriend read this article and may never sleep again, especially after a particularly frightening insect fell out of her hair and into her cleavage the other day - oh, the screams!

Luckily not even bedbugs know where New Brunswick, Canada is.

 

[nbcrusader]

Another side effect of banning potent pesticides like DDT?

 

[U2democrat]

 

[U2Girl1978]

 

[Liesje]

My girlfriend read this article and may never sleep again, especially after a particularly frightening insect fell out of her hair and into her cleavage the other day - oh, the screams!

Luckily not even bedbugs know where New Brunswick, Canada is.

If it makes her feel any better, you can tell her that I've had spiders in my bed! One time I pulled back my covers and a HUGE (like 2 inches in diameter) hairy red spider was on my pillow. Another time, I was just drifting off to sleep when I felt something prickly on my thigh. It wouldn't stop so I got up, turned on the light, and a black fuzzy spider was runing in my sheets!!!

 

[nbcrusader]

Australia at Risk of a Bed Bug 'Pandemic'

Planning a vacation to Australia? Consider bringing your own bedsheets. Pest control operators have reported a 1,000 percent increase over the last four years in the number of bed bug infestations reported and treated, according to Stephen Doggett, a head scientist with the Department of Medical Entomology at Sydney's Westmead hospital.

Could this be worse than the "bird flu"??

 

[verte76]

Australia at Risk of a Bed Bug 'Pandemic'





Could this be worse than the "bird flu"??

I don't think bed bugs make people sick. They're just disgusting.

 

[Carmelu2fan]

I heard that they bite you and suck your blood while defecating and urine all at the same time!!!

Sleep tight

 

[Doozer61]

and let's not forget the dust mites! i hear them every night when i lay my head down on the pillow.

 

[Rono]

Another side effect of banning potent pesticides like DDT?

Who wants to sleep in a bedroom threaten with DDT ?

 

[A_Wanderer]

DDT in those quantities is not dangerous to human beings.

 

[Rono]

DDT in those quantities is not dangerous to human beings.

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/tfacts35.html#bookmark09

 

[fly so high!]

Yes! This is true my friend had a date with bedbugs! They bit her on the left arm and left leg, they left little red swellings (like flea bites) she had no idea what it was they sprayed for fleas, did not work, she could actually feel them move on her
She finally got the pest control out, and informed her that she had bed bugs, and they lived under her valance and they would come out feed in the night. The pest control guy said she had caught them from the gold coast while she was on holiday,he said they came to Australia because of the 2000 olympics,the bed bugs stick to things like suitcases so thats how they got transfered,as she stores her cases under beds!!!!
Holy
Apparently they look like beige lady bugs!!!!!

 

[A_Wanderer]

Read the toxilogical profile of DDT, it just proves my point, moderate exposure to DDT - not prolonged significant ingestion - is not harmful to human beings, the main environmental issue was the environmental effects when it is used in extreme quantities and the way that it works it's way up the food chain.

Eating food with large amounts (grams) of DDT over a short time would most likely affect the nervous system. People who swallowed large amounts of DDT became excitable and had tremors and seizures. They also experienced sweating, headache, nausea, vomiting, and dizziness. These effects on the nervous system went away once exposure stopped. The same type of effects would be expected by breathing DDT particles in the air or by contact of the skin with high amounts of DDT. Tests in laboratory animals confirm the effect of DDT on the nervous system.

No effects have been reported in adults given small daily doses of DDT by capsule for 18 months (up to 35 milligrams [mg] every day). People exposed for a long time to small amounts of DDT (less than 20 mg per day), such as people who worked in factories where DDT was made, had some minor changes in the levels of liver enzymes in the blood. A study in humans showed that increasing concentrations of p,p'-DDE in human breast milk were associated with reductions in the duration of lactation. An additional study in humans found that as the DDE levels in the blood of pregnant women increased, the chances of having a pre-term baby also increased. It should be mentioned, however, that the levels of DDE in the blood at which this was noticed were higher than those currently found in women from the general population in the United States, but not higher than those that may be found in women in countries where DDT is still being used.

Studies in animals have shown that oral exposure to DDT can cause liver cancer. Studies of DDT-exposed workers did not show increases in deaths or cancers. Based on all of the evidence available, the Department of Health and Human Services has determined that DDT is reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen. Similarly, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has determined that DDT is possibly carcinogenic to humans. EPA has determined that DDT, DDE, and DDD are probable human carcinogens. See Chapter 3 for more information on the health effects associated with exposure to DDT, DDE, and DDD.

link

Compare it to other pesticides, generally not a good idea to ingest any of them, but DDT is cheap, effective and less dangerous to humans. The proposals for a worldwide ban of this pesticide are obscene when we weigh the cost in life that could be prevented by moderate use in conjunction with an array of anti-malarial programs. I am not saying it is the be all and end all but it can do a lot of good and the eco-hysteria over DDT has gone on long enough.

 

[fly so high!]

It took my friend 3 months to treat her bedding!!!
Well, she did have the choice to burn her mattress but she had not long paid $AU3,500 for it!!
It cost her so much, as she had to get rid of all her bedlinen!!!
It was just so awful for her!!

 

[Rono]

DDT also causes resistend insects but a wanderer said it right,m..It is cheap that is why we want to use it in poor regions of the world.

but this editorial makes sence,..

http://www.alma.edu/news/releases/archives/2006/01/20/BorelloLorenzEditorial

 

[A_Wanderer]

Perhaps you should have quoted me fully, are you implying that only DDT causes resistant insects (it's called natural selection and it happens with nearly all other pesticides), you also imply that because it is cheap it should be used in poor regions of the world - well yes, in cases where you have malarial death in the absence of DDT it's use can be beneficial to use a cost-benefit analysis of either saving a few lives with anti-malarial drugs or many with DDT. But if you look at my statement it is one of caution (i.e. moderate use, recognising the limitations, the importance of other means e.g. preventative measures, mosquito nets etc). One also wonders why it is that skepticism towards motive is only reserved towards advocates of "bad" things like petroleum, pesticides and nuclear power (incidently all things that have so far or have the capacity to improve quality of life or adress serious environmental problems) but that critical eye is never cast at the agenda of opponents. Reflexive blanket opposition is poor form.

My quote

DDT is cheap, effective and less dangerous to humans. The proposals for a worldwide ban of this pesticide are obscene when we weigh the cost in life that could be prevented by moderate use in conjunction with an array of anti-malarial programs. I am not saying it is the be all and end all but it can do a lot of good and the eco-hysteria over DDT has gone on long enough.

Furthurmore sleeping overnight in a room that has been treated with DDT is probably not going to have long term lasting effects.

 

[Rono]

Natural selection by using pesticedes ? very natural,....

Persnaly i think the every poison that accumulate in fat tissue should be used very carefull and certainly not with something like bedbugs.

 

[A_Wanderer]

Yes natural selection using pesticides, when plants evolve chemical detterents against detrimental insects eventually insects that are not effected will fill the open niche. Man made pesticides are no different than any other population pressure - although they are an extremely selective one. Theres a field with insects, it gets dusted with pesticide, pesticide kills off 99% of the insects, of the ones that stay alive some may have a trait that enables them to survive ~ the frequency of offspring from the reduced population with that trait is higher than it was before the use of pesticides. It falls under natural selection, artificial selection is deliberately selective breeding.

The point was raised about DDT, through decades of use we know about the environmental dangers and the health dangers - it is not a killer chemical that will snuff out anyone in small doses.