Mr. Meek

Security & Safety

Effective Eco-friendly Methods for Treating Bed Bug Infestations

By Frank Meek, International Technical & Training Director, Orkin, LLC

I shouldn't have been surprised when I awoke to find little itchy raised bumps on my ankles and tiny drops of blood on the sheets. Bed bugs had ordered room service and I was the main course.

Then I recalled the odor in the room the night before: obnoxiously sweet, sugar-syrupy. That smell should have tipped me off to a bedbug infestation. With experience in the residential and commercial pest control industry for sixteen years, rest assured I've studied bed bugs. However, until this overnight stay that turned into a field trip, I hadn't received my bed-certification in the subject.

Just like head lice, bed bugs can happen to the nicest people. The Latin name is appropriately Hannibal Lecter-like. Cimex Lectularius. A brownish-red, tiny blood-sucking insect that preys on humans, pets, birds, bats and other animals. While these parasites have been around since the dawn of man, widespread pesticide usage all but relegated bed bugs to nursery rhymes and Dickensian novels.

However, many of the pesticides used to treat them in the past are now not available. As a result, bed bugs are making a comeback. In fact, they may be appearing in a hotel room near you.

Since about 1999, pest control companies have been reporting a sizeable increase in the number of calls for treating bedbug infestations. New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Miami and Orlando are just a few of the cities experiencing bed bugs in hotels, apartments and single-family homes. While common opinion has been that bed bugs are a result of poor sanitation and low socio-economic conditions, these reports run counter to those myths. The majority of the hotel facilities have been mid- to up-scale, with a mix of business and tourist guests.

Check for specks of dried blood and fecal matter around and under the mattress tags and seams.

"Where are they coming from?" is the first question guests and hoteliers ask. As far as entomologists can tell, international tourism is partly to blame. Many attractive and exotic tourist destinations have not eradicated this pest. Like humans, it seems, bed bugs are always on the lookout for new worlds to conquer. They migrate to clothes and suitcases, hop a ride and then set up housekeeping in your mattresses and furniture, waiting for their next meal.

While these insects have the capability to harbor a number of diseases, research has not documented any cases of transmission to humans. Instead of a true health risk, the bites are a nuisance, and can cause severe irritation and itching.

Eliminating bed bugs requires more than a simple visit from a pest control company. It requires understanding the life cycle of the insect so that proper measures can be taken across that timespan. Moreover, it requires an ecologically-friendly approach that does not impact guests or staff.

Identifying the Problem

First, know your enemy and its habits. Bed bugs are reddish-brown, flat-bodied, oval-shaped insects that are anywhere from the size of a flea, before feeding, to the size of a ladybug, after a meal. Immature bed bugs, or nymphs, are almost colorless. After feeding, the nymphs resemble an animated drop of blood.

Bed bugs sleep by day, hiding in the seams of mattresses, between baseboards and carpets, behind picture frames and beneath loose wallpaper. At night, they come out to feed, attracted by our breath and body heat.

Female bed bugs lay from ten to 50 eggs every 3 to 15 days, with 70 degrees and above being the insect's ideal temperature. No eggs are laid at temperatures under 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Coated with a sticky substance, the eggs are deposited in clusters, near the crevices where the bugs hide. Eggs typically hatch in six to17 days at 70 degrees and above, but at lower temperatures, hatching can take as long as 28 days. While nymphs can survive about two months without feeding, with a good food supply, they develop into adults in two to six weeks. Adult bed bugs have been known to survive a year without feeding. Temperatures below freezing and above 113 degrees can kill them.

With females laying anywhere from 200 to 500 eggs a year, bed bugs can quickly turn into a horror story in your hotel. Signs of bed bug infestation are:

Treatment Strategies

To treat a bed bug infestation, you must treat more than the bed. As noted earlier, bed bugs live all over the room - and can even travel from room to room through electrical wires, vents, and water pipes.

Strategies for treatment depend upon which species is evident. Barn swallow, pigeon and bat bugs are related parasites associated with birds and bats. These types also can travel throughout a hotel or home, looking for human prey. If bird or bat infestations are the source, the nests must be removed and entry points must be sealed before the bugs can be eradicated.

Effective Strategies for Eliminating Bed Bugs

Orkin has been studying alternate control methods for bed bugs that would reduce human exposure to residual insecticides while still obtaining control of the infestation. The primary concern in bed bug control is the potential exposure to residual insecticide in and around the bed area. Conventional treatment specifications call for the application of residual pesticide to the bedding. While many Web sites and do-it-yourself pest control companies recommend such treatments, this produces unnecessary exposure and the control obtained is typically not acceptable, due to the life and breeding cycle.

Because we wanted to compare old-line treatments to those more eco-friendly, we conducted a controlled experiment in bed bug treatment.

Two hotels in the San Francisco area that catered to the same class of tourist and business traveler and had existing bed bug infestations were selected for a one-year study. Both facilities received the same basic treatment with conventionally prescribed applications of dust material. Dust materials were used in the non-contact areas of the rooms such as under baseboards, behind wall-mounted items, to cracks and crevices of the walls and some pieces of furniture. The bed and bed frame were excluded. After treatment, both hotels placed the mattresses in a plastic mattress cover and reused them. No furniture was discarded unless it had rips in the fabric. Following this general guideline:

• Hotel A had a drop in occurrences of bed bugs over a period of 60 days. Around the 60- to 90-day time frame, re-occurrences of the insects started with about one or two rooms requiring re-treatment each month for a year.
• Hotel B received the same treatment with the addition of the use of steam to the mattress and box springs in each room. Steam also was used to treat the sofas and chairs in the rooms. Orkin applied the steam to the mattress edges and seams where the bed bugs were seen and are known to harbor. The steam was also directed into the cracks and crevices of the box spring areas and other pieces of furniture in the rooms. Within 60 days, the occurrences of bed bugs in the infested rooms of hotel B were eliminated. More significantly, re-treatments were not needed for the remainder of the study.

IPM Requires Vigilance, Training

The use of steam directed into the mattress, box spring and other furniture items, eliminated the presence of bed bugs and kept control for 12 months without exposing the occupants to pesticide residue associated with the bed and furniture. Combined with previously-mentioned pesticide applications to baseboards, wall mounted items and other areas of the room, and routine inspections for re-infestation, bed bugs can go back to the nursery rhymes where they belong. However, vigilance is the key. A pest control professional can train your housekeeping staff to recognize a bed bug infestation before it becomes a public relations nightmare for your facility.

An industry veteran, Frank Meek has been with Orkin since 1986. In 2003, he was named among the future leaders of the pest management industry in Pest Control Technology magazine’s “40 Under 40” ranking. Currently, as the International Technical and Training Director, Mr. Meek provides technical support and training in both sales and service to Orkin's international franchises, helping them grow and develop in their specific markets. As a board-certified entomologist, Mr. Meek teaches Integrated Pest Management principles and can explain how to use all available methodologies to prevent pest infestations in various commercial settings. Mr. Meek can be contacted at 404-888-2898 or fmeek@rollinscorp.com Extended Bio...

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