Bed bugs back with a vengeance: The blood-sucking critters on rise in T.O

By DON PEAT, SUN MEDIA

Daniel Rozak’s life has been torn apart by bed bugs.
“It’s been a nightmare, an absolute nightmare,” Rozak said.

The 37 – year-old HBC employee came home last month to the creepy crawlers nesting around his bed and even in the corners of his ceiling and said he has since spent more than $7,000 trying to get rid of the pests.

‘ON THE RISE’
He has lost furniture, had his apartment sprayed with pesticide and even been relocated in his building to another apartment.
Rozak isn’t the only one that has been fighting bed bugs. According to Reg Ayre, the city’s Healthy Environments manager, Toronto Public Health received 194 calls for bed bug inquiries in 2004, 147 calls in 2005 and 160 in the first nine months of 2006.
“That is just the tip of the iceberg,” Ayre said.
Bed bugs were on the decline in the western world by World War II, but they’ve come back with a vengeance because of its increased global travel and the use of less lethal pesticides.
The little insects are spreading their non-existent wings and once again showing up in beds, and homes, across Canada, making them a significant issue of public concern.
“We started receiving anecdotal reports that bed bugs were on the rise,” Ayre said. “prior to 2003-2004 it was a non-issue for us.
Four years later, Ayre says they are constantly sending investigators out to bed bug calls around the city.
From surveys of pest control companies, Ayre said it is clear all communities are seeing an increase in bed bugs this year.
One company said it performs 1,200 bed bug treatments per year while another said it’s spraying 400-500 homes per month.
One of the reasons Toronto Health is concerned about bed bugs is the stigma attached to them.
Toronto’s shelter system takes bed bugs so seriously, the city funded the re[placement of 62% of all beds in the service shelter system in December 2005.

THEY DON’T DISCRIMINATE
They also replaced more than half of the beds and mattresses in the six city-managed facilities last year. All the replacement beds are bed bug resistant.
Ayre is adamant bed bugs don’t just affect the poor. Although he has seen cases of bed bugs in shelters and low income areas, the health unit has received bed bug complaints from all socioeconomic areas of the city.



Last month, one city concillor even called for bed bugs to be considered a health hazard. Ayre said the unit considers them a “nuisance pest” not a health hazard.
Under legislation, a health hazard would give Public Health the power to take legal action, but Ayre said it’s not needed.
“It’s not about enforcement,” he said. “It’s a nuisance pest that has significant implications and there are some dramatic cases but it doesn’t meet the legal definition of a health hazard.
One of the good things about bed bugs – if there is anything good about them – is that they don’t spread infectious disease, he said.
Adult bed bugs have oval-shaped bodies with no wings. Before they feed, they are a quarter-inch long and aa flat as paper. After they suck your blood, they turn dark red and become bloated. A female can lay 200-400 eggs depending on food supply and temperature. The little critters hatch in 10 days and live for one year. And they can go without feeding on blood for six months. Worse yet, they can hide anywhere, not just in the seams, creases and folds of your bed. They can be found in your bed frame, chairs, couches and electronics. Under your carpet or rug, there may be a bug. In your curtains and drawers, behind your baseboards and even in the cracks of the wall.

Health officials said bed bugs can also travel from apartment to apartment along pipes, electrical wiring and other openings.


Toronto Sun: December 21, 2007



BATTLING BED BUGS IN SENSITIVE PLACES.

Researchers from the University of Kentucky discuss treatment options for bed bugs when insecticides may not be desirable.

By: Michael F. Potter, Alcaro Romero, Kenneth F. Haynes and Erich Hardebeck

Subheading: Steamers

“If bed bugs have a weakness, it’s elevated temperature. Temperatures of 120° F are lethal to most insects provided they cannot escape to a cooler location. The advantage of steam is that heating is intense and immediate, killing both bugs and eggs on contact.
The types of steamers used for bed bug treatment are those used for sanitizing floor drains. When targeting bed bugs though, the less moisture emitted the better, especially when treating mattresses and other slow-drying materials where mold growth is a possibility.”