Bedbugs biting nationwide, but who's tracking?

Sat Sep 11,2010 - By Pat Hewitt, The Canadian Press

TORONTO - The creepy comeback of bedbugs in Canada has an Ontario politician calling for a national health strategy to track the tiny bloodsuckers.

They're crawling into homes, apartments, hospitals, hotels and student residences nationwide. They prefer human blood and their bites can leave itchy, red bumps. Reports from the pest control industry and hotel and housing organizations suggest infestations have risen dramatically in recent years, the Public Health Agency of Canada says. Still, the agency and more than a dozen municipal public health units and provincial health ministries contacted across the country say they don't track infestations. Bedbugs aren't a public health issue and don't have to be reported to health authorities, they say.

Ontario Liberal Michael Colle, who's organizing a bedbug summit on Sept. 29 at the Ontario legislature, disagrees. "It's almost debilitating. People tell me they can't sleep, it's very expensive and they don't know what to do, what works," said Colle.
While public health officials say there are no known cases of infectious disease transmitted by bedbugs, scratching the bitten areas can lead to infection. Eradicating the wingless, 6-mm long bugs can cost thousands of dollars. Within its one-year life span a female bedbug can lay 200 to 400 eggs — making them a real threat to homeowners and businesses alike.
"You can see what happens when there was this bedbug scare at the Toronto film festival," said Colle. A posting on Twitter about bedbugs at a theatre got entertainment websites buzzing, but it turned out to be a false alarm. Colle said it's tough to battle the bugs when nobody is tracking their march into the beds of sleeping Canadians.

"This is the problem. There's no data or hard scientific facts about the proliferation, the concentration," said Colle. "Hopefully the summit will get attention and resources paid for provincially, but also asking the federal government. They've got to be involved in getting a national health strategy to deal with this thing."
The U.S.-based website bedbugregistry.com logs complaints from users across North America, but there's no verification process provincially or Canada-wide, said Colle. Toronto is seeing a resurgence of bedbugs and has more than other jurisdictions, according to Toronto Public Health. It responded to more than 1,500 complaints or requests for service from the public in 2009. There were 1,076 complaints from January through July alone this year.

Ottawa's health unit has had 70 to 75 calls so far this year from people who've reported bedbugs at hotels or from tenants or landlords, compared to 60 in 2009 and 70 the year before. Montreal and other big cities in Quebec have seen a comeback in the past three to four years.
"What seems to be transpiring from the field is that there's more and more infestations," said Dr. Stephane Perron with Montreal Public Health. In 2007, 20 buildings of the 700 managed by Montreal's municipal housing corporation were infested with bedbugs. A year later, the number had jumped to 120 buildings. But bedbug infestations in private homes are dramatically under-reported because there's a stigma attached to having them. Most people, for example, didn't answer survey questions in Montreal about the issue, Perron said. Edmonton and Regina have seen more calls this year about bedbugs. Vancouver and Calgary officials say there have been some reports of bedbugs but nothing significant. Victoria has seen occasional problems with bedbugs in homeless shelters. Newfoundland had bedbugs in some rooms for rent.
Anyone can get bedbugs, Colle noted. "I always vividly recall a 90-year-old woman who essentially had gotten rid of her furniture, fumigated, bought new furniture then they came back again. She was at her wit's end," said Colle.

Thornhill, Ont.-based Purity Pest Control gets 50 to 60 calls a week for inspections with its sniffer dogs, a service that costs about $350, said owner Michael Goldman. Treatment for a four-bedroom house is about $1,500, which includes steaming and vacuuming. Even then, some bugs or their eggs may still lurk in walls, under baseboards or in mattresses, said Goldman. Some companies use thermal heating. Swedish researchers think they might have an answer. A recent study from that country found that immature bedbugs — known as nymphs — secrete an anti-aphrodisiac pheromone that deter male bedbugs from mating. Researchers suggest using that pheromone in an insecticide could stop bedbugs from reproducing. Many broad-spectrum, long-lasting pesticides that kill bedbugs have been banned and ones that remain are less effective, Goldman said.

Mattress encasement covers cost about $75 and do work, Goldman said, if you can get over the squeamishness of knowing what lies beneath you when you sleep. Curbside shoppers and garage sale groupies should beware. "I just came from an inspection... that the people bought a used couch and unbeknownst to them there were bedbugs in it," said Goldman. He suggests ripping holes in infested couches or mattresses left at the curb so no one drags them — and the creepy crawlers inside — home.