These microscopic insects are spreading so fast across the United States that almost no region is safe according to recent data. According to a survey conducted by the National Pest Management Association and the University of Kentucky, more than 95 percent of a sample of 519 U.S. exterminators said they responded to at least one bedbug infestation call in the past year. There has been a 57 percent increase in calls for bedbug extermination in the past five years.
Known by the scientific name of cimex lectularius, it is believed that infestations in the U.S. have been increasing due to a more mobile population. Outside of the home, they can be found in a number of places that people go to regularly from hotels to clothing stores. An article published in Business Week said it was not unusual for hotels to be taken to court for bedbug claims. One report was that $150,000 was paid by Helmsley Enterprises to a guest in 2004 to settle out of court. An adult bedbug can live more than 500 days without food (a blood meal), so taking a hotel room out of service for a few days or months after it has been treated may not necessarily help solve infestation problems.
In the Soho section of New York, a Hollister teen-oriented clothing store and subsidiary of Abercrombie & Fitch, was shut down because of a massive bedbug infestation this month. The same month, dogs detected bedbugs at the Victoria’s Secret site at Lexington Avenue and 58th Street in downtown New York.
Bedbugs, unlike lice that travel directly on a person, can hitch a ride on clothes that are worn or packed in a suitcase after being in an infested area. Bedbugs are oval, flattened, brown and wingless insects. Their color changes from brown to purplish-red after a blood meal. It is very important to wash purchases in hot, hot water and vacuum your shopping bags inside and out, including the seams, before returning home. –torrance stephens, ph.d.
