Bed Bugs are a notoriously difficult pest to remove from residential and commercial facilities--often requiring a combination of cleaning and integrated pest control and management processes that can be expensive and time-consuming if performed improperly.
Cleaning for Bed Bugs in Public Facilities
Bed bugs, once nearly extinct in the U.S., have returned with a vengeance due, in large part, to increased global travel and urbanization.
They are notorious hitchhikers--silently traveling from place to place in luggage, and hiding in rarely noticed crevices until their population reaches seemingly overwhelming numbers.
They consume only one thing--blood--and can survive for months between feedings, preferring to hide while their meal digests.
Their ability to hide, combined with their emerging resistance to pesticides, has led to their classification as a public health nuisance.
They typically amass within a short distance from their primary food supply and are usually found in hotels, dorms, and hospitals.
A recent case of bed bugs attacking a patient comes from a Detriot hospital where a man was seeking aid for burns.
According to Fox 2 Detroit;
Antonio Woods was being treated for a severe burn and could not believe what he found on his hospital bed - a bed bug at Detroit Receiving Hospital.
Woods recorded video of the unexpected and unwanted visitor in his room last week.
It all happened at Detroit Receiving Hospital Wednesday morning. He had been there since Monday.
He was being treated for a third-degree burn on his leg.
Now he says he's leaving with bed bug bites.
Man finds bed bug on mattress, bites on his body at Detroit Receiving
Another incident occurring in a public facility struck a Provide R.I. school.
According to ABC 6;
When Cindy Ordonez learned bedbugs were found at her grandson’s school, Mt. Pleasant High, she went into high alert.
Ordonez told her grandson to immediately change out of the clothes he wore to school as soon as he got into the car.
The school department told families classes were relocated, so the classroom where the bedbugs were found and the two classrooms next to it can be treated.
Tony DeJesus of Big Blue Bug Solutions said the school is doing the right thing by targeting a specific area for treatment.
And he says there’s not much schools can do to prevent this as it’s easy for bedbugs to be brought from home.
The Problem With Bed Bug Bites
Presently, there is no evidence suggesting bed bugs carry or directly transmit disease.
However, their bites and presence have been shown to cause psychological issues, primarily where consistent sleep interruption occurs, as well as severe secondary infections from scratching.
According to a joint statement published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA);
Although bed bugs are not known to transmit disease, they are a pest of significant public health importance.
Bed bugs cause a variety of negative physical health, mental health and economic consequences.
Many people have mild to severe allergic reaction to the bites with effects ranging from no reaction to a small bite mark to, in rare cases, anaphylaxis (severe, whole-body reaction)
These bites can also lead to secondary infections of the skin such as impetigo, ecthyma, and lymphanigitis.
Bed bugs may also affect the mental health of people living in infested homes. Reported effects include anxiety, insomnia and systemic reactions.
Combatting Bed Bugs
Bed bugs, for all their ability to hide, leave tell-tale signs of their presence.
Once observed, it is critical to take immediate action, which, as demonstrated in the previous examples, assumes the absolute worst-case scenario.
The first sign is often biting occurring overnight that resembles small mosquito bites.
In the case of a large infestation, black spots--defecated blood--will be visible on bedding, as well as on and around their nest.
Finally, visible sighting of the bugs, which can tell you several things:
- If they are slow and flat, they likely haven't eaten in some time--so it may be a new or small infestation.
- If they are fast-moving, and fat from recent feeding, it is safe to assume that you have a significant issue that should be addressed immediately.
Finding their nest is critical.
Bed bugs typically nest within 10 to 15 feet from where they feed, which means near your bed or couch.
- Take apart your furniture and use a playing card to get between surfaces.
- Check the seams around mattresses.
- Remove your curtains and examine them thoroughly.
- Look in the holes in power sockets as well.
- Finally, check under rugs and around the edges of carpets.
Pesticides and high-heat treatments will likely prove expensive and unreliable.
The most reliable, cost-effective method involves a combination of:
- Disassembling furniture.
- Direct high-heat steam.
- A liberal application of diatomaceous earth everywhere, and;
- A thorough professional cleaning.
Takeaway
Bed bugs are an increasingly problematic public health issue that have long since moved from households and shared lodging to schools and hospitals.
It is only a matter of time before they begin to plague businesses in office buildings as well.
Due to massive exposure to toxic pesticides in the past, bed bugs have developed a resistance to nearly every toxic chemical treatment and can quickly relocate away from high-heat treatments.
However, because of their exoskeleton, they have no immunity to diatomaceous earth, as it scratches their shell and dries them out.
Combining regular diatomaceous earth treatments with professional cleaning services will quickly eradicate the infestation and return your life and facility to normalcy in a short amount of time.
Contact us today and discover why Vanguard Cleaning Systems® is the Standard of Clean® for businesses throughout Northwest Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma.
In Oklahoma, dial 918-960-4450
In Arkansas, dial 479-717-2410
In Missouri, dial 417-812-9777
