How to Prevent and Fight Against Bedbug Infestations

The increase in infestations in the U.S. may be due to more travel.

 

 

As summer unfolds and the travel season kicks into high gear, there’s an increased risk that your household members may encounter bedbugs and bring them back to your site as unwanted guests. With their peak activity in the warmer months, it’s crucial to be prepared. These resilient pests hitch rides on travelers’ belongings and find new homes in unsuspecting apartments.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) all consider bedbug a public health pest. However, unlike most public health pests, bedbugs are not known to transmit or spread disease. They can, however, cause other public health issues, so it’s important to take steps to prevent and control bedbugs.

Bedbugs are small, reddish-brown insects that feed on human blood, causing itchy bites and generally irritating their human hosts. They are notorious for their ability to hide in tiny crevices and their resilience against many conventional pest control methods.

A bedbug infestation can lead to costly treatments for site owners and even then, there's no guarantee they won't return. Experts believe the recent increase in bedbug infestations in the United States may be due to more travel, lack of knowledge about preventing infestations, increased resistance of bedbug to pesticides, and ineffective pest control practices. We'll go over tips to help you maximize your chances of preventing a bedbug infestation from occurring in your building.

Possible Regulatory Requirements

According to the EPA, there are 21 states that have some level of law or regulation that applies to bedbugs. Some of these requirements have been on the books for many years. Nine states have enacted laws or regulations since 2005. The requirements focus on hotels and apartment owners or other property managers for the most part.

Be sure to check with your state and local authorities for any changes in these requirements or to find out if your state or city has enacted a requirement more recently. For example, Chicago is an example of a local government that has created requirements for both owners and residents related to bedbugs. Among these is a requirement that owners must provide a brochure on bedbugs to residents when signing a new or renewing an existing lease. And residents must notify the owner within five days of suspecting a bedbug infestation and cooperate with the owners by not interfering with an inspection or with a treatment; granting access to the apartment for an inspection or a treatment; making the necessary preparations, as instructed by the owner or a pest management professional; and dispose of any items that a pest management professional has determined can’t be treated or cleaned.

PREVENTION AND CONTROL TIPS

Encourage Tenants to Report Bedbugs

While owners are responsible for treating an infested apartment in a timely manner, the resident is responsible for informing the owner or manager of any pest problems and preparing the apartment for treatment. In fact, taking steps to educate tenants about bedbugs and encouraging your tenants to report bedbugs as soon as they know of a problem will have the greatest effect on minimizing the cost and time it takes to eradicate bedbugs from your site.

Bedbugs increase rapidly because females lay eggs at a rate of three or four a day. Also, if you don't act quickly, bedbugs can spread from one apartment to another. To assist your education efforts, we’ve provided a Model Notice to Residents: Bedbug Prevention and Control, which you can distribute to your residents.

Notify Residents of Adjacent Apartments

Upon confirming the presence of bedbugs in an apartment, you should notify tenants and inspect all apartments adjacent to, above, and below the apartment found to have bedbugs. Here's how to recognize the presence of bedbugs:

From their appearance: Adult bedbugs are roughly the size, shape, and color of an apple seed, approximately 1/4 of an inch in length and light or reddish-brown in color. Immature forms of bedbug are smaller and lighter in color. Eggs are tiny and white.

You should be able to see the adult form with your naked eye, but may need a magnifying glass to see the immature forms or eggs. Bedbugs can be found anywhere people sleep, sit, or lay down. They can be found on mattresses and box springs, especially near the piping, seams, and tags, and in cracks and crevices of headboards and bed frames. They can also be found in other furniture, especially in the seams and zippers of chairs and couches, in the folds of curtains, in drawer joints, in electrical outlets, behind picture frames and in other tight spaces.

From their markings, droppings, and eggs: The best indication of an infestation is to look for physical signs of bedbug such as live or dead bedbug, eggs or eggshells or tiny dark spots or reddish stains on mattresses or other places where bedbug live. Blood stains, droppings, and eggs can be found in several locations, including mattress seams and tufts, sheets, pillow cases, upholstered furniture, crevices and cracks in furniture, and the baseboards of walls.

When inspecting for bedbugs and tell-tale blood stains, droppings, and eggs, a flashlight and a magnifying glass will help. Start by looking in an area 10 to 20 feet around where the tenants sleep or sit. That’s the distance a bedbug will usually travel. And keep a written record of every room and location where you find signs of bedbugs. Share this record with a pest control professional.

From their bite: Though bites may be an indicator of a bedbug infestation, they are generally a poor one as not all people will react to bedbug bites or the bites may be due to other reasons. But for those who do react to bedbug bites, bite marks may appear within minutes or days, usually where skin is exposed during sleep. They can be small bumps or large itchy welts. The welts usually go away after a few days. Because the bites may resemble mosquito and other insect bites, a bump or welt alone doesn't mean there are bedbugs.

Hire a Pest Management Professional

When an infested unit is reported, your action plan will be to call the pest management company immediately to set up an inspection appointment. Make the resident aware of the appointment and remind them that they must provide access to the unit. An experienced pest management company will give a cursory inspection of the apartment and then provide a treatment cost estimate based on the size of the unit, the amount of clutter, and the size of the infestation.

Some companies will have extensive preparation instructions requiring that residents strip their beds, empty their closets and drawers, launder everything they own, and place everything that can’t be laundered into plastic bags.

The bedbug treatment should be performed by pest control professionals applying insecticides and non-chemical bedbug treatment methods. The first treatment should be intensive. And subsequent inspections/treatments should be made at two-week intervals to treat any nymphs that might have hatched. You should expect at least two treatment visits and a third follow-up visit to confirm that bedbugs have been eliminated. Severe infestations or cluttered apartments may take more visits to eliminate the bedbugs.

Inspect Adjacent Units

Your response plan to a resident notifying you of a bedbug problem must include how units that are adjacent to the infested unit will be addressed. Bedbugs will move between apartment units. In fact, an infestation next door may be the source of the infestation in the unit that is being treated.

Therefore, inspection and possibly treatment of units sharing a common wall with an infested unit must be standard procedure. Managers may be reluctant to have adjacent units inspected because of the expense, and fear of alarming the residents in those units. However, if you truly intend to control a bedbug infestation it’s absolutely essential that the units on either side and the units above and below be inspected for bedbug at two-week intervals over the next four weeks. If bedbugs are found in any of the adjacent units, the units adjacent to that unit must also be inspected.

Assist Tenants Who Can’t Move Furniture Themselves

In the case of elderly or disabled tenants who are unable to move furniture around, you should help them organize the apartment and get rid of clutter. Any delays or unprepped apartments will diminish the effectiveness of professional bedbug treatments and prolong the presence of bedbugs in your building. Here are some things that tenants can do to support the work of a professional:

• Get rid of clutter to reduce places bedbugs can hide.
• Wipe off dead bugs, blood stains, eggs, and droppings with hot soapy water.
• Wash all items showing bedbug stains in hot water (140 degrees Fahrenheit) and dry on the highest setting for at least 20 minutes. Other clean items suspected of having bedbugs should be placed in a hot dryer for at least 20 minutes to kill the bugs. After drying, store items in sealed plastic bags until the bedbugs are completely eradicated.
• Vacuum carpets, floors, bed frames, furniture, cracks, and crevices daily, using a brush tool. Empty the vacuum or seal and dispose of its bag after each use.
• Enclose infested mattresses and box springs in a cover that is labeled “allergen rated,” “for dust mites,” or “for bedbugs” for at least a full year. Periodically check for rips or openings and tape these up.
• Use plastic sheeting (shrink/pallet wrap) to cover, or place securely in plastic bags, any items to be thrown away. Label with a sign that says “infested with bedbugs.”

 

[MODEL NOTICE]

NOTICE TO RESIDENTS: BEDBUG PREVENTION AND CONTROL

Bedbugs readily hide in small crevices: They may act as stowaways on luggage, furniture, clothing, pillows, and boxes. Used furniture, particularly bed frames and mattresses, are of greatest risk of being a home for bedbugs and their eggs. Check everything you intend to bring into your home before you bring it in.

Management is responsible for treating an infested apartment in a timely manner. Please notify the manager right away for instructions on removal of household items. The resident is responsible for informing management of any pest problems and preparing the apartment for treatment.

FACTS

Where do they live?

• Bedbugs can be found:
• In mattresses, bed frames, and sheets;
• Behind loose wallpaper or picture frames;
• Under carpets or rugs;
• In crevices or cracks in walls and floors;
• Behind pictures on walls;
• In baseboards, electrical boxes, and wall outlets;
• In curtains and draperies;
• In window and door frames;
• In furniture;
• In ceiling moldings.

Life Cycle: Females lay about 200 eggs, usually at the rate of three or four per day.

Type of Damage: They feed mainly at night on human blood by piercing the skin and sucking blood into their stomachs. Bedbugs can go without feeding for more than 18 months.

CONTROL

What should you do when you see a bedbug in your apartment?

• Inform the manager immediately so the apartment can be treated.
• Inspect thoroughly the bed and mattress.
• Frequently vacuum the mattress and premises. After vacuuming, immediately place the vacuum cleaner bag in a plastic bag, seal tightly, and discard in a container outdoors.
• Scrub the mattress and other surfaces. A stiff brush can be used to dislodge bedbugs and eggs.
• Place bedding and clothes in plastic garbage bags and wash bedding and garments in hot water. Dispose of contaminated garbage bag.
• Clean and sanitize your premises.
• Reduce clutter and remove debris from in and around the home.
• Bedbugs don’t fly. They cannot climb glass or metal easily. Move the bed away from walls, keep bedding off the floor, or from touching walls to help prevent infestation.

PREVENTION

What you should do to avoid infestation?

• Do not take free items or give free items away in public areas.
• Do not let others use your vacuum.
• Do not bring potentially infested items into your home.
• Regularly clean and vacuum your apartment and keep it free of clutter.
• Inspect your bedding, furniture, clothing, and baggage. Look for signs of bedbugs such as their tell-tale fecal spots or blood stains from crushed bugs.
• Carefully inspect secondhand items.

Bedbugs can wander between adjoining apartments through voids in walls and holes through which wires and pipes pass.