Hotels Hosting Bedbugs
Jul 25, 2001 | 3:44 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Naples, Florida
Posts: 7,419
Hotels Hosting Bedbugs
Researcher: Hotels Hosting Bedbugs
The Associated Press
Wednesday, July 25, 2001; 10:10 a.m. EDT
GAINESVILLE, Fla. –– A University of Florida researcher says
America's luxury hotels are increasingly playing host to some unwelcome
guests: bedbugs.
Phil Koehler, an urban entomologist with the university's Institute of Food
and Agricultural Sciences, said Tuesday that the blood-feeding insect is
being found more frequently in cities that have an influx of international
tourists.
Infestations have been reported in hotels and motels, and, Koehler noted,
not just seedy ones.
"Bedbugs are associated in the public's mind with filthy living conditions,
but that's not the case," Koehler said. "They can be brought into any
environment and are very good at hiding, so even upscale hotels can have
infestations."
Pest-control companies have reported a tenfold increase in bedbug
service calls in Florida since 1999.
According to pest-control experts, increased tourism has contributed to
the problem because bedbugs are transported in luggage from overseas.
The United States had a record 51 million international tourists in 2000,
up from 48 million in 1999 and 43 million in 1995, according to
Commerce Department figures. Nearly 20 percent of international visitors
last year came to Florida.
Another explanation for the resurgence of bedbugs is that bug
exterminators no longer indiscriminately spray poisonous chemicals,
pest-control experts said.
"When you suppress insects such as cockroaches in a targeted manner
with insect baits, it allows for other parts of the insect ecosystem to rise
up," said Mel Whitson, technical manager for Steritech Group Inc., a
Charlotte, N.C.-based environmental safety company.
Adult bedbugs are about the size of a small ladybug and are flat, oval and
wingless. They are brown unless engorged with a meal, when they turn a
mahogany red.
Adults feed regularly but can live six months without eating.
Harold Harlan, senior entomologist with the National Pest Management
Association in Dunn-Loring, Va., said that although bedbugs can harbor
about 20 human pathogens, they do not transmit diseases.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv...101032_000.htm
The Associated Press
Wednesday, July 25, 2001; 10:10 a.m. EDT
GAINESVILLE, Fla. –– A University of Florida researcher says
America's luxury hotels are increasingly playing host to some unwelcome
guests: bedbugs.
Phil Koehler, an urban entomologist with the university's Institute of Food
and Agricultural Sciences, said Tuesday that the blood-feeding insect is
being found more frequently in cities that have an influx of international
tourists.
Infestations have been reported in hotels and motels, and, Koehler noted,
not just seedy ones.
"Bedbugs are associated in the public's mind with filthy living conditions,
but that's not the case," Koehler said. "They can be brought into any
environment and are very good at hiding, so even upscale hotels can have
infestations."
Pest-control companies have reported a tenfold increase in bedbug
service calls in Florida since 1999.
According to pest-control experts, increased tourism has contributed to
the problem because bedbugs are transported in luggage from overseas.
The United States had a record 51 million international tourists in 2000,
up from 48 million in 1999 and 43 million in 1995, according to
Commerce Department figures. Nearly 20 percent of international visitors
last year came to Florida.
Another explanation for the resurgence of bedbugs is that bug
exterminators no longer indiscriminately spray poisonous chemicals,
pest-control experts said.
"When you suppress insects such as cockroaches in a targeted manner
with insect baits, it allows for other parts of the insect ecosystem to rise
up," said Mel Whitson, technical manager for Steritech Group Inc., a
Charlotte, N.C.-based environmental safety company.
Adult bedbugs are about the size of a small ladybug and are flat, oval and
wingless. They are brown unless engorged with a meal, when they turn a
mahogany red.
Adults feed regularly but can live six months without eating.
Harold Harlan, senior entomologist with the National Pest Management
Association in Dunn-Loring, Va., said that although bedbugs can harbor
about 20 human pathogens, they do not transmit diseases.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv...101032_000.htm
Jul 25, 2001 | 6:37 pm
#2
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Westchester, NY AA P/3MM, DL SM/MM, STW PLT
Posts: 5,490
Me thinks this may be a good example of the burgeoning confusion that may occur from having so many new forums (although this is certainly a trivial and pain-free example):
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum...ML/002372.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum...ML/002372.html