Bedbugs - reasonable precautions against?
 

I've read a few articles last year about the resurgent spread of bedbugs in all levels of accommodation, from hostels to five-star hotels to luxury apartments. I did a search here, and I found people complaining of bedbug experiences at major name-brand four-star hotels.

From what I've read, if you are unfortunate enough to get bedbugs in your home, it can take an extreme amount of time, dedication, and money to get rid of them. And it's supposed to be easy to transfer bedbugs from one place to another inadvertently. In a recent article I was reading about welfare hotels, the reporter was told to stand in the middle of the hallways so he wouldn't catch bedbugs from the walls.

With so many people here who hotel hop, are you taking any precautions against bedbugs?

I've thought of the following, but perhaps I'm being overly paranoid. I haven't actually implemented any.

* Take along plastic garbage bags in your suitcase. When you arrive at the hotel, place your suitcase in that plastic bag. Don't use the dresser drawers to store clothing. In addition, use Ziplocs for all clothing, particularly used items.

* Switch from soft-shell luggage to hard-shell.

* When you return home from a trip, strip down in the garage and (if possible) shower, before putting on a completely new outfit, and leaving one's luggage in the garage. Later, with plastic bags for transport, take the bags to the laundry, and launder the items in hot water (and bleach if possible).

Would these steps help? Has anyone been so unfortunate as to bring bedbugs home? I've never had a close encounter so far as I know, but I admit I'm a bit afraid of the creatures, so I'm trying to gain as much knowledge as possible.

It sounds like those steps would help (e.g. sealing your bag inside of a platic bag) - the last thing you want is for them to get into your luggage. If you're worried, I'd avoid putting my luggage down on the floor or in the closet - use one of those foldable luggage racks that most hotels provide.

Stripping down in the garage, however, seems a bit excessive.

good topic. I wonder the same thing myself.

A bedbug FAQ from the NYC Dept. of Health. (annoying boxes to close/cancel to read whole info sheet)

From the info sheet for one's home but pretty much the same for hotel:
Make you itchy reading it, doesn't it?

Thanks, driscj.

Has anyone tried this in their hotel room?

Yes. Scary.

I brought some home from, I believe, Romania.

When the exterminator came, he consoled my mom, who was concerned about his truck being parked in fornt of our house, that he'd just finished his work at the Munich Four Seasons.

I guess there's no way to escape...

jpdx, sorry to hear that your home required an exterminator. Did it work? I agree it's ridiculous that they all seem to favor prominent vehicles with advertising plastered on them.

Despite an apparent lack of bedbugs at home, reading about how they live in clutter is somewhat motivating to get rid of it to forestall future problems.

Just got back from Honduras where I was feasted on my a number of critters, including I think bed bugs. Here's what I did when I got back, and so far it seems to have worked.

I returned late at night, so I took off all my clothes and put on fresh clothes. All clothes went directly into the hamper. The next morning, I washed everything - including my fresh clothes from the night before and my sheets.

While things were washing, I sprayed my mattress, clothes hamper and luggage with ample amounts of Lysol disinfectant.

So far, so good. Of course, I'm not positive anything hitched a ride back with me. But they don't appear to have taken hold.

As a pest control professional, I can tell you the disenfectant will do absolutely nothing. After washing in hot water, make sure you dry the clothes etc in a hot dryer, preferably for 30 minutes AFTER the clothes are dry. This will insure that any eggs that were laid are killed as well. (140 for 30 minutes). It is basically the same treatment if your kid comes home with lice. In fact, they look a lot like them. Here is a link to see a picture of one:

http://news.ifas.ufl.edu/print/2001/bedbug.html

You can buy a portable steamer at Walmart for about $50.00. I would flip your mattress over and slowly steam the seams. Same for the luggage.

Hotel tips: There were some good ones listed above, but the best tip is this: Don't put your suitcase on the bed!!! I used to get rooms with two beds so I could do that! They can reside in cracks as thin as a business card. If you find one in your room, treat your room as the center square of the hollywood squares and make sure you are at least two rooms and floors away from the affected room.

The good news is that bedbugs are not a vector of diseases, which means they will bite you, suck your blood to feed their young and move on. You get a little welt and that is about it. They will make your skin crawl and make life difficult for a couple of days, but if you were in the 3rd world, you would have a one in 3 chance of living with them. So you have that going for you!!

Good luck!!!

When I worked in restaurants, I always did... too many gross bugs in pantries and back rooms.

I would:

(1) always try to book rooms at spaking new hotels
(slightly less chance of bedbugs in newer sheets/mattress)

(2) bring my own sheets and a steam iron as mentioned
above.

(3) bring my own air mattress...(a bit extreme)

(4) travel everywhere only in my RV.

Personally, I don't worry so much and try to ignore it if
possible... just think about all the other disgusting things
you can frequently encounter in a hotel(even nice ones)
One example: hotel guests who urinate while swimming
in hotel pools Yes, I've seen this before, which is why I
never even dip my feet in hotel pools.

Bedbugs from a hotel room, headlice from the aircraft seat back, spider bite from the airport toilet, gastroenteritis from the client's cafeteria, syphilis from your new "friend" in Pittsburgh. It's all a little too much. I need to give up travel!

dare I mention the possibility of bird flu?

giving up travel? staying home can be just as dangerous
for your health... about a week ago, someone spotted
a real big bug in the neighborhood... in the form of a big
black bear. the animal control people came out and told
everybody to keep their dogs/cats/small children indoor...

Ah well, at least my mattress smells pine forest fresh.

Off-topic, but where do you live that you are lucky enough to catch site of a black bear in the neighborhood? I would love to see that...through my kitchen window, of course.

We used to have bobcats running around when we lived at Lake Powell. It was pretty cool.


Topic? I had never given bedbugs a second (or first) thought before FT. Now I'm feeling a little paranoid. And itchy. I'll be inspecting all of the rooms very carefully this week.

A year later and we have a similar alert in the local vancouver newspaper.

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/ne...2500cb&k=70676

An epidemic of bedbugs once confined to skid-row rooming houses has spread to upscale Vancouver hotels.

One exterminator estimates that five to 10 per cent of higher-end hotels in Vancouver suffer from infestations of Cimex lectularius.

"Mostly they are coming from travellers," said Ali Liyaqat, regional manager for Orkin Pest Control in Vancouver. "They have [them] in their suitcases."

The insects, about the size of a poppy seed, inflict bites that can cause itchy, welt-like bumps.

Hotel guests in the United States have filed a number of bedbug-related lawsuits, including a $5-million US suit laid last week against Hilton Hotels by New York opera singer Alison Trainer.

Now Steritech, an American commercial pest-control company specializing in hotels and restaurants, is giving a seminar on bedbugs for the Vancouver hotel industry.

"Customers don't take it kindly when they find themselves covered in bite marks and they've got blood all over the sheets," said Steritech CEO Mark Jarvis.

"It's really gone from next to nothing to being a big part of our business in the last year," Jarvis said.

Infestations often spread from one hotel room to the rooms above, below, and on either side, Jarvis said. Housekeeping staff also spread the bugs around the hotel, he said.

The bloodsucking insects, so tough that they can withstand twice the nuclear radiation as cockroaches, are becoming more prevalent in upscale hotels, said John Mitten, regional manager for Poulin's Pest Control in Vancouver.

"They can be in any hotel. You could be in a really extravagant hotel and be having them," Mitten said. "Most of the better hotels, especially national chains, have pest-control programs to combat [bedbugs] and are training custodial staff to be on the lookout for tell-tale signs before an infestation develops."

A single female bedbug, fertilized once, can lay five eggs a day, each egg taking six to 10 days to hatch. A hatched nymph matures in 30 to 60 days.

The bugs find hosts by following body heat, carbon dioxide from breath or vibration.

Bedbug eggs are protected by a coating impervious to pesticides. Mechanical treatments, such as the use of steam to kill eggs, and vacuuming, are meeting with success, but must be combined with chemical treatments, Mitten said.

"It's not the type of thing where you can treat once and know that they're pretty much gone," he said. "Subsequent inspection and treatment is usually required."

Francis Parkinson, chairman of the Vancouver Hotel Association and general manager of the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel, said awareness is key.

"I don't believe at this point it is a major problem in the hotels, as long as we can keep it under control," he said. "If somebody finds them, they need to react to them."

Steritech, which is giving the hotel seminar Tuesday, guarantees bedbug elimination, but it requires 21 days and usually three treatments.

Bedbugs do not transmit disease.


New year - same story, same problem.

I presume sleeping on a waterbed sharply reduces the likelihood of a problem.

What do you do when guests come visit?
Ask them to strip in the garage...

The better the hotel, the better the linen. The better the linen, the gentler the washing. Gentle washing = less bleach, cooler temperatures; hence, less lethal to Cimex Lectularius ova, imo.

FWIW, from my husband who lived in a commune in NYC a few decades ago- sleep in the nude. You get up, take a shower, and the bedbugs are gone from your person and not hiding in your nightclothes.

They used to deal with them by putting the bed legs in cans full of kereosene, but I guess the Munich Four Seasons hasn't resorted to that!

We don't bring our suitcases into the house when we return home from a trip. We unpack in the garage and leave the suitcases out there. They are cleaned and stored in the garage.

I'm amazed by people who haul there suitcases all over the place and then store them without cleaning them in their bedroom clothes closet.

I live in Texas so our pest control professional has became a friend of the family. We need him and are grateful for his knowledge and skills.

Don't take it lightly
 

Trust me. You don't want to get these things in your house.

We have them now. We don't know where they came from. This year between the two of us, husband and I traveled to California, New York City, London, Spain, Peru, Argentina and Uruguay. We spent about 3 months away from home and in hotels. And that doesn't even count the several nights in hotels in Denver, where we live, while our house was being remodeled.

My husband got bit in California, but we thought we took extreme precautions to avoid bringing them home. He even threw out the suitcase. Because of the incredible amount of travel this year, we have no idea where the came from or if they came from California.

It's a nightmare, people. I've seen some people joke about it in threads or liken it to being a germphobic. Yea. Try going to bed at night knowing that you will get bitten and wake up with a bite (or many bites) God knows where on your body. As long as it isn't my face, I can sort of deal with it. But educated professional people in the U.S. can't go walking around with red, itchy bites on their faces.

Try to think about the mental anxiety of just going to sleep at night in what was supposed to be your safe cozy space. We don't sleep so well anymore. Imagine waking up and finding blood spots on your sheets from the bugs.

Try to appreciate the stigma and social isolation when you are afraid of giving them to your friends and they are afraid of getting them from you. See how many parties you get uninvited from and the dinner parties you find out about later.

And then, imagine having to call an exterminator and have them come REPEATEDLY to spray toxic chemicals (that may or may not work because the bugs are increasingly pesticide resistant) IN your house that make you feel sick. Do you have little kids crawling around on the floor? Do you really want them crawling through all that crap?

And, after two treatments, we are still getting bites. There is no easy fix for this. Don't believe anyone who tells you someone can just "come in and spray" and they'll be gone. Bull. The general thinking is it takes AT LEAST 3 treatments spaced by 2 weeks. We are going into the third treatment, so we are more than a month into this. Still getting bites.

Then make jokes about this. I'm not saying anyone here is. This is the one thread where people behave in a mature way about something that may very well affect you at some point. These bugs are spreading. More people have them. Someone you know probably has them....but we just don't talk about it because we already feel like lepers.

Read the articles and take them seriously. Put EVERYTHING in sealed bags in hotels. ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS check your mattress and more importantly, the box spring... especially the edges.

I don't intend to stop traveling. But I will never, ever again be complacent about something that has so disrupted my life and mental health.

It sucks more than anyone can imagine who hasn't gone through it.

Read the FAQs at bedbugger.com
Read the article in Business Week on The Cost of Bedbugs.
http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz...siness+stories

And tell your friends. Talk about it. Don't panic, but TAKE PRECAUTIONS.

To stick our heads in the sand because we don't want to deal with it is just plain stupid. You might end up like me, and trust me, you will regret it tremendously.

FinallyFlying, I can feel for you, and let me assure you no one is making fun of you. You are living everyone's worst nightmare.

They just closed an entire school in a neighboring county for a week because bedbugs were found on a student. It's a rural county and they are desperate to catch this and not let the school be a vector for bedbugs. The local paper, a very small daily, has had several stories.

One thing I haven't read on this thread is that it is a good idea to travel with a permithrin solution and spray all around the bed, especially in all cracks and crevices. You can get this at a farm supply place. Remove the sheets, spray the mattress, let it dry and then replace the sheets. Even when the permithrin doesn't kill the bugs they find it unpleasant and will stay away. I've seen this recommended for travel in Belize and other such countries.

I also wonder about a lightweight "sleepsack" like people use in youth hostels and such. I haven't resorted to this, but it is certainly a thought.

I never ran into bed bugs in my years of travelling and staying at hundreds of hotels. I must be just lucky. Putting a suitcase in a plastic bag, not using the hotel drawers, stripping naked in the garage upon return and inspecting my hotel room bed; I can't imagaine doing any this. I have enough on my plate of things to worry about. Don't get me wrong, I feel for anyone who has to deal with bed bug bites.

Finallyflying: I'm so sorry to hear about your ordeal. It sounds like you might (finally) be near the end, at least. Would sleeping on an air mattress until the third extermination help? I realize it's not the greatest, but it must be better than a fear of bites to the face.

Finallyflying, you are living one of my biggest travel fears.

I wonder when planes are going to be seen as a vector for these nasties.

FinallyFlying - I share your pain. We managed to pick them up sometime last summer and for 2 months, we thought it was just hives from allergies and/or stress. Got married, went on our honeymoon - no hives. Came home - hives were back. Finally, I was traveling and on the phone with Mrs. dstan who said she suspected we had bedbugs when she actually saw one crawl across the floor.

It is, indeed, the worst thing ever. We both end up searching for them in the middle of the night and not sleeping enough. (Incidentally, we discovered that clear packing tape is a great way to pull them off your bedding without squashing them - you can then fold the tape over on them and enact whatever revenge you see fit...)

Our exterminator has been in twice (and we only have a 1-BR apt to worry about) and we've scheduled them to come for a third time next week. We got a 30-day guarantee which is about to end, so I'm afraid we'll have to pay for another round of treatments.

I would have said the same thing...til I experienced them. A little extra effort may save you literally months of angst and sleepless nights. At the very least, please put your suitcase on the luggage rack and NOT on the bed!

Unfortunately, if you move to the couch or another room, they will come and find you, and then you've infested more of your home. They are resilient and resourceful little buggers and can travel as much as 100 ft to find you and survive for months without feeding. :(:(:(

Hi dstan,

well, it is always comforting to find out that someone else is dealing with it too. We can tell ourselves that at least we aren't living in a war zone...facing starvation, etc, but when it comes down to it, in the good old U.S., this truly is one of the worst things that can happen (the social aspect of it...the mental distress....it's CRAZY how it messes with you). We, here, don't expect to have this kind of problem. It's the kind of thing that happens to the OTHER people (those poor third world types).....not us. Or so we liked to think....

But, as much as it totally, completely sucks...I have to say, the travel was worth it. I'd rather be going through this hell than never leave my home and have the amazing experiences I have had traveling. So, such is life. Sometimes it sucks. There is a cost to everything, it seems.

Well, good luck to you guys.

My parents' house was infected with bedbugs and I took the blame in being the messenger :p

I believe mine came from my hostel stay in Bucharest, Romania back in February. I did stay in other hostels throughout the trip but I remember feeling itchy and kept scratching on that particular hostel stay.

FinallyFlying, I can totally relate to your post, especially about the embarassment. I remember when my aunt came from CGK, she told us she'd rather stay at my grandmother's house because of the bedbugs issue at our home. While I feel insulted, I don't blame her!

Then, one day we decided we've had enough :mad:

My dad found a company on the web that sells a "bedbugs removal kit". I believe it costs around $250 bucks and the kit came with a heatgun, some type of chemical spray and powder. The powder is made of crushed fossils and it supposed to make the bug itched where it would scratch itself to death.

One day we turned our house inside out. We went through the whole house one by one. We found they are common by the beds and sofas and set up nests by the cracks on the wall.

It's been about four months since we did this. We hardly had any issues since then. I would get bitten about once or twice a month but I can deal with that :D

Buy a can of Bedlam insecticide, which targets budbugs specifically. Spray the hell out of your luggage whenever you check out of a hotel, etc. And wash your clothes in hot water and dry at high heat. If anything can't handle the high temps, then have it dry-cleaned. It worked for me when I moved out of a bedbug-infested apartment.