Bedbugs make a comeback in all 50 states

[Auggie]

San Francisco Chronicle (April 8, 2007)

Nearly eradicated in the United States 50 years ago, resistant strains of "super" bedbugs are infesting mattresses at an alarming rate. In what's being touted as the biggest mystery in entomology, all 50 states are reporting outbreaks of the blood-sucking nocturnal critters.

Pest control companies nationwide reported a 71 percent increase in bedbug calls between 2000 and 2005. Left alone, a few bedbugs can create a colony of thousands within weeks.

<snip>

Bedbugs have been found in moving vans, public transit seat cushions, airplanes, college dorms and even a (San Francisco) Bay Area meditation retreat. They spread by hitching a ride on your clothes or in your luggage and crawling off to infest your home or apartment building.

The size and shape of a lentil, bedbugs lay eggs during the day and hide in your bed, clothing and light sockets. At night, they suck your blood, leaving itchy bumps on your skin and little bloody excretions on your sheets. They don't pass diseases, but they are incredibly difficult to exterminate, even following their blood hosts who move to new apartments trying to get away.

Full story: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/08/MNGIDP4V7K1.DTL&hw=bed+bugs&sn=001&sc=1000

Pleasant dreams...

[mzmolly]

1. That's just super!

:puke:

[Catherine Vincent]

2. ewww

[villager]

3. any low-tech herbal/natural/aromatherapy type "answers" for these critters?

so we're not all gassing ourselves with pesticide now...?

[Auggie]

5. There are some suggestions further on in the link

[TechBear_Seattle]

7. Not that I'm aware of

Herbal preparations might keep them away temporarily, but will do absolutely nothing to cure the infestation itself. It would be like trying to deal with cockroaches by using citronella candles.

[Kelly Rupert]

8. Sure, if you don't want to actually get rid of them n/t

[kywildcat]

9. no-speaking from experience! nt

[MADem]

4. Inspection, detection...and plastic mattress covers!

http://www.afpmb.org/pubs/tims/TG44/TG44.htm

[kywildcat]

6. I lost most of my belongings to a bedbug infestation

last year. A group of Mauritanian taxi drivers brought them in to the building, and the landlord was to cheap to provide a 'real' extermination. He used a commercially sold spray-one can for a 1000 ft apartment. When the taxi drivers moved (because of the bus), the bugs moved into my apartment. I lost all of my furniture, bedding, curtains etc...
The only clothes that were salvagable were those that could withstand repeated washing in hot water and drying on high...over and over an over. I carried renters insurance (have for years) and their response was 'sucks to be you'
I still look at the ticking on beds, and pull apart my mom's sofa to check for signs of them.

[Auggie]

10. The thing that's so spooky about this is that there's virtually

no defense. Personal hygiene doesn't make a difference.

[Monkeyman]

11. Dam is Bush on tour again