Bedbug problem forces BA to ground Boeing 747 By: Lisa Davidson

After a passenger on a flight between Los Angeles and Londoncomplained she had been bitten by bedbugs, British Airways was forced to take the aircraft out of service.

Zane Selkirk, 28, a Los Angeles business executive, had booked two long-haul return flights with BA, one to London and another from London to Bangalore a few days later. During the London flight, the California businesswoman woke, turned on her light and found bed bugs crawling on her blanket and her shirt spattered with blood.

On her return from Bangalore to London, a 10-hour flight, her encounter with the bed bugs was even worse, with the by then furious Ms Selkirk counting no less than 90 bites. Another cause of discontents was the less than enthusiastic reaction of the BA cabin crew to her problems on both flights, made worse by BA officials’ seemingly unconcerned initial response to her written complaint.

Finally, Ms Selkirk posted a full report and pictures of the bites on the internet, dumping her battle with BA’s bedbugs out there for all to see. In her report she added the worst part of the ordeal was BA’s non-existent customer service during the entire 10 days. After her revelations hit the web, a BA spokesman at least found time to comment, confirming the Boeing 747 concerned had been taken out of service and thoroughly fumigated.

The spokesman said the bedbug issue is faced by hotels and airlines the world over, insisting infestations are relatively rare on its 250,000 annual flights. He added the airline is vigilant, with continual monitoring of aircraft taking place. When a report is received, he continued, an investigation is launched and a specialist treatment team is sent in. Comforting words, but hardly explaining two bedbug-infested flights within a few days, with a complaint made after the first.

Odd News - Man starts fire trying to kill bedbugs - UPI.com

MOUNT CARMEL, Ohio, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- Firefighters in Ohio said a man attempting to kill bedbugs with rubbing alcohol while smoking a cigarette sparked a fire in his apartment.
Union Township firefighters said they received a call about 5 p.m. Friday about a fire at a Mount Carmel apartment complex, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported Monday.
"The occupant was trying to self-exterminate bed bugs and was spraying the couch with rubbing alcohol while smoking a cigarette," Fire Chief Stan Deimling said.
Deimling said the fire destroyed the man's couch and damaged the carpet. He was treated at University Hospital for burns to his hands.
"As far as we're concerned, this is an accidental fire. The damage will be between the tenant and the landlord," said Deimling, who estimated the damage at about $600.

Odd News - Parking ticket for bedbug-infested Jeep - UPI.com

NEW YORK, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- A New York man said his parked Jeep was ticketed despite a note explaining the vehicle was infested by bedbugs.
The man, who asked not to be named, said his Jeep was left parked on Pacific Street in the Boerum Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn with a note asking ticket agents not to impose fines because the vehicle was infested with bedbugs, the New York Post reported Tuesday.
"We wanted to see if we had them in the house by not using the car at all for two weeks," the owner said. "They still ticketed us, though."

Australia facing bedbug invasion - ABC News - By Cassie White

Infestations are common in backpacker-friendly suburbs but it is not just overseas travellers who are being attacked. (ABC News)

• RELATED STORY: New York in grip of bedbug hysteria
• RELATED STORY: New York bedbugs invade London

Australians are being warned there is no escape from the bedbugs which are currently staging a jet-setting comeback in hotels on both sides of the Atlantic.

After being all but wiped out by banned pesticide DDT years ago, the little brown bugs are reportedly increasing in numbers, generating some bad PR for tourist hotspots New York and London.

Bedbug cases in both cities are on the rise as the parasites hitch a lift in luggage, aircraft seats and clothes to wherever people sleep or rest.

Infestations are common in backpacker-friendly suburbs like Bondi and Coogee, but it is not just overseas travellers who are being attacked.

A bedbug infestation almost ruined Brisbane resident Cori's life after her flatmate brought them home from a three-star hotel in Cairns.

Three rounds of intense fumigation and thousands of dollars later, she says the bedbugs came back for a fourth time. The incident happened almost two years ago, but Cori says to this day they cannot bring themselves to talk about it.

"We fumigated the whole house and threw out anything we weren't attached to, plus fumigated our cars. At this point we were also getting changed in the garage downstairs before going inside," she said.

"It was a really expensive exercise that costs thousands of dollars each time. We were up to the $10,000 mark the third time around and they came back again.

"In the end they won. We put the remains of our stuff in storage for a year-and-a-half. That was everything; furniture, clothes, books - we just started again from scratch."

The ordeal lasted more than four months and almost sent Cori and her flatmate over the edge.

"Basically we thought we were going insane. We always thought we were itching, we couldn't hang out with people because no-one wanted us in their home, so we found ourselves homeless quite quickly," she said.

"It escalated into this really horrendous psychological nightmare.

"Everything we own that went through that process still smells horrendous today; our clothes and cars still smell like the fumigation."

Eventually the girls had to move out of their unit completely because there was just no escape from the critters.

But the horrific ordeal did not end there.

"I stayed at my boyfriend's place and ... I was stripping off at the door every day, putting on a towel and going straight to the shower," she said.

"I'd put the clothes I was wearing outside in a bag so the next time I left - often in his clothes - I'd take them to the laundromat and put them in 140 degree temperature water.

"I wasn't even able to work because I had no clothes or books, so I basically gave my teaching load to someone else.

"I'd often lie there at night and if I felt any itch at all I'd think 'Oh my god'. So I became a real hypochondriac thinking I'd brought them in and we'd have to do the same thing with my boyfriend's stuff."

These days bedbugs are found everywhere from backpacker hostels to five-star hotels, on public transport, and increasingly in homes.

Brisbane pest controller Roger Goode says bedbugs are extremely common in Australia and suspects they will become even more of a problem.

"We get an enquiry about them every two days. The main way they get around is in planes and other public transport in luggage and other cracks and crevices," he said.

"With the rate of the dollar and also the number of people coming in, I think there's a great opportunity for us to get an infestation on the same level [as other countries].

"They can live up to three months without a host. They like cracks and crevices in rooms, behind powerpoints, mattresses and mattress buttons are a good place to hide.

"They like to be in the dark, in the warmth and don't mind being claustrophobic at all."

Sydney pest controller Rita Kokontis agrees travellers are the main culprits responsible for bringing bedbugs to Australia, after they come from countries with a high infestation.

"In Sydney we'd probably do five bedbug jobs a week minimum and they're very difficult to shift. [They are mainly concentrated] in areas like Bondi and Coogee where there's a lot of travellers," she said.

"Usually one treatment won't be enough. A lot of the time the mattresses will need to be discarded and you still need more treatments.

"A lot of people are under the misconception that if you get rid of the mattress you get rid of the problem, but you can actually find the bedbugs on the frame and under the skirting boards, behind picture frames and in bedside tables."

But Ms Kokontis warns people not to think they out of harm's way if they do not do a lot of travelling.

"[They also infest] homes after people have had guests staying from overseas," she said.

"It's not necessarily unhygienic, it's just the exposure to them.

"When there's a lot of people sharing beds, like in a hotel, people are packing their bags and taking them with them. They then might put that bag on your floor and then they can infest your home."

Bedbugs at school: The new lice but worse - The Washington Post- By Valerie Strauss

Public schools are facing something of a plague, and, for once, I do not mean standardized tests. Rather, bedbugs.

Schools in a number of states have closed off classrooms -- or the entire building -- because of bedbugs this school year, and Michigan government officials issued a document telling schools how to handle any infestations, complete with a template of a parent notification letter (“Dear Parent or Guardian: We recently found a bed bug in your child’s classroom....”).

In New York City, the number of confirmed bedbug cases in the first five months of the school is on pace to triple last year’s total. City schools have so far reported 1,7000 cases this academic year, the city’s Department of Education reported.

Schools are accustomed to dealing with seasonal outbreaks of head lice; kids unfortunate to get a case go home and get rid of them with special shampoo and often time-consuming hair combing. (Bedsheets and other things in the house also have to be washed.)

Bedbugs are harder to eliminate; researchers say they are becoming resistant to pesticides (as are lice).

Infestations are relatively new (even if bedbugs themselves are prehistoric) and growing in the United States. The U.S. government just convened its second two-day National Bed Bug Summit in Washington D.C., where panels to discussed how to control these pests on a community-wide basis. Federal officials are working on a national strategy for bed bug control.

How do bedbugs get to school? By hopping onto kids' backpacks and clothes. And they don't just hide in beds, so they are hard to locate.

According to the Mayo Clinic, bedbugs are reddish brown, oval and flat, about the size of an apple seed. During the day, they hide in the cracks and crevices of beds, box springs, headboards and bed frames but come out at night to feed -- on human blood; people wake up in the morning with evidence of bites on their face, neck, arms and hands. They can be extremely difficult to eradicate.

Bedbug bites often appear as small red bumps with a smaller red dot in the middle, usually arranged in a line or cluster, and often quite itchy. In most cases, bedbug bites do not cause any major medical concerns, unless a person has an allergic reaction to them.

While bedbugs feast at night and not while kids are learning math and history during the day, the concern of health officials is that they will find their way into more homes, creating new infestations.

As if schools don't have enough problems.

Health unit holds bed bug summit - THE INTELLIGENCER - By Luke Hendry

Local agencies are beginning a push for more education, not panic, about bedbugs.

The Hastings and Prince Edward Counties Health Unit is seeking a provincial grant to study the bugs' impact here and help other agencies deal with them.
And on Feb. 23, the public is invited to learn more about bedbugs at Bite Back, a forum on the topic.
It's being organized by the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), the Community Advocacy and Legal Centre, All Together Affordable Housing and Total Pest Management.
"It's to provide some concrete information from people who've worked with it," said Sandie Sidsworth, the new executive director of the CMHA's Belleville office.
"People that do in-home support, especially for marginalized clients, need to have some of the myths removed," she said.
Those on the margins include people with mental health problems and low incomes who either can't afford or don't know how to get help with ridding their homes of bugs.
The session will help guests identify the insects and provide tips on working with clients and pest control workers.
"We're not trying to send panic through the masses," said Bob Pickard, co-owner of Total Pest Management and a co-presenter of the workshop.
"There definitely is a problem," said Pickard, adding he's been dealing with bedbugs for about the last six years.
He said there has been an increase in calls from curious residents and actual cases in the last three years and a further spike in about the last eight months.

Many callers "just need the reassurance" that they don't have bedbugs, he said.

He said there is no one group affected.
"It's every sector of society."
Sidsworth first encountered them three years ago while working as a community relations supervisor for Hastings County.
"Bedbugs aren't a poverty issue," she said. "It only becomes a poverty issue with people who can afford to treat it and those who can't.
"It's heartbreaking to deal with them (bedbugs)," Sidsworth said, recalling extreme cases in which people suffered pain and other health effects from an excess of bites.
She added the anxiety of the problem can cause anxiety — another reason for her agency's concern.
Some people don't report the problem out of fear or shame, partly because of a common belief the bugs are linked to poor living conditions.
Pickard said not reporting a problem is "the worst thing you can do."
Sidsworth said 57 people registered for Bite Back in the first day.
The health unit, meanwhile, is applying for provincial health ministry funding to study the issue and educate residents.
The application isn't scheduled to reach the counties' monthly health board agenda until April.
Eric Serwotka, the unit's environmental health director, said the program stems mainly from an increase in cases and concern in the Greater Toronto Area.
"It's not that we're any different than we were last year or the year before," Serwotka said. "Relative to other communities we have a much lesser problem."
This region could receive a maximum of about $70,000 in funding for one year — or no funding at all.
"Our focus will be on surveillance, capacity building and education," he said.
Pest control isn't part of the health unit's usual mandate.
Serwotka said the health unit will deal with the issue as much as funding allows. Should the province award more cash, staff will study the nature and scope of the problem. They may also work with other agencies to help those groups either deal with bedbugs or help prevent their spread.
"We haven't done any extensive surveillance," Serwotka said. That makes it difficult to gauge the extent of bedbug infestation locally, he said, but should funding be granted, "we'll try to get a sense of what's going on."
•
The Bite Back forum will be held between 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. Feb. 23 at Christ Church Anglican, 39 Everett St. (just west of Coleman Street).
A $5 fee covers lunch and a CD of workshop information.
Call the CMHA at 613-969-8874 to register.