BED BUGS:

1. BED BUGS: They’re everywhere; run for your lives! Amanda Walker Mitchell School Nurse

2. Disclaimer: My information is not that of a professional in pest management. I am not an entomologist. I am not an exterminator. This information is brought to you by the surprising increase in bed bug sightings at my school, a lot of google-ing and one seminar put on by a pest control company. I want to share what I’ve learned to avoid the same frustration, headaches, and sheer panic that we experienced this year. Feel free to retrace our steps, but we need new ideas.

3. So Is This the Same as Lice? Bed bugs are small rust-brown, flat parasitic insects that feed mainly on human blood. They have no preference or regard for social-class or cleanliness. Bed bugs are attracted to the carbon dioxide let off by warm blooded animals. Bed bugs do not live on the human body. Bed bugs leave itchy welts when they bite. Bed bugs are difficult and very expensive to treat.

4. What’s Going on Here? There has been a resurgence of bed bugs about 8 years ago. Most of us are completely unprepared to deal with the problem. Bed bugs were significantly decreased in the 1930’s by general public health hygiene measures. Non-chemical control should be your first line of defense.

5. So, why is this a problem? While it is unlikely that a school will become infested, it is not impossible. Because items such as backpacks, lunch boxes, winter coats, blankets and clothing are brought to and from school every day, it is likely that at some point, bed bugs will be brought into your school. They are hitch hiking a ride on these items to a new location. Bed bugs crawl (they do not jump or fly), and can easily crawl from one person or their belongings to another and then be brought home. The problem can spread at school.

6. Where are they? Bed bugs can commonly infest large buildings: • Apartments • Dorms • Prisons • Theaters • Hotels • Private Homes Bed bugs tend to aggregate where people sleep • Mattresses • Couches • Piles of bedding on the floor • Foam pads on the floor • They can hide behind baseboards, in peeling wallpaper, in headboards… • Pretty much any crack or crevice

7. What’s that?? What to look for: Bed bug bites are very similar in appearance to mosquito bites. Bed bugs often bite in patterns of three, or ‘breakfast-lunch-and-dinner lines.’ Not all bites will be perfect patterns of three. Bed bug bites are very itchy. Bed bug bites tend to be on areas of skin that is exposed when sleeping. Sometimes you will see scars, scabs and new bites, in various stages of healing.

8. But Can You Actually See the Bugs? • YES! • An adult bed bug is about 5.5mm long. • Nymphs are more translucent in color and about 1.5 mm long. • Bed bug eggs are very small, but visible at 1 mm. • Upholstered furniture, such as a mattress will have small dark stains, the bed bug droppings.

9. Adult Bed Bug

10. Bed Bug Life Cycle

11. Example of Infested Furniture

12. Bed Bug Bites

13. Protecting Yourself at work: Clutter Removal. Limit items being brought to and from school. Limit items being brought into homes during home visits. Vigilance and education of staff and families. Store your personal belongings in a clear plastic sealed storage container. Never put your bag or belongings on the floor during a home visit. Use a table, a hard chair, or leave it in the car. Clean the bottoms of your shoes or use a separate pair of shoes for a home with a known infestation of bed bugs. (Or cockroaches.)

14. Protecting Yourself at Home: • Dry all second-hand items (think Goodwill, rummage sales and hand-me-down clothes) in the dryer on high for 40 minutes. • Curb-side-shopping is a BAD IDEA. Do not take second hand furniture from the street. • Inspect items you bring into your home.

15. Protecting Yourself When You Travel: Keep suitcases, clothes and purses off of the floor. Keep your personal belongings off of the bed or upholstered furniture. Use hard surfaces or the luggage rack. Keep you suitcase closed when you are not using it. Upon entering the room, check the mattress and headboard for bugs, droppings and eggs.

16. What NOT to do? Covering your mattress will not prevent an infestation of your home. Sleeping in a different place will not get rid of them Bed bugs do not respond to insect repellants Getting a water bed will not prevent bed bugs • Lysol does not kill bed bugs unless you spray it directly on the bug. • Panicking does not effect the bed bugs. They could care less, those self-centered little creatures. • Excluding students with bites or pests from school. DON’T PANIC.

17. So, You Found Your First Hitchhiker: REMAIN CALM! Save the bug if you can, squash it if you can’t. Even if you crushed the bug, save as much as you can and have someone that can identify bed bugs look at it. If you catch the live bug, kill it by placing it in a vial of rubbing alcohol, any sealed plastic container or sealed plastic bag. Notify your school engineer. Be specific about where you found the bug.

18. If The Critter is Crawling on a Kid: Save the bug, even if you crush it. Discreetly check the student’s belongings for more bugs. Contact the family. Keep in mind that since they crawl, you cannot be certain that you have the right family. Be sensitive. They may not know they have an infestation and there is stigma attached. Encourage the family to hire an exterminator or talk to their landlord. Keep in mind, eradicating the problem might not be possible for some families. MPS does not exclude children for bed bugs.

19. If the Bed Bug is just Roaming: You’re not going to be able to tell who it came from. Don’t assume. Save the bug. Contact your building engineer and have the room cleaned including: vacuuming floors, cracks and baseboards, cleaning carpets, eliminating clutter, wiping down hard surfaces. Repeated sightings, pest control will need to be contacted. This is done through the building engineer.

20. What can we do? • Become educated. • Watching for bed bugs. • Cleaning and vacuuming carpets. • Detailed cleaning of areas where bed bugs are found. • Contacting families and encouraging them to call pest control or their landlord. • Providing educational materials to families. • Avoid piles of coats. • Calling pest control sparingly. • Removed couches and carpet squares from the building.

21. What we are NOT effective strategies? Inspecting coats and book bags of children with bed bugs every day or on a scheduled basis. Calling pest control for every sighting. Excluding students with bed bugs at home. Forcing families to hire an exterminator

22. Talking to Families:Environmental Control Mattress covers prevent bed bugs from entering or leaving the mattress. They can still crawl in sheets or hide elsewhere. Cleaning the whole environment is key. The mattress should be covered. Acceptable mattress covers would be specific for dust mites, bed bugs, or “allergen rated.” They are expensive. An alternative would be heavy-duty six gauge vinyl covers or very carefully cut and duct taped sheets of heavy-duty plastic. This stays on for at least one year. The mattress cover needs to be inspected for tears and holes. They need to be duct taped.

23. Talking to Families: Prevention • Discourage taking used furniture, especially items that were discarded on the street. • Encourage drying any smaller items, such as clothes on high for 40 minutes immediately. • When staying overnight at houses, especially those with known infestations, encourage throwing all items in the dryer on high when coming home, but also storing items on a table while visiting.

24. Talking to Families with infestations: Environmental Control Floors and mattresses should be vacuumed daily or as often as possible. Keep in mind the vacuum can become infested. Linens should be washed weekly. Laundered clothes should be stored in plastic bags that are tied closed. Jackets, backpacks and other outerwear should be hung up, not thrown on the floor.

25. Talking to Families:Environmental Control All clothes should be washed in hot water and dried for at least 20 minutes on high. If getting rid of carpeting is an option, get rid of carpeting. Force bed bugs out of cracks and crevices with a putty knife, playing card or hair dryer on low setting. Catch them with sticky tape and kill them. Get rid of clutter Wash dead bugs, blood stains, eggs and droppings with hot, soapy water.

26. Talking to Families: Disposal • It isn’t always necessary to get rid of furniture when you have an infestation, but if it is severe, some belongings must be discarded. • Paint, cut, tear, mark or ruin anything you are throwing away.

27. Talking to Families: Pesticides Over-the-counter pesticides do not solve the problem, they spread the problem. They are toxic to people and animals In a survey of what people had tried to get rid of them, many people have tried: gasoline, arsenic chalk, Windex, Listerine, lighter fluid, rubbing alcohol, mothballs, Vapona strips, and bug bomb. When used by lay people, they are often used incorrectly.

28. Talking to Families: Pesticides There are some pesticides that pest-control companies can use to kill bed bugs. Bed bugs can be killed by using heat. If the temperature of a dwelling is raised to 135 degrees, it will kill the bed bugs within 24 hours. Keep in mind, both of these options are relatively expensive (think thousands) and might be out of reach. Non-chemical measures are going to be more important. Chemical measures will not be effective without environmental control.

29. Resources http://www.epa.gov/bedbugs/ http://www.hyc.gov/html/doh/bedbugs/html/home/home.shtml http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloas/pdf/vector/bed-bug-guide.pdf http://www.whatdobedbugslooklike.net/interesting-bed-bug-pictures.html http://bedbugger.com/photos-of-bed-bugs-and-signs-of-bed-bugs/