(NC)-There's no doubt: bed bugs are still biting.
According to experts at Orkin Canada, the bed bug resurgence can likely be contributed to an increase in travel, changes in treatments, and incorrect management of infestations, among other factors. The pests' nocturnal habits and ability to survive for a year without a meal, in extreme temperatures and in almost any location - from homes to hotels to cruise ships - only add to the challenge.
The size of an apple seed, adult bed bugs are flat, oval-shaped insects that are light tan to brown in color. Bed bugs feed only on blood, and the pests swell and turn a reddish color after eating.
"Bed bugs are great hitchhikers and can travel easily from place to place," said Orkin Director of Quality Assurance Zia Siddiqi, Ph.D. "Anyone is susceptible to an infestation - we've treated multiple infestations in the past year in homes, small motels and luxury resorts. While it's never been proven that bed bugs transmit disease, it's important to stop an infestation before it gets out of hand."
To help identify and prevent bed bugs, travelers should follow these tips:
. Monitor for small brown or red stains on sheets that emit a musty, sweet odor, similar to soda pop syrup.
. Check for the pests along mattress seams and tags and behind baseboards and headboards. Bed bugs travel 15 to 20 feet to feed, so examine furniture (upholstered, wood, or even metal) and window treatments near the bed, as well.
. Be on the lookout for itchy, bloody welts on the skin, which may be a result of bed bug bites.
. After traveling, wash all clothing immediately and keep the luggage outside of the living space - preferably in the garage.
. Trap any suspicious pests and show them to a pest management professional immediately.
Bed bugs are extremely difficult to treat, so trust an experienced professional to determine the best treatment options. More information is available online at http://www.orkincanada.ca or toll-free at 1-800-800-ORKIN.
http://www.newscanada.com
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Judge Bedford's Decision on the Bedbug Case
CIVIL COURT OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK
COUNTY OF NEW YORK : HOUSING PART T
------------------------------------------------------------------X
LUDLOW PROPERTIES, LLC,
Petitioner-Landlord, INDEX NO.
L&T 097059/2003
against
PETER H. YOUNG,
165 Ludlow Street, Apartment # 3-C,
New York, New York 10002,
Respondent-Tenant,
HENRY YOUNG,
Respondent-Undertenant.
-------------------------------------------------------------------X
DECISION AFTER TRIAL
Present:
Cyril K. Bedford, Judge, Housing Part
Appearances:
HEIBERGER & ASSOCIATES, PC
Robert Erlich, Esq., Of Counsel
Attorneys for Petitioner,
205 Lexington Avenue, 19th Floor
New York, New York 10017
212.532.0500
rcerlich@heibergerpcandassociates.com
LAW OFFICE OF STEVEN DE CASTRO
Steven De Castro, Esq., Of Counsel
Attorneys for Respondent,
305 Broadway, 9th Floor
New York, New York 10016
212.964.5364
Acquit@manhattanfirm.com
___________________________________
Petitioner, Ludlow Properties, LLC. ("Petitioner"), commenced this holdover proceeding against respondent, Peter H. Young ("Respondent") seeking unpaid rents for 165 Ludlow Street, Apartment # 3-C, New York, New York 10002 ("Premises"). Respondent interposed a breach of warranty of habitability defense stemming largely from the presence of bedbugs in the Premises.
The trial was held on April 22, 2004 (Tape # 67959, Counter # 2625 to End; Tape # 67960, Counter # 0 to 276). After considering the credible evidence and testimony at trial, the Court makes the following findings of fact and conclusions of law:
The parties stipulated to most of Petitioner's prima facie case. Petitioner is the owner and landlord of the Premises which is a rent stabilized apartment in a multiple dwelling, duly registered in both respects. Respondent is in possession of the Premises pursuant to a written lease commencing April 1, 2003 and the monthly rent is currently $ 1,025.00. As stipulated by the parties, the sum of $ 6,550.00 is unpaid through April 30, 2004.
The Premises is a studio apartment with a sleeping loft raised on the brick wall on one side of the studio room with bathroom facilities within the Premises on the other. Respondent slept in the loft bed until he realized the Premises was infested with bedbugs when in the end of June 2003 he saw a posting (Respondent Exhibit "B-1") in the lobby of the building which read:
"ATTENTION TENANTS please be advised that the exterminator will be in the building on Saturday August 2nd between 9AM and 2PM for a special service for the bed bugs. Please remove all sheets and pillowcases from your beds. Place all dirty clothing in bags to have it cleaned. Pull all bookshelves and other fixtures away from the walls for better access to those areas..."
Upon reading this posting, Respondent realized the cause of the hundreds of bite marks he had noticed on his body since mid-June 2003 and why he was often startled awake many nights during this period–bed bugs.
Over the next few months Respondent employed four methods to attempt a restful night of sleep--none of which proved effective. First he threw out his bed and all his bedding and slept on the floor after placing towels on the floor. He quickly realized this method was useless as he was still bitten hundreds of times. Next he put plastic sheeting on the floor in the sleeping area he prepared. This method proved just as useless. In the third week of August, he bought an inflatable mattress to sleep upon. Besides the mattress requiring re-inflation at least once during the night, the mattress was unacceptable as bedbugs still preyed upon his skin. Finally, since mid-September 2004, Respondent has been sleeping on a metal cot with a wire mesh covering (Respondent Exhibit "D"). This appeared to stop the biting of the bedbugs, but as demonstrated in the court room no real comfort was possible in this less than six foot metal cot.
For the period July 2003 through December 2003 Respondent saw bed bugs on a regular basis. Respondent found bedbugs on his couch as late as December 2003. Respondent testified that he threw out a couch containing bed bug nests, an armoire, a shelf, books, drapes, towels, linens and clothes. Respondent testified that threw out everything except family heirlooms.
Respondent related a story about his Christmas holiday in December 2003 at his family's home in Massachusetts. He had to enter the family home through the basement, take off all his clothes and place them in a plastic bag and then seal the bag with duct tape. He then took a hot shower for a half hour and was required to wear his father's clothes all weekend to make sure he did not bring any of the nymphs into his parents' home.
Petitioner had notice of the bedbug infestation since June 2003, according to Mr. Cruze of the building's management. Petitioner's then exterminator established an attack plan to combat the bedbugs (See: Respondent Exhibit "A"). It was in essence:
All sheets, quilts, comforters and pillowcases to be removed from the beds and washed using hot water and detergent. All night stands, bureaus, dressers and closets to be emptied and all furniture and stored items to be moved away from the walls. Once this criteria was met, the exterminators could begin treatment.
The treatment entailed spraying the mattresses, box springs and bedframes with products labeled for that application to target the bedbugs. Walls in the bedroom and living rooms were to be drilled and dust injected in the void areas. Baseboards, crack and crevices throughout the apartment were to be injected with aerosol products to flush out the bedbugs. The exterminator was to check outlets, picture frames, dressers and all furniture.
The exterminator's report indicates that bed bugs are tenacious and adapt very well to their environment and can go a whole year without feeding. They can migrate to other apartments quickly through the walls on the interior and exterior. Bed bugs can go from endemic to epidemic if not handled properly (See: Respondent Exhibit "A"). The exterminator had anticipated two extermination treatments along with sealing of the cracks in each apartment, to control the bedbug outbreak in the building which affected nearly nine of the sixty apartments in the building. The infestation seemed to be clustered in a specific area of the building. Each extermination was expected to last two to three months.
Petitioner chose to adopt the methodology in the report to combat the bedbugs as suggested by his exterminators (Respondent Exhibit "A"). However, the exterminators in attempting to eradicate the bed bug infestation in the Premises ended up exterminating in the Premises on five occasions in the year 2003 starting in June 2003.
In addition to the bedbugs Respondent also complained to Petitioner concerning the condition of the shower stall and the kitchen unit shortly after he moved into the Premises. For three weeks in January 2004, three of Petitioner's workers labored in the Premises to correct the conditions. Petitioner's workers removed the old shower stall unit and installed a bathtub (Respondent Exhibit "E-3") which leaked after installation and caused damage to the studio room floor (Respondent Exhibit "E-4"). To date, there is a maze of piping from the kitchen area to the newly installed bathtub.
The Court finds the condition of bedbugs in the building generally was known to Petitioner early in June 2003 and with respect to the Premises particularly in late June 2003 when Respondent informed Petitioner. An abatement based upon the implied warranty of habitability pursuant to Real Property Law § 235-b protects only against conditions that materially affect the health and safety of tenants or deficiencies that in the eyes of a reasonable person deprive the tenant of those essential functions which a residence is expected to provide. (Sollow v Wellner, 86 NY2d 582 quoting Park W. Mgt. Corp. v Mitchell, 47 NY2d 316). Respondent showed through his graphic testimony that the bed bug infestation impacted or affected his health, safety and welfare and use of the Premises. There can be no doubt that the presence of the bed bugs in the Premises satisfies the above criteria for an abatement under these set of facts.
It is now for the Court, in an apparent case of first impression involving warranty of habitability due to bed bugs to determine the diminution in value of the Premises. Although bedbugs are classified as vermin, they are unlike the more common situation of vermin such as mice and roaches which although offensive do not have the effect on one's life as bed bugs do, feeding upon one's blood in hoards nightly turning what is supposed to be bed rest or sleep into a hellish experience. Therefore, the cases involving abatements for "vermin" (i.e. mice and roaches) are of limited precedential value for the Court in fashioning an appropriate abatement.
The only reported cases involving bedbugs which the Court was able to find come from the early 1900's and predate warranty of habitability. These early cases revolve around whether the presence of the bedbugs constituted a constructive eviction. The cases turn on the severity of the infestation.
The Court is mindful that with time the prevalence of cases in which bedbugs are involved is sure to increase to an epidemic as the foothold the bed bugs have obtained in the urban setting of City of New York grows ever larger. However, in fixing what is a proper abatement the Court is also mindful that the condition may not be attributable to a landlord, and that the landlord may attempt multiple exterminations to little or no avail due the resiliency of bedbugs from eradication.
In this case the bed bugs did not constitute mere annoyance, but constituted an intolerable condition, notwithstanding the landlord's efforts to exterminate them. Respondent however did not vacate the Premises or raise the defense of constructive eviction. In circumstances as in this case where a landlord has tried repeatedly to exterminate but the infestation is so overwhelming that although the tenant may have been relieved of his obligation to pay rent had he vacated, as he did not equity requires the court take into account the purposes for which the Premises was still being utilized by Respondent. Stated differently, the Court looks to what essential functions or uses Respondent still used the Premises notwithstanding the bed bugs.
Clearly one essential function of a residence is a place to sleep, but it is not the only function. Respondent continued to use the Premises for shelter, eating, bathing and for work purposes which are other essential functions, or activities a premises is utilized. This in no way diminishes what Respondent went through, however whatever benefit was still being derived by Respondent from the Premises is fair to take into consideration in determining the abatement.
Based upon the small size of the Premises, the severity of the bedbug infestation, the effect the infestation had on Respondent, the lack of showing Petitioner's efforts to eradicate the bed bugs on a building-wide scale, Petitioner's diligent efforts to eradicate the bed bugs and the use Respondent continued to make of the Premises, the Court finds an abatement of 45 % commencing July 1, 2003 (date rent first sought in the petition) through December 31, 2003 to be appropriate [6 x $1,025.00 less 45%= $ 2,767.50]. Respondent is granted an additional abatement in the sum of $ 150.00 for the other conditions complained of.
There was no testimony that any bedbugs were seen or present after December 2003. Presumably the multiple exterminations have finally turned the tide, and hopefully rendered the Premises bed bug free. Although Respondent continues to curtail his full use of the Premises by sleeping on the metal cot rather than buy another bed for fear of re-infestation, there was no showing or testimony by a qualified expert that this is a potential risk due to a latency period before one can determine whether the eradication is successful, this precaution adopted by Respondent on his own cannot serve for the Court to grant a continuing abatement after December 31, 2003.
Accordingly, final judgment of possession in Petitioner's favor in the sum of $ 3,632.50 [$ 6,550.00, less abatements of $ 2,767.50 and $ 150.00] representing unpaid rents less abatement through April 30, 2003. Issuance of warrant is stayed five days.
This constitutes the decision and order of the court.
Dated: New York, New York
June 10, 2004
__________________________
Cyril K. Bedford
Judge, Housing Part
http://manhattanfirm.com/newsite/fact_sheets/bedbug%20case.htm
Thursday, January 10, 2008
bed bugs, killing their eggs
Information from answers.google.com
“But what to do about these pests? First, believe it or not, check for
bats. Bedbugs often feed on bats. If the bats decide to move into your
attic, it won't be long before the bedbugs decide to take a look at
the rest of the house. Eradicate the source and you've gone a long
way towards eradicating the bugs. Another possible carrier is the
swallow.”
http://sleepdisorders.about.com/cs/sleepdeprivation/a/sleeptight.htm
“Bed bugs are mostly found in bedrooms as they generally feed at night
when the host is asleep. When not feeding they live in the bed frame
or cracks and crevices around the room. They do not harbour in the
mattress or bedding material. They are reddish brown in colour turning
blood red after feeding. The adult reaches approximately 5mm in length
and passes through five nymph stages over a period of time to 128
days. The female lays her eggs in batches of 10 to 50, they are white
in colour and deposited on various surfaces with a thin glue. They
take on average 10 days to hatch and can mature into adults within one
to two months given ample food.
The female is then ready to start laying eggs. The speed of
development depends on temperature and food availability.
Surprisingly, bed bugs can live longer without food and can go without
feeding for up to 140 days; the adult typically lives for about 10
months but can survive for a year or longer in cool buildings. This
sensitivity to temperature means bed bugs will start to die if
temperatures drop below 9ºC or rise above 36ºC. However, modern
buildings have created ideal conditions for the bed bug with central
heating and easy access to adjoining properties being commonplace.”
http://sleepdisorders.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=sleepdisorders&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pan-uk.org%2Fpestnews%2Fhomepest%2Fbedbugs.htm
I have found no incidence of books infested with bedbugs, but I
should think that any of the extermination methods below would work on
bedbugs as well. Are you quite certain your books have been infested?
“Adult female bedbugs lay two to four eggs a day in crevices in
upholstery, furnishings, baseboards or other trim, picture frames, or
pretty much anywhere else they can find a suitable crack in close
proximity to humans.”
“Adult bedbugs often live in structural cracks and gaps in bed frames,
night tables, and headboards; as well as in mattresses and structural
elements of a room. There, they lie in wait until you hit the sack and
fall asleep -- and then they make their move.”
“You should also remove all clothing from the room, including any that
is stored in closets, trunks, and night tables. Clothing should be
washed or dry-cleaned as appropriate to the fabric. In addition, any
luggage you have used recently should be available for inspection and
possible treatment by the pest control operator. (Bedbugs often
hitch-hike in baggage.)”
http://www.scarafaggio.com/bedbugs2.htm
“By day they hide in dark, dry places in beds, mattresses, cracks in
walls and floors, and furniture; they are also found behind pictures
and wallpaper; hiding places are also used for breeding. The bugs are
frequently abundant in bedrooms in warm climates.”
“Infestations can be detected by the examination of possible hiding
places for the presence of live bugs, cast-off nymphal skins, eggs and
excreta. The excreta may also be visible as small dark brown or black
marks on bed sheets, walls and wallpaper (4). Houses with large
numbers of bedbugs may have a characteristic unpleasant smell. Live
bugs can be detected by spraying an aerosol of pyrethrum into cracks
and crevices, thus irritating them and driving them out of their
hiding places.”
http://www.who.int/docstore/water_sanitation_health/vectcontrol/ch23.htm
“These are nocturnal animals. They don't like light, and so they hide
during hours when the room is lighted and feed only at night. Their
hiding places can include virtually ANY tiny crack or opening into
which they can squeeze their flattened bodies. This commonly is
bedside furniture such as night stands, chairs, or dressers, as well
as the bed framing and creases and folds on the mattress. They may
hide under lamps, behind pictures on the walls, under the covers for
electrical outlets, or even on the ceiling under the plates for
ceiling lights and fans. They may crawl into items stored under the
bed, or wander into the closet for the multitude of possibilities
there.”
“Even with the excellent tools available to the professional pest
management industry, it likely will take several visits to your home
to eliminate the bedbugs, once they have become well established.
These are tough insects to get rid of. The females can deposit up to
200 eggs over a period of several weeks, gluing them to surfaces
within their hiding places. Bedbugs cannot fly, but they crawl very
rapidly, and now are being found in rooms away from the bedroom as
well. They squeeze into wall voids where it is difficult to place an
insecticide, adding to the difficulty in their control.”
http://www.buginfo.com/bugsthatfeed/bedbugs2.cfm
“Most important, though, would be to carefully examine our beds and
rooms for the bits of evidence of bedbugs that were discussed earlier
- fecal blood spots, bites over our bodies, and the insects themselves
behind pictures on the walls or in the folds of the mattress. We might
even notice a funny smell in the room that could be associated with
bedbugs. You could purchase some small glue pads to place under the
bed or under dressers, and possibly capture the bugs as they crawl out
from their hiding places. If these are used they must be placed where
household pets will not get them stuck onto their fur.”
http://www.buginfo.com/bugsthatfeed/bedbugs3.cfm
From AntiqueWeb’s section on book preservations:
“I have an infestation. How can I get rid of bugs in my books?
Identify the bug if possible (trap one with sticky pest strips) and
try to answer the following questions that a professional will ask
you:
1. Is the insect already dead or alive and how many insects are there?
2. How many books are affected and with what kind of damage?
3. Have you seen insects like these elsewhere in your home?
4. Where have the books been stored and are they damp or moldy?
5. How valuable and old are the books?
Isolate the affected books by placing them in a tightly sealed plastic
bag. Seek assistance from an entomologist. A local university or state
extension service should be able to put you in touch with one.
Fumigation must be performed by professionals under controlled
conditions. Non-chemical preventive measures against insects include:
1. Seal entry points including windows, doors and put filters on vents.
2. Keep room temperatures and humidity levels low (insects need water, too).
3. Keep the environment clean and dusted, and don't store books near
food or rubbish, etc.
Dessicant dusts like diatomaceous earth or silica, can be used around
the perimeters of a room, but will not be effective for insects with a
winged portion of the life cycle.”
http://www.antiqueweb.com/articles/antiquebookspreservation.html#six
Per the NY Historical Society, in this old post, microwaving books is a poor idea!
“Someone mentioned the use of a home microwave to kill bugs in books. I
strongly discourage such use for a variety of reasons the first being
the possible damage done to the paper at the fiber level. Other reasons
include the reaction of glues to microwaving also other components of
the binding may curl or cockle due to moisture being driven from them.
However, in my file of Horrors I did run across a short article from the
NY Post, March 27, 1989 where two forestry professors at Syracuse
University had talked about preserving books by tossing them in a
microwave and "nuke 'em for a minute". They did mention that some of
the glues melt and any metal associated with the book causes sparking
and they did have a few problems with charring the covers!!! but they
felt that they were close to practical use. It was a very short
article, but there was no mention of the effect on the paper. PLEASE
do not try this.”
http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/cdl/instances/1991/1991-08-09.dst
Yet another site gives the green light to microwaving books! Note that
this is mentioned as working for silverfish and booklice. We don’t
know if it is effective on bedbug eggs.
“Books infested by silverfish and booklice can be placed in a kitchen
microwave oven for 30 to 60 seconds (Brezner 1988, Brezner and Luner
1989). Most books can undergo this treatment without any damage. The
glue on paperback book bindings may soften initially, causing the book
to curl a little, but if the book is set on a flat table, it will soon
straighten out. This treatment is not recommended for very old books
made of parchment or other fragile paper, or for books with gilding or
color illustrations that may contain metallic salts in their
paints—metals and microwaves don’t mix.”
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/ipm/schoolipm/chap-14.pdf
“You do need to worry about taking the pests with you. Bed bugs may
be transported from place to place on clothing or in luggage or
furniture, and they can migrate from house to house. Eggs are
generally laid in cracks, not on people or clothing. The bugs are
nocturnal and during the day, they hide in cracks in the walls, under
the baseboard, in the springs of a bed, under the edge of a mattress,
under wallpaper, and in similar places. My advice is to fumigate
before leaving, only take furniture that is irreplacable. Get a new
box spring and mattress, eliminate most of your clothing and only
take freshly laundered clothing to your new place.”
http://www.whatsthatbug.com/bedbug.html
“…depending on the material it is then frozen at -30 C for one week
after which it is reexamined and then refrozen if any signs of
activity remain. This is repeated until no traces of insect life are
left. The freezing process is necessary because even if all visible
insect remains have been removed, there could still be thousands of
microscopic eggs present which cannot be removed manually. Freezing at
the prescribed temperature will kill all insect life stages.”
“Once the infested materials are found, they should be isolated
immediately (archival boxes sealed inside bags are sufficient) and
then put through the above freezing process. If proper facilities are
not available on site, cold storage facilities can often be rented, or
cold storage trucks called "reefer" trucks can be brought on site.
Caught in time, infestations are relatively easy to control. With the
recent replacement of toxic chemical fumigants with the freezing
process, there is no risk to human health. If proper preventative
measures are in place, however, infestations should not arise.”
http://www.archivesalberta.org/vol16_3/cory.htm
The idea of inspecting and brushing the gutters, page by page sounds
like an effective way of removing bedbug eggs:
“If clear evidence of infestation is discovered, the following action
should be taken:
• Isolate infested material from non-infested material immediately. If
in doubt, treat all material as if affected.
• Take books and papers from shelves and thoroughly dust them,
preferably outside. Brush book gutters carefully, page by page, to
remove hidden eggs. Remove and brush book jackets and plastic covers.
If this is done indoors, brush onto waste paper and then bag and
discard the waste.
• Move or dismantle shelves and carefully dust and vacuum the site,
including under rugs and carpets.
• Only reshelve books after thorough checking and cleaning.
Insecticides and mothballs are not recommended, as they can have
harmful effects on human health as well as on books and papers. It
should also be remembered that insecticides have little effect on
insect eggs, which may hatch weeks after sprays have ceased to be
effective. However, if the infestation persists a professional pest
control company should be contacted.”
http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/services/conservation/guides/pests.html
Radio Frequency:
“The possibilities for radio-frequency insect pest control are
enormous. Radio-frequency insect pest control can be used to manage
insect infestations in libraries books, vellum books, papers and
documents, archives papers and documents, museum collections antique
textiles, oriental rugs, furniture as well as stored spices, nuts and
milled grains. It may be a solution to the problem of finding
suitable, safe and effective alternatives to fumigation libraries
books and documents. For a pesticide to be effective it must be toxic
so at some point the residual effects will be harmful to an innocent
species. Absolutely no chemicals are used by Midwest Freeze-Dry
during treatment in the radio frequency field.”
http://www.midwestfreezedryltd.com/Non_Toxic%20Pest%20Control.htm
I suggest you call the local library and ask who they would recommend
to deinfest your books. Library archivists are pros in book
restoration and will more than likely have some good ideas. Before
spending large amounts of money though, be sure you actually have
bookbugs, er, bedbugs!
If any part of my answer is unclear, please request an Answer
Clarification, before rating, and I will be happy to respond.
Sincerely, Crabcakes
Search Terms
============
Book preservation + insects
Book preservation + bedbugs
Bedbugs + books + removal
bedbugs feed on
Microwaving books + bugs
bedbugs feed on + books
Bedbugs feed on
Freezing books + bugs
RF + books + insects
Thursday, December 6, 2007
CONTROL OF BED BUGS IN RESIDENCES
CONTROL OF BED BUGS IN RESIDENCES INFORMATION FOR PEST CONTROL COMPANIES
By : Dr. Stephen A. Kells, Assistant Professor, Department of Entomology, University of Minnesota
Length : 16 Page
File Type : Acrobat (PDF)
File Size : 482 KB
This white paper include
- Introduction to Bed bugs
"With these feeding and hiding behaviors, Bed bugs can produce a well established infestation that may be difficult to control!"
- Bed bugs identification
- Inspection
- Control Procedures (Wrok Efficiently, Vacuuming, Steam and each item to steam)
- Follow up inspections
- Table of available insecticides for use against Bed bugs (Active Ingredient, Product Name, Form, Relative to Bed bugs)
Read This White Papper
By : Dr. Stephen A. Kells, Assistant Professor, Department of Entomology, University of Minnesota
Length : 16 Page
File Type : Acrobat (PDF)
File Size : 482 KB
This white paper include
- Introduction to Bed bugs
"With these feeding and hiding behaviors, Bed bugs can produce a well established infestation that may be difficult to control!"
- Bed bugs identification
- Inspection
- Control Procedures (Wrok Efficiently, Vacuuming, Steam and each item to steam)
- Follow up inspections
- Table of available insecticides for use against Bed bugs (Active Ingredient, Product Name, Form, Relative to Bed bugs)
Read This White Papper
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Public Health must declare bedbug war
Joe Fiorito
There are bedbugs in a Toronto Community Housing Corp. apartment building near the Eglinton West subway station. Mary O'Neil, a tenant, was telling me that she was recently bitten and had an allergic reaction; her arm swelled up and she had to go to the emergency room of a nearby hospital. The stress, she thinks, triggered an epileptic seizure shortly afterwards.
Tell me you think bedbugs are not a health hazard.
Diane Belfiore lives in the same building. She said, "There is a gentleman here who was sleeping on his balcony all summer because of the cockroaches and the bedbugs." The balcony is not an option for him now that the weather has turned.
Tell me you think bedbugs are not a health hazard.
The two women discovered, by knocking on doors, that bedbugs have spread. There was one infested apartment on one floor in June, and now there are several apartments on 10 or 11 floors of the 17-storey building. They also told me of a man in the building who washed himself with gasoline to rid his body of the bugs.
Tell me that bedbugs are not a health hazard.
I have heard about these vicious little bloodsuckers from people who live, not just in social housing, but in apartment buildings and houses, in neighbourhoods good and bad, all over town and across the GTA.
I have also written about the plans of Toronto Community Housing Corp. to deal with the problem. TCHC hopes to be able to respond to any complaint within 48 hours; they hope to spray any infested unit within a week or two of the complaint; they are spending a million dollars a year on pest management, including not only bedbugs but mice, rats and roaches. That all sounds so reasonable.
I am sick of reasonable people.
You cannot be reasonable while pests are sucking your blood. The problem is spreading like flames all over town. Where are the people who will deal with this problem as if they were firefighters in front of a burning building?
You think it's too expensive to declare all-out war on bugs? What is the cost of doing nothing?
Mary O'Neil shook her head. She said, "We're talking to some lawyers. I don't know if they're going to take it to the housing tribunal." I hope they do.
Tenants in the U.S. are beginning to launch lawsuits against landlords. No reason why we shouldn't catch up.
Diane said, "I shouldn't have to be scared. The social club we started here has stopped. People don't want to go out. They are staying behind their doors." In other words, they are afraid of catching or spreading bugs. Let me tell you that social isolation is a serious health problem.
Diane said, "A lot of people don't have families. The social club was an outing for them. You really want to know what the problem is? Come, walk the building, knock on a few doors, ask people what's going on."
There, right there: If Public Health now intends to learn about the bedbug problem, let them start with Mary and Diane. Let them also get a list of community housing addresses from the reasonable people at TCHC. Let Public Health start, right now, by walking around, knocking on doors, talking to tenants.
While they're at it, let them also investigate the work of care providers in social housing: I know of one instance in which a caregiver did not get help for an elderly woman, helpless and in the early stages of dementia, who was being eaten alive because her apartment was infested.
Joe Fiorito usually appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
There are bedbugs in a Toronto Community Housing Corp. apartment building near the Eglinton West subway station. Mary O'Neil, a tenant, was telling me that she was recently bitten and had an allergic reaction; her arm swelled up and she had to go to the emergency room of a nearby hospital. The stress, she thinks, triggered an epileptic seizure shortly afterwards.
Tell me you think bedbugs are not a health hazard.
Diane Belfiore lives in the same building. She said, "There is a gentleman here who was sleeping on his balcony all summer because of the cockroaches and the bedbugs." The balcony is not an option for him now that the weather has turned.
Tell me you think bedbugs are not a health hazard.
The two women discovered, by knocking on doors, that bedbugs have spread. There was one infested apartment on one floor in June, and now there are several apartments on 10 or 11 floors of the 17-storey building. They also told me of a man in the building who washed himself with gasoline to rid his body of the bugs.
Tell me that bedbugs are not a health hazard.
I have heard about these vicious little bloodsuckers from people who live, not just in social housing, but in apartment buildings and houses, in neighbourhoods good and bad, all over town and across the GTA.
I have also written about the plans of Toronto Community Housing Corp. to deal with the problem. TCHC hopes to be able to respond to any complaint within 48 hours; they hope to spray any infested unit within a week or two of the complaint; they are spending a million dollars a year on pest management, including not only bedbugs but mice, rats and roaches. That all sounds so reasonable.
I am sick of reasonable people.
You cannot be reasonable while pests are sucking your blood. The problem is spreading like flames all over town. Where are the people who will deal with this problem as if they were firefighters in front of a burning building?
You think it's too expensive to declare all-out war on bugs? What is the cost of doing nothing?
Mary O'Neil shook her head. She said, "We're talking to some lawyers. I don't know if they're going to take it to the housing tribunal." I hope they do.
Tenants in the U.S. are beginning to launch lawsuits against landlords. No reason why we shouldn't catch up.
Diane said, "I shouldn't have to be scared. The social club we started here has stopped. People don't want to go out. They are staying behind their doors." In other words, they are afraid of catching or spreading bugs. Let me tell you that social isolation is a serious health problem.
Diane said, "A lot of people don't have families. The social club was an outing for them. You really want to know what the problem is? Come, walk the building, knock on a few doors, ask people what's going on."
There, right there: If Public Health now intends to learn about the bedbug problem, let them start with Mary and Diane. Let them also get a list of community housing addresses from the reasonable people at TCHC. Let Public Health start, right now, by walking around, knocking on doors, talking to tenants.
While they're at it, let them also investigate the work of care providers in social housing: I know of one instance in which a caregiver did not get help for an elderly woman, helpless and in the early stages of dementia, who was being eaten alive because her apartment was infested.
Joe Fiorito usually appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
The Bedbug Chronicles
The Bedbug Chronicles: Part 1
Day 1
Obviously we are embarrassed. There is no other appropriate attitude to have, though our embarrassment loses it's genuine quality through endless repetition. I declare our plight to anyone with a passing interest like an alcoholic seeking forgiveness.
"My roommates and I discovered bedbugs...
Read Post
The Bedbug Chronicles: Part 2
Day 7
What is shocking about bedbug veterans is the sense of inevitable defeat they have. I have now spoken with three people who had bedbugs at some point. The first said: "don't listen to anything but fumigation. There is no solution but to poison everything." The second: "I...
Read Post
The Bedbug Chronicles: Volume 3
Day 13
Quarantine is a frustrating experience for anyone. And, obviously, much more so for people who have some awful disease that will probably kill off most of humanity. I don't have one of those diseases, so it's probably not fair to complain. Still, it would have been nice...
Read Post
The Bedbug Chronicles: Volume 4
Nicholas Brown | Posted October 31, 2007 | Living
Read More: Bed Bugs, Bedbugs, Dealing With Bed Bugs, Facts About Bedbugs, How To Get Rid Of Bedbugs, Living With Bedbugs
The men also particularly loathed bedbugs, and sometimes, on long, tedious winter evenings the whole ward would be turned upside down in an effort to get rid of them. And although, apart from the unpleasant smell, everything in the ward was as clean as it could be on the surface,...
Read Post
Bedbug Chronicles 5
Day 27
The score so far is 0-0. The bedbugs have not forced us out, but I am pretty sure they too are still here.
I have little faith that our second spraying has gone any better than the first. The exterminator who came in seemed stunned by...
Read Post
The Bedbug Chronicles: Part 6
Day 34
I have moved from denial, to anger, to depression (I skipped bargaining), to acceptance, and then back to anger. The five stages of tragedy may not account adequately for my anger.
We are now past New York's official deadline to be rid of these creatures. Bedbugs...
Read Post
The Bedbug Chronicles: Part 7
Day 47
Sprayings four and five have come and gone and we are still plagued by bugs. They haunt our furniture like guerillas, waiting for nightfall before conducting feeding raids that leave me squirming and sleep deprived. Our apartment, like our government, is plagued by insurgents.
My bedroom/office...
Read Post
Day 1
Obviously we are embarrassed. There is no other appropriate attitude to have, though our embarrassment loses it's genuine quality through endless repetition. I declare our plight to anyone with a passing interest like an alcoholic seeking forgiveness.
"My roommates and I discovered bedbugs...
Read Post
The Bedbug Chronicles: Part 2
Day 7
What is shocking about bedbug veterans is the sense of inevitable defeat they have. I have now spoken with three people who had bedbugs at some point. The first said: "don't listen to anything but fumigation. There is no solution but to poison everything." The second: "I...
Read Post
The Bedbug Chronicles: Volume 3
Day 13
Quarantine is a frustrating experience for anyone. And, obviously, much more so for people who have some awful disease that will probably kill off most of humanity. I don't have one of those diseases, so it's probably not fair to complain. Still, it would have been nice...
Read Post
The Bedbug Chronicles: Volume 4
Nicholas Brown | Posted October 31, 2007 | Living
Read More: Bed Bugs, Bedbugs, Dealing With Bed Bugs, Facts About Bedbugs, How To Get Rid Of Bedbugs, Living With Bedbugs
The men also particularly loathed bedbugs, and sometimes, on long, tedious winter evenings the whole ward would be turned upside down in an effort to get rid of them. And although, apart from the unpleasant smell, everything in the ward was as clean as it could be on the surface,...
Read Post
Bedbug Chronicles 5
Day 27
The score so far is 0-0. The bedbugs have not forced us out, but I am pretty sure they too are still here.
I have little faith that our second spraying has gone any better than the first. The exterminator who came in seemed stunned by...
Read Post
The Bedbug Chronicles: Part 6
Day 34
I have moved from denial, to anger, to depression (I skipped bargaining), to acceptance, and then back to anger. The five stages of tragedy may not account adequately for my anger.
We are now past New York's official deadline to be rid of these creatures. Bedbugs...
Read Post
The Bedbug Chronicles: Part 7
Day 47
Sprayings four and five have come and gone and we are still plagued by bugs. They haunt our furniture like guerillas, waiting for nightfall before conducting feeding raids that leave me squirming and sleep deprived. Our apartment, like our government, is plagued by insurgents.
My bedroom/office...
Read Post
The Cost of Bedbugs
By Kerry Miller
Miller is a reporter with BusinessWeek.com in New York .
Hotels and rental housing are hit by a resurgence in bedbug infestation—and lawsuits are proving it's not a problem that can be swept under the rug
Rosemary Salinas is a property supervisor for five apartment buildings in San Francisco. The first time she saw a bedbug was in 2004, when one of the tenants in a trendy Marina District building complained about itchy bites from tiny bugs that looked like ticks. Salinas hired a pest control company to treat the unit, the tenant moved out, and that was that—or so she thought.
Only months later did she find out that the primary infestation was actually in the apartment next door and that the bedbugs had spread into the walls, the hallways, and four other apartments in the 28-unit building. Salinas estimates the cleanup cost upwards of $40,000 all told, including a $9,000 payout to one tenant who threatened to sue.
"It was a nightmare," she says. And it's an increasingly common one. Although the bloodsucking parasites all but disappeared from the U.S. in the 1950s, thanks largely to the now-banned pesticide DDT, pest control companies say bedbug infestations have escalated dramatically over the past decade. Pest control professionals say they've found bedbugs in hospital waiting rooms, movie theaters, schools, on public buses, airplanes, and ships. So far, hotels, nursing homes, and apartment buildings have been among the businesses hardest hit by the nationwide bedbug resurgence.
Bedbugs are more of a nuisance than a health risk. While everyone shudders at the thought of bloodsucking parasites feeding on them at night, bedbugs don't carry any known diseases, and some people don't even react to bedbug bites at all. But because the pests are difficult to get rid of, an infestation can exact a real toll.
Not a Sanitation Issue
Salinas now issues regular notices in every building she supervises reminding tenants to call management immediately if they suspect a bedbug infestation. Still, the property owners she has talked to haven't been eager to do the same. "They don't want anybody to suspect that they have them, or to think that they could have them," she says.
Rental property owners aren't the only ones with that attitude. In a statement on its Web site, the American Hotel & Lodging Assn.—an industry group that co-hosted an international bedbug symposium last fall—says the resurgence of bedbugs in the U.S. has "had a minimal impact on the vast majority of hotels, which maintain state-of-the-art sanitation and adhere to strict standards of cleanliness," adding, for good measure: "Bedbugs are brought into hotels by guests; it is not a hotel sanitation issue."
It's true that bedbugs aren't a hygiene or sanitation issue, per se. Unlike roaches or rats, bedbugs thrive even in the cleanest five-star hotels. But the AHLA's definition of "minimal impact" is open to interpretation. A study by the Steritech Group, a commercial and institutional pest management company, found that nearly 25% of the 700 hotels it tracked over a three-and-a-half year period between November, 2002, and April, 2006, required treatment for bedbugs, though of the 76,000 hotel rooms in the study, fewer than 1% were found to be infested. But the public stigma that bedbugs carry makes the line between discretion and transparency a delicate one to tread.
"The hotel industry, property managers, universities—nobody wants to talk about bedbugs," says Michael Potter, a University of Kentucky entomologist and bedbug authority. But some have been taking steps to address the problem quietly.
Mum's the Word
Two years ago, James Bell found that hoteliers weren't interested in Protect-a-Bed's bedbug-proof mattress encasement, until the product was rebranded as "allergy-free (BusinessWeek.com, 8/13/07)". Now, Allerzip's "BugLock" enclosure is mentioned on packaging but doesn't appear anywhere on the label that guests might see. (Allerzip is a Protect-a-Bed brand.) "No one wants to check into a hotel that advertises bedbugs," Bell says.
K-9 Bedbug Detection Services does a brisk business using trained beagles to sniff out bedbugs in around 100 of New York and New Jersey's toniest hotels, nursing homes, and apartment buildings on a quarterly basis, at a cost of $900 to $1,500 per inspection. Although at least one downtown hotel displays its "bedbug alert free" certification in the lobby, Vice-President Jeffrey Kazen says the public's anxiety about bedbugs means that most of K-9's clients don't wish to publicize that they use the company's services. When inspecting hotels, handlers typically tell hotel guests the dogs are checking for mold. At nursing homes, they blend in with the pets present for animal therapy. "You don't want people to know what you're looking for, because then every rash, every itch becomes bedbugs," he says. "You keep it quiet, you take care of the problem, and hopefully that'll be the end of it."
When word of a bedbug infestation does spread, the threat of a lawsuit can make a difficult situation much, much worse. Carl Morello, assistant vice-president for loss control at Sequoia Insurance in Monterey, Calif., says he first started seeing bedbug-related claims from property owners two years ago. He says a likely factor is the increased publicity, such as a widely reported $20 million lawsuit filed against a hotel in the Catskills.
Then there are other costs: the negative publicity, erosion in brand value, and drop in business that can result from a poorly handled infestation. Damage control (BusinessWeek.com, 10/17/07) is tricky since unhappy bedbug victims can easily spread word of infestations online via blogs or user-submitted travel review sites such as TripAdvisor (EXPE). "How many people hear about a hotel that had bedbugs and don't stay there because of it? You just don't know," Morello says. Last year an Australian study estimated that bedbugs cost the Australian tourism industry $75 million annually. (No such estimates are available for the U.S.)
Out-of-Court Settlements
To avoid the hassle of a lawsuit, many property owners prefer to settle bedbug claims out of court. Although settlements are typically maintained under a confidentiality agreement, attorneys say the average bedbug settlement is much less than the ones that make headlines, such as the reported $150,000 that Helmsley Enterprises paid a guest in 2004. But the mental anguish bedbugs inspire can also lead victims to seek claims well above the cost of replacing a suitcase or paying a doctor's bill. "If I'm trying to settle a case, I might be offering $8,000, $10,000, and the person wants millions," says Christian Hardigree, a lawyer and professor of hospitality law at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. "They feel violated."
Morello says most hotel guests who encounter bedbugs will be satisfied with an apology, a clean room, and maybe a refund. But getting rid of bedbugs is still pricey. Since DDT was banned, pest control professionals don't have many effective chemicals to kill bedbugs, which feed only on blood and aren't attracted to baits or traps. That makes finding and destroying the tiny bugs and their eggs meticulous, time-consuming work that typically requires repeat visits.
To treat infested units in her San Francisco building, Salinas hired a company to empty each apartment and freeze the contents for 48 hours. (Extreme temperatures are one of the few reliable ways to kill bedbugs.) The cost: about $2,000 per unit.
Hardigree says some hotels she has consulted for have spent more than $50,000 to $60,000 to treat full-blown bedbug infestations. Most exterminators use a class of chemicals called pyrethroids in combination with nonchemical methods (heat, cold, vacuuming, steaming). But the costs that pest control companies charge and the practices they use can vary widely. "If a hotel room is infested, in theory, we should be treating all the adjoining rooms," says Douglas Stern, owner of Secaucus (N.J.) pest control company Stern Environmental Group, meaning the rooms above and below and well as on either side. "But a lot of hotels don't want to spend the money." And even without cutting corners, no amount of money can guarantee that a building is truly "bed-bug free."
No Guarantees
Bedbugs can survive for up to a year without a blood meal, entomologists say, so taking a hotel room out of service for a few days or even a few months after it has been treated won't necessarily help. "I can say with 99% certainty that they're gone, but the reality is we don't know until somebody sleeps there," says Stern. Even a clean sweep by a bedbug-sniffing dog is no assurance that a few bedbugs haven't hunkered down somewhere, just waiting for the next warm-blooded host to come along—or that some new bedbugs won't hitchhike their way in tomorrow.
But there are proactive steps property owners can take, such as installing bedbug-proof mattress covers, that can help create an "inhospitable environment" for the critters, making them easier to detect and contain quickly. At a Las Vegas hotel that is Hardigree's client, standard procedure for bedbugs now involves getting permission to dispose of and replace the guests' luggage with new suitcases purchased in bulk through the manufacturer. Before moving to a new room, guests are asked to take a shower and are provided with a track suit and slippers to wear while their clothes are being dry-cleaned.
Hardigree admits that for managers with an eye on the bottom line, such precautionary measures can be a hard sell until an actual bedbug problem arises to force the issue. Training the housekeeping staff to do routine bedbug checks sounds like a good idea, for example, but realistically, "How thorough can they be if they've got 20 minutes to clean an entire room?" she asks.
Still, given the litigious environment hoteliers face, Hardigree says every facility should have some kind of bedbug action plan in place, even if they have to raise their room rates to implement it. In a 2003 case, a Chicago jury awarded $382,000 in punitive and compensatory damages to two plaintiffs bitten by bedbugs in a motel room that they alleged management knew was infested but failed to treat. In 2004 a New York judge awarded a tenant a 45% rent abatement for a six-month period, ruling that the apartment's bedbug infestation constituted an "intolerable condition," notwithstanding the landlord's efforts to exterminate them. Insurance may not cover all the costs of litigation—punitive damages, for example, are typically not insurable—and many insurers won't pay claims if managers were clearly negligent in dealing with infestations on their properties, Sequoia Insurance's Morello says.
Proliferating Lawsuits
Bedbug-related lawsuits have also been filed against rental furniture companies, cruise lines, dry cleaners, laundromats, and universities—and not just over the bugs themselves. In a case pending against Wichita State University, the plaintiffs claim the pesticides sprayed to get rid of the bugs made them sick.
"It's a mess," says Timothy Wenk, an attorney who represents landlords and property owners in civil litigation suits in New York City. Wenk says he expects the number of bedbug-related lawsuits to increase as the infestation spreads, including more landlords suing pest control companies and more bedbug victims suing public municipalities.
Hardigree has fielded phone calls from property owners interested in putting an addendum to lease agreements holding tenants responsible for bedbug infestations. Others are interested in tweaking the language of contracts with pest-control companies so they can sue if the bedbugs return. (Her response to both: "You can put that language in, but I can't tell you it would be upheld by a court.") In any case, bedbugs aren't a problem that can be solved by the wave of a gavel.
Source : http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/nov2007/sb2007118_006807_page_2.htm
Miller is a reporter with BusinessWeek.com in New York .
Hotels and rental housing are hit by a resurgence in bedbug infestation—and lawsuits are proving it's not a problem that can be swept under the rug
Rosemary Salinas is a property supervisor for five apartment buildings in San Francisco. The first time she saw a bedbug was in 2004, when one of the tenants in a trendy Marina District building complained about itchy bites from tiny bugs that looked like ticks. Salinas hired a pest control company to treat the unit, the tenant moved out, and that was that—or so she thought.
Only months later did she find out that the primary infestation was actually in the apartment next door and that the bedbugs had spread into the walls, the hallways, and four other apartments in the 28-unit building. Salinas estimates the cleanup cost upwards of $40,000 all told, including a $9,000 payout to one tenant who threatened to sue.
"It was a nightmare," she says. And it's an increasingly common one. Although the bloodsucking parasites all but disappeared from the U.S. in the 1950s, thanks largely to the now-banned pesticide DDT, pest control companies say bedbug infestations have escalated dramatically over the past decade. Pest control professionals say they've found bedbugs in hospital waiting rooms, movie theaters, schools, on public buses, airplanes, and ships. So far, hotels, nursing homes, and apartment buildings have been among the businesses hardest hit by the nationwide bedbug resurgence.
Bedbugs are more of a nuisance than a health risk. While everyone shudders at the thought of bloodsucking parasites feeding on them at night, bedbugs don't carry any known diseases, and some people don't even react to bedbug bites at all. But because the pests are difficult to get rid of, an infestation can exact a real toll.
Not a Sanitation Issue
Salinas now issues regular notices in every building she supervises reminding tenants to call management immediately if they suspect a bedbug infestation. Still, the property owners she has talked to haven't been eager to do the same. "They don't want anybody to suspect that they have them, or to think that they could have them," she says.
Rental property owners aren't the only ones with that attitude. In a statement on its Web site, the American Hotel & Lodging Assn.—an industry group that co-hosted an international bedbug symposium last fall—says the resurgence of bedbugs in the U.S. has "had a minimal impact on the vast majority of hotels, which maintain state-of-the-art sanitation and adhere to strict standards of cleanliness," adding, for good measure: "Bedbugs are brought into hotels by guests; it is not a hotel sanitation issue."
It's true that bedbugs aren't a hygiene or sanitation issue, per se. Unlike roaches or rats, bedbugs thrive even in the cleanest five-star hotels. But the AHLA's definition of "minimal impact" is open to interpretation. A study by the Steritech Group, a commercial and institutional pest management company, found that nearly 25% of the 700 hotels it tracked over a three-and-a-half year period between November, 2002, and April, 2006, required treatment for bedbugs, though of the 76,000 hotel rooms in the study, fewer than 1% were found to be infested. But the public stigma that bedbugs carry makes the line between discretion and transparency a delicate one to tread.
"The hotel industry, property managers, universities—nobody wants to talk about bedbugs," says Michael Potter, a University of Kentucky entomologist and bedbug authority. But some have been taking steps to address the problem quietly.
Mum's the Word
Two years ago, James Bell found that hoteliers weren't interested in Protect-a-Bed's bedbug-proof mattress encasement, until the product was rebranded as "allergy-free (BusinessWeek.com, 8/13/07)". Now, Allerzip's "BugLock" enclosure is mentioned on packaging but doesn't appear anywhere on the label that guests might see. (Allerzip is a Protect-a-Bed brand.) "No one wants to check into a hotel that advertises bedbugs," Bell says.
K-9 Bedbug Detection Services does a brisk business using trained beagles to sniff out bedbugs in around 100 of New York and New Jersey's toniest hotels, nursing homes, and apartment buildings on a quarterly basis, at a cost of $900 to $1,500 per inspection. Although at least one downtown hotel displays its "bedbug alert free" certification in the lobby, Vice-President Jeffrey Kazen says the public's anxiety about bedbugs means that most of K-9's clients don't wish to publicize that they use the company's services. When inspecting hotels, handlers typically tell hotel guests the dogs are checking for mold. At nursing homes, they blend in with the pets present for animal therapy. "You don't want people to know what you're looking for, because then every rash, every itch becomes bedbugs," he says. "You keep it quiet, you take care of the problem, and hopefully that'll be the end of it."
When word of a bedbug infestation does spread, the threat of a lawsuit can make a difficult situation much, much worse. Carl Morello, assistant vice-president for loss control at Sequoia Insurance in Monterey, Calif., says he first started seeing bedbug-related claims from property owners two years ago. He says a likely factor is the increased publicity, such as a widely reported $20 million lawsuit filed against a hotel in the Catskills.
Then there are other costs: the negative publicity, erosion in brand value, and drop in business that can result from a poorly handled infestation. Damage control (BusinessWeek.com, 10/17/07) is tricky since unhappy bedbug victims can easily spread word of infestations online via blogs or user-submitted travel review sites such as TripAdvisor (EXPE). "How many people hear about a hotel that had bedbugs and don't stay there because of it? You just don't know," Morello says. Last year an Australian study estimated that bedbugs cost the Australian tourism industry $75 million annually. (No such estimates are available for the U.S.)
Out-of-Court Settlements
To avoid the hassle of a lawsuit, many property owners prefer to settle bedbug claims out of court. Although settlements are typically maintained under a confidentiality agreement, attorneys say the average bedbug settlement is much less than the ones that make headlines, such as the reported $150,000 that Helmsley Enterprises paid a guest in 2004. But the mental anguish bedbugs inspire can also lead victims to seek claims well above the cost of replacing a suitcase or paying a doctor's bill. "If I'm trying to settle a case, I might be offering $8,000, $10,000, and the person wants millions," says Christian Hardigree, a lawyer and professor of hospitality law at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. "They feel violated."
Morello says most hotel guests who encounter bedbugs will be satisfied with an apology, a clean room, and maybe a refund. But getting rid of bedbugs is still pricey. Since DDT was banned, pest control professionals don't have many effective chemicals to kill bedbugs, which feed only on blood and aren't attracted to baits or traps. That makes finding and destroying the tiny bugs and their eggs meticulous, time-consuming work that typically requires repeat visits.
To treat infested units in her San Francisco building, Salinas hired a company to empty each apartment and freeze the contents for 48 hours. (Extreme temperatures are one of the few reliable ways to kill bedbugs.) The cost: about $2,000 per unit.
Hardigree says some hotels she has consulted for have spent more than $50,000 to $60,000 to treat full-blown bedbug infestations. Most exterminators use a class of chemicals called pyrethroids in combination with nonchemical methods (heat, cold, vacuuming, steaming). But the costs that pest control companies charge and the practices they use can vary widely. "If a hotel room is infested, in theory, we should be treating all the adjoining rooms," says Douglas Stern, owner of Secaucus (N.J.) pest control company Stern Environmental Group, meaning the rooms above and below and well as on either side. "But a lot of hotels don't want to spend the money." And even without cutting corners, no amount of money can guarantee that a building is truly "bed-bug free."
No Guarantees
Bedbugs can survive for up to a year without a blood meal, entomologists say, so taking a hotel room out of service for a few days or even a few months after it has been treated won't necessarily help. "I can say with 99% certainty that they're gone, but the reality is we don't know until somebody sleeps there," says Stern. Even a clean sweep by a bedbug-sniffing dog is no assurance that a few bedbugs haven't hunkered down somewhere, just waiting for the next warm-blooded host to come along—or that some new bedbugs won't hitchhike their way in tomorrow.
But there are proactive steps property owners can take, such as installing bedbug-proof mattress covers, that can help create an "inhospitable environment" for the critters, making them easier to detect and contain quickly. At a Las Vegas hotel that is Hardigree's client, standard procedure for bedbugs now involves getting permission to dispose of and replace the guests' luggage with new suitcases purchased in bulk through the manufacturer. Before moving to a new room, guests are asked to take a shower and are provided with a track suit and slippers to wear while their clothes are being dry-cleaned.
Hardigree admits that for managers with an eye on the bottom line, such precautionary measures can be a hard sell until an actual bedbug problem arises to force the issue. Training the housekeeping staff to do routine bedbug checks sounds like a good idea, for example, but realistically, "How thorough can they be if they've got 20 minutes to clean an entire room?" she asks.
Still, given the litigious environment hoteliers face, Hardigree says every facility should have some kind of bedbug action plan in place, even if they have to raise their room rates to implement it. In a 2003 case, a Chicago jury awarded $382,000 in punitive and compensatory damages to two plaintiffs bitten by bedbugs in a motel room that they alleged management knew was infested but failed to treat. In 2004 a New York judge awarded a tenant a 45% rent abatement for a six-month period, ruling that the apartment's bedbug infestation constituted an "intolerable condition," notwithstanding the landlord's efforts to exterminate them. Insurance may not cover all the costs of litigation—punitive damages, for example, are typically not insurable—and many insurers won't pay claims if managers were clearly negligent in dealing with infestations on their properties, Sequoia Insurance's Morello says.
Proliferating Lawsuits
Bedbug-related lawsuits have also been filed against rental furniture companies, cruise lines, dry cleaners, laundromats, and universities—and not just over the bugs themselves. In a case pending against Wichita State University, the plaintiffs claim the pesticides sprayed to get rid of the bugs made them sick.
"It's a mess," says Timothy Wenk, an attorney who represents landlords and property owners in civil litigation suits in New York City. Wenk says he expects the number of bedbug-related lawsuits to increase as the infestation spreads, including more landlords suing pest control companies and more bedbug victims suing public municipalities.
Hardigree has fielded phone calls from property owners interested in putting an addendum to lease agreements holding tenants responsible for bedbug infestations. Others are interested in tweaking the language of contracts with pest-control companies so they can sue if the bedbugs return. (Her response to both: "You can put that language in, but I can't tell you it would be upheld by a court.") In any case, bedbugs aren't a problem that can be solved by the wave of a gavel.
Source : http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/nov2007/sb2007118_006807_page_2.htm
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