Bed Bugs Make A Comeback

Recently, pest management professionals throughout the United States have reported a nationwide increase in calls for the control of bed bugs. In Tacoma, Wash., Jeff Weier, technical director with Sprague Pest Solutions said, "We’ve experienced more bed bug problems in the past year than we have in the past 20 years." Dr. Jerome Goddard of Mississippi State University said, "Bed bug problems seem to be coming back in a big way. If they can occur in top-of-the-line hotels, they can occur anywhere. They are brought into hotels with suitcases. In addition, hotels buy furniture from other hotels that are going out of business."

These statements may come as a surprise to some veteran PCOs. In the decades prior to the use of DDT, bed bug control was an important part of a pest management pro-fessional’s business. In the 1950s and ’60s, the widespread use of DDT by the industry (and by the public) virtually wiped out the bed bug population in the United States. Some resistant strains survived for a while, but the use of malathion finished them off. Or so we thought.

Virtually every home in the United States had infestations of this bloodsucker at one time or another. The incidence of bed bugs was highest in poorer and more crowded neighborhoods. But middle class and wealthy households were not spared the embarrassment of having bed bugs in their homes. Bed bugs were picked up in movie theaters and other public places. Schools were notorious for spreading bed bug (and head lice) cultures, mostly in cloak rooms and lockers. Some PCOs and researchers claim the infestations come from stored mattresses, garage sale goods, youth hostels and some upper-class hotels.

In Arnold Mallis’ Handbook of Pest Control, Dr. Robert Snetsinger writes of a researcher who observed a female bed bug live 560 days without food. Given their longevity and today’s mobile society, it is no wonder bed bugs are making a comeback.

YESTERDAY’S BED BUG CONTROL. Before DDT was introduced, methods used to control bed bugs would now be considered incomprehensible. In the 1920s and ’30s, sometimes candles were used to burn bed bugs in the bedsprings. Pat Butler, a veteran PCO in Pittsburgh, recalls the use of a blow torch in Marine barracks in WWII. I also remember the stench of roasted bed bugs in the ’20s. In those years, mattresses were sprayed with kerosene, cresylic acid and a masking agent. According to Mallis in his first edition of the Handbook of Pest Control in 1945, the most commonly used spray in the early ’40s was a mixture of odorless kerosene with pyrethrum extract. In 1940, G. L. Hockenyos recommended 30 parts kerosene and 1 part pyrethrum. Later, an aliphatic thiocyanate (Lethane) was used with kerosene. A 3½-gallon garden sprayer was used with a whirling disk to spray springs and mattresses. Among the steps needed to control bed bugs, according to Hockenyos, were taking the beds apart, removing the casters, removing dresser drawers, rolling back rugs, removing picture frames from the wall, etc. Only the seams and buttons on the mattress were treated with a solid jet stream of spray. To make sure the eggs were killed, the exterminator would return a week later to retreat the mattress.

When bed bugs were widespread in a home, fumigation was recommended. Hydrocyanic acid with Zyklon discoids was the preferred fumigant. Calcium cyanide or sodium cyanide eggs in the pot method were also used. (I recall an instance where the PCO, with only a dust mask, dropped the disc in a pot and ran out from room to room to exit.) Other fumigants were also available. Mallis warned readers that only experienced exterminators and health officers should do fumigating.

In the 8th edition of the Handbook of Pest Control, Snetsinger writes that he considers bed bugs to be accidental invaders that could not spread as widely as cockroaches and ants. He does not recommend spraying mattresses because of paranoiac fear of pesticides and capricious lawsuits. He suggests placing bedding from rooms infested with the bugs in plastic bags. They should then be sealed and regularly laundered and dried in high heat. Pillows should be removed and drycleaned or replaced.

Because modern mattresses have less hiding places than the older ones, a strong industrial vacuum cleaner should be used to remove bed bugs, mites, lint and dust from the edges and creases of mattress and springs.

An alternative that is sometimes hailed as a new method, superheating rooms, was described by Mallis in his first edition of the Handbook of Pest Control. He stated that bed bugs could be controlled if, during the summer, the temperature was maintained at 120 degrees Fahrenheit for three or four hours. It is a Myth Conception that superheating is a recent innovation. Mallis wrote about it in 1945.

Another Myth Conception is the belief that no insecticide could be used if the pest is not listed on the label. Greg Baumann of the National Pest Management Association reminded me that if the site is listed on the label, EPA does not object to the pesticide being used.

The author is a contributing author to PCT magazine and can be reached via e-mail at hkatz@pctonline.com.

Sidebar:

Because bed bugs have been less common recently, some of today’s PCOs may not know how to control them. Gerald Siegfried, technical director, J.C. Ehrlich, Reading, Pa., recalls, "we used to treat seats in theaters. Younger PCOs don’t know where to look for the bugs anymore."

Humans are largely responsible for introducing bed bugs into new habitats. They are transferred from an infested house to an uninfested house on furniture, baggage, boxes, in suitcases, packed clothing and bedding. In most cases, bed bugs should be treated as accidental invaders rather than permanent residents. Elimination of a localized bed bug population is accomplished, in most cases, by focusing on treating the sources of the bed bugs — their harborages — and the reduction or elimination of contributing conditions.

A vacuum should be used to remove lint and dust from mattresses, covers and box springs. Attention should be focused on edges and creases and then the vacuum bag should be put in a plastic bag and thrown away.

Because of potential sensitivity problems, especially in bedrooms, liquid sprays may be inadvisable. A pyrethrin-based aerosol could give immediate relief. Diatomaceous earth dusted into bed frames, wall crevices, baseboards, boxes under the bed, etc., would leave a residual control. Crevices in clothes closets should also be treated. After vacuuming, treatment of upholstered furniture, if necessary, must be done with minimum exposure to the customer. Treatment with heat in some cases would be useful.