BedBug Central Releases Four New BedBug TV Episodes

Throughout the four episodes, White provides his perspective on the newest bed bug research coordinated by his fellow entomologist and Cooper Pest Solutions vice president, Dr. Richard Cooper.*

 

The first episode “Using Monitors to Help Control Bed Bug Infestations” illustrates the importance of using interception devices to help control low level (10 live bed bugs or less) bed bug infestations. White goes into detail on how the use of the interceptors were used within the research and the unexpected findings that Rutgers University discovered.

 

White explains that the interceptors are more than just monitors to detect bugs, and in fact can help control the low level infestation in certain apartments. By doing so, the use of the interception devices can help limit the amount of pesticides used to eliminate bed bugs. 

 

In the episode, White says, “Everybody looks at these (interception devices) and envisions them as monitors, which will help me detect if a problem is there. Yes, that’s true, but you can also use them as part as a treatment program.”

 

The second episode, “Does Your Neighbor have Bed Bugs?” White demonstrates how in multi-family housing units, as well as hotels, bed bugs can easily spread from one unit to the next.

 

“What we have found in our own research,” White said in the episode, “is that in garden-style apartments, we find bed bugs in surrounding units to a known infestation about 25 percent of the time. So one in every four times we will find bugs in surrounding apartments.”

 

He goes on to describe that Rutgers University’s research discovered that in affordable, senior living high-rise buildings, up to 80 percent of the time bed bugs can be found in surrounding units to a known infestation. This data clearly illustrates just how critical it is to conduct inspections within surrounding housing units in order to help eliminate bed bugs within the building. 

 

“The Impact of People Not Reporting Bed Bug Infestations,” is the third episode where White goes into detail on why infestations are often not reported by residents and the implications of choosing not to report an infestations.

 

“Research conducted at Rutgers University, which was part of Richard Cooper’s Ph.D work, suggested that in senior high-rise facilities, up to 70 percent of people do not report that they have bed bugs,” White stated in the episode. 

 

Although there can be a number of reasons why people may not report their infestations, the implications of it can be destructive, not only to the surrounding units, but the entire building as well as their community. Along with visual inspections, pest control professionals can install interception devices to help locate any infestations that aren’t being reported. 

 

In the fourth episode, “Solving Bed Bugs Within Buildings,” White illustrates how one high level bed bug infestation that hasn’t been reported to management can affect an entire building. He goes into detail on how quickly the bugs can spread into the surrounding units and throughout the building. Once the infestations spreads throughout a building it can often be a difficult and expensive problem to tackle. 

 

“The big problem is that a lot of times in those situations the management is treating infestations as they’re being reported, which is the true problem,” White said. “The issue is that many people within buildings are not reporting their infestation to management, which allows it to grow to a level that it affects units within the entire building.”

 

White explained that in order to address the building-wide bed bug situation, pest control and management can use interception devices to monitor what infestations are not being reported. Then the pest company can take that information to help treat the unreported infestations. With continual monitoring, the widespread bed bug infestations can quickly be controlled and even eliminated. 

 

The four new BedBug TV episodes can be found on BedBug Central’s website.