Bedbug.com – The Bed Bug Blog
To all of you who have had to endure some kind of bed bug nightmare or to all of you who are fortunate enough to not have experienced the wretched blood sucking creatures crawl their way into your life, YOU CAN ALL SLEEP SOUND TONIGHT! Now you can do all you bed bug protection shopping on Facebook while chatting with your friends.
Just log on to your facebook page and search: Bedbug.com’s company page or go to facebook.com/bedbugcovers shop tab to start shopping!
Two new surveys have been produced and have ranked Cincinnati, Ohio as the top, or as near the top of bed bug complaints.
| Orkin: | Terminix: |
| -Ranks the Cincinnati region No. 1 for service calls, followed by Columbus, Ohio, Chicago, Illinois, Denver, Colorado and Detroit, Michigan. | The Memphis-based pest control company ranks the region fourth for bedbug-related calls, behind New York, Philadelphia and Detroit. |
No city wants to be named the bed bug capital, even if it is the case that number of bed bug reports does not correlate with the cleanliness of a city. Different solutions and interventions for these bed bug infestations are being pursued. Ranking a city in its popularity with bed bug problems has been a difficult task to accomplish. In 2008, a survey by the health department showed that 14% of people reported they knew someone who had had problems with bed bugs. Just one year later, that percentage doubled to over 21%!
FACTS about bed bugs:
-They feed off of human blood.
-They are NOT known for carrying or spreading disease.
-They can survive anywhere where they can find “food.” In other words, wherever humans are, bed bugs can be.
Where can bed bugs be found? Bed bugs can be found in places such as hotels, college dormitories, private homes, health-care facilities and even public libraries on both sides of the river.
Cincinnati, Ohio was recently singled out in Times Magazine in reference to its bed bug problems. This issue does not solely remain within the walls of the Queen City or even the US. Bed bugs are becoming a global problem.
Percentage increases of bed bug related problems (according to Henriksen of NPMA in Fairfax, VA)
-95% of the association’s U.S. members reported treating a bedbug infestation in the last year, as compared to 25% in 2000.
- Canada: 98% of pest management companies had dealt with bedbugs in the last year.
- Europe: 92% had dealt with an infestation.
Why stress about having bed bugs in your bed, on your vacation, or in your dorm? Why allow bed bugs to invade your life? Start now by taking one simple and affordable initiative – visit www.bedbug.com and discover a variety of lab tested, affordable solutions to make your life bed bug free! It’s time to sleep tight, without a bed bug bite!
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Q: I have to travel in a couple of weeks and stay in a hotel for several days. I have been reading and hearing a lot about the bedbug epidemic in New York, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. Do you know of any way I can make sure I do not pick up any bedbugs while I am traveling and bring them home with me?
A: We don’t have any tips that are completely foolproof, but you can stack the odds in your favor. Before you leave, check the online ratings of the hotel where you plan to stay. People who have found bedbugs in a hotel room usually complain about them.
When you arrive at the hotel, leave your luggage at the door and take five or 10 minutes to inspect the room. Pull back the sheets and look at the mattress and the box spring. Look in the seams of any upholstered furniture, and check the drawers of the nightstand. If you do find bugs or droppings (smaller than poppy seeds), ask the hotel clerk to move you to a room with no history of bedbugs.
Don’t set your luggage on the floor, the bed or upholstered furniture. Use the luggage rack, and pull it away from the wall. Don’t unpack into the drawers if you can avoid it. Keep your suitcase closed.
When you pack to go home, inspect your luggage and your clothing. If you are not sure about an item, seal it in a plastic bag so that it can be washed in hot water or run through a hot dryer. Things that can’t be washed should be dry-cleaned. A homemade bedbug detector is described on our website
The Empire State Building, one of New York City’s most prominent visitors attractions, seems to have fallen pray to one of New Yorks newest visitors; bed bugs.
Bed bugs were reported by a single employee in the basement of the Empire State Building, according to the New York Daily News. And, according to the article, the Empire State Building responded quickly with exterminators spraying the affected areas.
While the managements response was correct in getting rid of the bed bugs as quickly as possible, guests and workers in this prominent New York attraction were not very happy.
Unfortunately, bed bugs have been reported across New York City, from stores in SoHo to homes in the Upper West Side to offices in Brooklyn. You never know which of your colleagues may have bed bugs in their home.
To keep safe, bedbug.com recommends regular bed bug inspections and keeping your personal items elevated off the floor & properly encased in bed bug proof encasements.
If you are looking for more on keeping your home and office bed bug free, please see our helpful bed bug tips pages.
Bed bugs popularity has increased throughout the years. May Berenbaum, a professor of entomology from the University of Illinois, stated that in 1995 she had not seen a live bedbug, until one of her students found one and mailed it to her. Nowadays, bed bugs are all over the news and all over the country, indicating that the infestation of these bed insects is progressing into a complicated situation.
Although bed bugs had disappeared for some time, there has been a bedbug resurgence, likely due to global traveling. Bed bugs tag along in passenger’s luggage and have made their way to all 50 states, including Guam, Puerto Rico, and American Samoa. Pest control calls are sky rocketing. From June 2009 to June 2010 there were more than 31,000 bed bug calls in New York City alone!
Where we go, bed bugs follow – theaters, stores, offices, schools, trains, ships, hospitals, etc. There is no escape, unless 
a new approach is taken. Since bed bugs tend to hide in folds of clothing, bags, backpacks, and luggages, increased bed bug reports indicate that housewives are having an increasingly difficult time keeping free of these household bugs. Luckily, resources such as bedbug.com can provide you with many solutions to keep our clothing safe from these critters when traveling. Even professional pest control operators are struggling to eliminate bed bugs, as they have become immune to old pesticides, which once were effective.
Sitting at home and feeling secure is no longer assured, as bed bug invasions are on the rise. Bed bugs differ from other household bugs. Unlike other bugs such as cockroaches, ants, and silverfish that are after an inanimate object, bedbugs are after us, and our blood. Entomologist May Berenbaum says, “they’re remarkably adept at circumventing our defenses: They not only attack while we sleep, but they also inject anesthetics, so as not to awaken us, and anticoagulants, so that in every 10-minute feeding they can suck in two to three times their weight in clot-free blood.”
Click here for more information on what bed bugs look like.
As these bugs habitat varies from public facilities, to homes, and even college campus housing, a solution is greatly yearned for. Old remedies have become ineffective, and therefore new methods have been initiated. For a variety of protective products that are lab tested and entomologist recommended to prevent bed bugs, click here.
Bed Bug Mattress Protector
Win it! We are giving away one Queen size Bed bug Mattress Protector thanks to BedBug.com, valued at $79.99.
Did you know that last year bed bug infestations were reported in every state in the U.S, and reports are increasing exponentially each year?
The NYC Bedbug Advisory Board recommends sealing box springs in appropriate zippered encasements to help prevent bed bugs harboring inside. Box springs are commonly affected in bed bug infestations, yet difficult to inspect. -New York City Bed Bug Advisory Board – Report to the Mayor and City Council – April 2010
Properly tested bedding encasements can help seal bed bugs in and prevent escape or entry of more bed bugs!
And as if reported bed bug infestations in prominent locations like Hollister, Victoria Secret, and even the Time Warner Building were not enough, bed bugs may be coming to you too! See full disclosure by the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development below.
Appendix A – Statistics and Graphs
HPD Bed Bug Complaints and Violations – 2004-2009
5371,8394,6386,8899,21310,985823661,1932,0082,8714,084
-2,0004,0006,0008,00010,00012,000FY 2004FY 2005FY 2006FY 2007FY 2008FY 2009ComplaintsViolations Data source: NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development
| HPD Bed Bug Complaints in the 5 Boroughs – FY 2004-2009FY04 | FY05 | FY06 | FY07 | FY08 | FY09 | Percent IncreaseFY08-FY09
|
|||||||
| Manhattan | 103 | 425 | 1,107 | 1,729 | 2,107 | 2,553 | 21.2% | ||||||
| Bronx | 73 | 187 | 570 | 1,117 | 1,682 | 2,230 | 32.6% | ||||||
| Brooklyn | 169 | 659 | 1,642 | 2,382 | 3,401 | 4,042 | 18.8% | ||||||
| Queens | 190 | 560 | 1,278 | 1,602 | 1,927 | 2,029 | 5.3% | ||||||
| Staten Island | 2 | 8 | 41 | 59 | 96 | 131 | 36.5% | ||||||
| TOTAL | 537 | 1,839 | 4,638 | 6,889 | 9,213 | 10,985 | 19.2% | ||||||
Click here to read the full Executive Summary
And so it continues! Bed bugs invaded the Emergency Room of Kings County hospital in Brooklyn, New York this week.
According to spokeswoman Evelyn Hernandez, “Kings County Hospital has several triage rooms, and medical personnel continued to see other patients in other triage rooms.” She added: “There is no infestation. We are talking about one patient.”
Thank god it didn’t come to the Hospital having to close, apparently it was business as usual and all Doctors continued to see and treat patients as they only had to close off one triage room.
Can you believe that bed bugs are dominating our newspapers. This week alone, I saw articles on bed bugs in the Wall Street Journal, The Daily News, the New York Press and now The New Yorker has bed bug on their front cover. Bed bugs have become such an epidemic in New York and it seems that this bed bug cartoon is trying to illustrating just that. New yorkers, I urge you to take precautions and protect yourselves!
Check out the cartoon entitled “Big Bug City” by Edward Koren and let us know what you think..
Looking for more bed bug cartoons? Click here to laugh a little at this big menace.
