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Sioux Falls Takes Steps to Prevent More Bed Bug Cases, BedBugBully.com Though Suggests to Ditch the Use of Chemicals

About five years ago, a parasite that has been around longer than beds, made the national spotlight.

Although bedbugs are not in the news as much as in the past, they are still a growing problem.

Lee Smith, vice president and an entomologist and with Rid-A Pest, said business is booming between that companys two offices in Morehead City and Wilson as the bed bug infestation continues to grow.

It goes back five years when we first saw bedbugs in the Morehead and New Bern areas, Smith said. Since that time, every year, it has grown exponentially the number of calls we get. Bedbugs are in all 50 states now and it is not due to climate or economics.

Five years ago, Rid-A-Pest only received two calls about bedbugs the entire year. Last year and so far this year the company has responded to three or four calls a week from people requesting bed bug inspections in the New Bern and Morehead City areas, Smith said.

At least half of those calls are confirmed infestations, he said.

In the New Bern and Morehead City areas, Rid-A-Pest gets one or two calls a week asking for residential inspections; the Wilson office gets about three or four calls per week, Smith said.

It comes and goes, he said. We may go two or three weeks and not have to do any treatments. Then we go two or three weeks where we get calls every day. New Bern is about the same as anywhere in Eastern North Carolina.

Smith said his company did not get any calls for hotels in New Bern, but he did in the Morehead City area. Hotel personnel and people with vacation homes on the coast are now well educated about bedbugs and what to look for, Smith said.

In the hotels, the staff inspects rooms and we are seeing a much quicker reaction, he said.

More here:
Bedbugs prove to be a persistent pest

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YOUR HEALTH: …Don’t let the bed bugs bite.

The rash that prompted a two-hour quarantine of a Delta plane in Chicago Thursday may have been the work of bed bugs, not the monkeypox virus health officials feared.

The itchy passenger was Lise Sievers of Red Wing, Minn., a 50-year-old woman returning home from Uganda, where she was working to adopt two children. Sievers noticed the rash and told her mother, who got worried and called health officials in Indiana.

“It’s just a case of bed bugs,” Sievers told ABC News affiliate WLS after exiting the plane. “I think I’m going to empty a jar of bed bugs on my mom’s bed tonight.”

Other passengers aboard Flight 3163 feared the worst as officers wearing Hazmat suits studied the rash, sending photos to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta.

“They didn’t tell us very much at all,” one passenger told WLS, describing a scene that could have come from the movie “Contagion.” “When they come on in masks and gloves, you think the worst.”

Monkeypox is a rare and sometimes fatal disease similar to smallpox that occurs mostly in central and western Africa. It’s contracted through contact with infected animals or their bodily fluids, and can spread among humans through fluids and contaminated clothes or bedding, according to the CDC.

The monkeypox rash consists of raised, fluid-filled bumps, and is usually accompanied by fever, headache and lymph node swelling. Bed bug bites, on the other hand, cause a swollen and red area that may or may not be itchy, without the other symptoms.

Sievers, who was sitting near the bathroom on the plane, recalled the worried looks from other passengers when it became clear she was the cause of the quarantine.

“You could see them thinking, ‘Is it safe to use the bathroom?’” she told WLS.

After studying the rash and searching for other signs of infectious disease, health officials released Sievers and her fellow passengers.

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Delta Monkeypox Scare: Bed Bugs?

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Delta Plane Monkeypox Scare: Passenger Blames Bed Bugs

FAIRFAX, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–

As part of National Pest Management Month, which has been celebrated in April for more than 30 years, the National Pest Management Association (NPMA) is marking the week of April 22 28 as Bed Bug Awareness Week. As people begin to move about more frequently in the warmer months and embark on summer vacations, the NPMA is spreading awareness, promoting public vigilance and providing essential prevention advice about bed bugs.

Bed bugs are still a problem in America. A survey of pest professionals conducted by the NPMA and the University of Kentucky in 2011, found that bed bug encounters have become more common in public places than in previous years; in some cases, the numbers of professionals who reported treating certain types of businesses and commercial facilities saw double digit growth from the prior year, said Missy Henriksen, NPMAs vice president of public affairs.

With summer travel around the corner, NPMA reminds travelers to arm themselves with bed bug knowledge and prevention tips. A watchful eye can go a long way in preventing an infestation upon returning home, advised Henriksen.

The NPMA recommends the following bed bug prevention tips when traveling:

For more information about bed bugs, visit AllThingsBedBugs.org.

The NPMA, a non-profit organization with more than 7,000 members, was established in 1933 to support the pest management industry’s commitment to the protection of public health, food and property.

Originally posted here:
It’s Bed Bug Awareness Week – Brush up on Information before Vacation

Bedbugged! is a weekly column by journalist and bed bug survivor Theresa Braine. For more, clickhere.

Ive been going on aboutmoving lately, but thats because Im still doing it. And because I keep running into examples ofhow not to do it.

Now, finally, I have actually done it right, in terms of avoiding bed bugs. I think. What I did right was hire a mover with a bonafide bed bug protocol. I had this chance to redeem myself moving-wise when my cousin decided to cut her overhead and move to a share, dumping all her stuff. She happened to have what I lack, given that I came from a share: loveseat, microwave, some shelves, a nightstand or two, a coffee table–everything I needed to finish situating myself.

Knowing that her apartment was bed bugfree, I had no qualms about accepting used items in this one case. But once again I found myself fretting about how to move without worrying about getting bed bugs. First I stewed about whom to call.

Did I give the company I had initially contacted for my New Years Eve move another chance? Not the people who came, but the people who I had reached out to initially, who had farmed the thing out? Did I call the hipster-run company I had gotten a quote from, even though I knew they didnt have any more clues about bed bugs than the dope-smoking Casanova who was part of the first movers team? I even briefly entertained the idea of calling those movers who had actually been sent to me on New Years Eve.

But I could not get past the dispatchers statement: Ive worked here for almost a year, and they’ve never had that kind of problem. That is like saying you will never get the flu because youve never had it. Loath to hire any of those companies, even for a small amount of furniture, but worried about the cost of someone likeMoishes, which has a bed bug protocol, I fussed for days.

During that time, something registered in me that Ive heard and read from lots of people. I cant afford it, people often say of things bed bugrelated. They say this about hiring a pest-control operator (PCO). They say it about treating their possessions. In short, people balk at spending money on bed bug prevention or eradication, resenting the expense. Thing is, bed bugs are expensive. And just because something is unpleasant doesnt mean it should not cost money. Nevertheless, I agonized. Then I decided to stop dithering and do what my mind needed to do. I made the call. Moishes turned out to be comparable to the other movers. And to boot, when I asked them about their bed bug protocol, they had ready, and sensible, answers. Our trucks are regularly treated and inspected for bed bugs, were the joyful words I heard. Not only that, but the trucks were inspected by a third-party PCO, using a dog.

On top ofthat, the trucks were regularly treated regardless of inspection outcome. Moreover, fresh, clean new blankets were used for every move, the rep on the phone said. In addition, if I wanted it, I could get everything shrink-wrapped. Given that the truck would have been inspected the night before and would have moved at most one person that morning, chances were slim to none that that one move would have bed bugs in it, or that they would transfer onto my things. So I lightened up a tad. There are things I did not do that the 100-percent-thorough person would have done. I could have had the truck inspected myself.

Icould have had everything wrapped in plastic, encased the smaller items in giant plastic bags and thrown out the plastic before the things came to my apartment.

I could have had the truck and all my belongings fumigated overnight at a fumigation facility, although that would have been extreme unless they were definitely infested. But I chose not to go to that degree. Having done a fair amount of due diligence, and knowing that Moishes has agood reputationand what appears to be a fair amount of bed bug awareness (not once did the dispatcher spout that it has never happened to us line), I decided to trust them on this.

Read more from the original source:
How I Moved Past My Bed Bug Neurosis To Embrace Used Furniture

View post:
Recent Bed Bug List Provides Insight, but Unseasonably Warm Winter has Experts Worried About Populations for Summer

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Bed Bugs Visit University of Texas for the Fourth Time, BedBugControl911.com Shares the Details

Fox News stunt

I am very disappointed that the Bangor Daily News chose not to run the Doonesbury comic strip this week and instead replaced it with what must be fill-in panels. Even the Houston Chronicle, a newspaper in the very conservative state of Texas, is running the panels on its editorial pages.

Reproductive choice for women is being eroded and the people of Maine could be informed on the subject in a somewhat humorous, somewhat ironic manner, should the newspaper do its job. You run Doonesbury on the editorial page for a reason, so quit pulling a Fox News stunt with selective offerings and omissions.

Martha Williams

Bar Harbor

There is a public health crisis looming on the states horizon: significant cuts to the Fund for a Healthy Maine that would dismantle the local public health system infrastructure.

Here in Androscoggin County, we have our local version, Healthy Androscoggin, doing community-level prevention, policy and environmental change work. The members of the Lewiston Auburn Public Health Committee know firsthand the value that Healthy Androscoggin brings to our community.

The Healthy Androscoggin collaboration with the LAPHC was vital to the success of our recent bath salts forum, as well as last years bed bug forum. Healthy Androscoggin and the LAPHC have been able to respond to the public health needs of our two communities.

Many Maine residents may not be aware that the Healthy Maine Partnerships are the cornerstones of the structure and funding for work on local public health priorities which include work site wellness and childhood obesity prevention. Additionally, Healthy Maine Partnerships are the states local tobacco control system, working on tobacco prevention and cessation in every Maine town.

The ongoing work of Healthy Androscoggin is a vital contribution to the public health efforts of Lewiston and Auburn. On behalf of the LAPHC, I urge our communities and legislators to see the long-term value of prevention on the rising rates of health care costs to business and the community as a whole. Preserve the Fund for a Healthy Maine, the Healthy Maine Partnerships and our local public health infrastructure.

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Saturday/Sunday, March 17-18, 2012: Doonesbury, Fund for a Healthy Maine