RI, MA EHS Pest Control Blog

Stabbing Follows Spraying for Bedbugs and Attack with 2 Vacuums and a Stool

A Lafayette man stabbed his roommate Saturday evening after an argument escalated into a physical fight while they were spraying for bedbugs, court documents allege.

Jeffrey Hale Ringen, 50, was charged Monday in Tippecanoe Circuit Court with battery by means of a deadly weapon, a Class C felony; criminal recklessness while armed with a deadly weapon, a Class D felony; and misdemeanor battery.

He was being held Monday afternoon in the Tippecanoe County Jail on a $10,000 surety bond, jail staff confirmed.

The victim, Timothy Murry, suffered stab wounds to his left hand and forearm, along with minor injuries to his lip and elbows.

He was treated at St. Elizabeth Central hospital and released, a hospital spokeswoman said Monday.

The incident took place about 6:30 p.m. Saturday in the 1400 block of Elizabeth Street.

According to a probable cause affidavit, Murry told officers that he and Ringen were spraying pesticides to kill bedbugs in their home.

But Murry refused to continue after Ringen cut himself and got blood on the sprayer while trying to remove a plastic piece from it.

This led to a fight in which Murry claimed that Ringen attacked him with two vacuums and a stool, then retrieved a hunting knife. Murry said the knife was aimed at his abdomen, but he managed to block the knife with his arm.

Ringen, however, claimed it was Murry who “jumped” on him, so he reciprocated. He admitted to grabbing a baseball bat to chase Murry from the home but denied stabbing him.

Officers found a knife, with what appeared to be spots of blood on the blade and handle, in a drawer. Ringen said he “might have” put the knife there.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Firefighters: Bedbug “Do It Yourself” Spray Causes Fire

A fire that engulfed an apartment in Colerain on Friday night was partially caused by the use of a common bedbug deterrent, fire officials said.

Colerain Township firefighters said they received a call at about 9:30 p.m. reporting a fire on a second floor apartment in the 3500 block of West Galbraith Road.

Firefighters said they brought the fire under control at about 9:50 p.m. with the help of fire crews from Springfield Township and Green Township fire departments.

Authorities said a family of six, including four children, was displaced and receiving assistance from the Red Cross.

Fire officials said the residents of the apartment were using isopropyl alcohol in a spray bottle to kill bedbugs. Officials said the home-remedy is common, but droplets formed by spraying the chemical dramatically increases the evaporation rate of the alcohol.

The vapor released is extremely flammable and was ignited by a cigarette, firefighters said.

No injuries were reported, firefighters said. The fire caused an estimated $30,000 in damage to the building and its contents.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Cockroaches, Bed Bugs, Mold Spark $10M Lawsuit

A civil lawsuit alleging long-term substandard living conditions against the owner of the Cordova Estates apartments in Rancho Cordova is seeking $10 million in damages for 97 tenants.

"It's horrific. It's disgusting. I can't describe it. I was without heat for three years," said tenant Jessica Munoz, the named plaintiff in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit, filed this month, alleges that the property owner, Juvenal Campos, did not fulfill his duty to maintain habitable apartments for tenants paying $525 to $725 per month in rent.

A prepared statement sent by "the owners" of the property stated that they are trying to address issues in those apartments.

"We are disappointed by the filing of this lawsuit," read the statement which was signed "the owners".

Meanwhile, Rancho Cordova code inspectors stress Campos is facing a string of code violations based on a recent walk-through of the apartment complex.

"He is facing roughly 150 violations ... He could face fines in the hundreds of thousands of dollars if we continue to come out and things not be done," said Kerri Simpson, Rancho Cordova Code Enforcement officer.

City officials said they are working the property owner to fix the owner. However, Simpson said previous agreements to fix problems in the past failed.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Tenant Starts Apartment fire Trying To Kill Bedbugs

A fire started in an apartment as the tenant used a cigarette lighter to chase bed bugs, police told 24 Hour News 8.

No one was injured and the blaze was contained to a bedroom, which sustained fire, smoke and water damage.

The fire was in a second-floor residence at Fox Ridge Apartments, 1400 Alamo Hills Dr. in Kalamazoo.

Members of the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety were dispatched around 6:35 p.m. Thursday and evacuated the building. They then extinguished the flames in 15 minutes.

The resident admitted to starting the fire and tried using a fire extinguisher but had to evacuate as the fire spread.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

A Hairy Body Can Mean the Bed Bugs Won't Bite (Because they Can't Get to the Skin)

Finding hairs in your food can be disgusting, and it seems that blood-sucking insects feel just the same.

Scientists have discovered that hairy people are better protected from parasites, as the hair makes it harder for the bugs to reach skin.

Bed bugs and other parasites such as mosquitoes, midges.

But as the insects search for somewhere to dive in, the nerves in hairs also increase the chances of them being felt on the skin and swatted away.

Researchers studied 29 brave volunteers who had one arm shaved before hungry bed bugs were placed on their skin

The results of the experiment showed that people with more hair - both longer hairs and fine, almost invisible 'vellus' hairs - were more protected.

Hair covering the arms extended each insect’s search for an ideal feeding ground, and increased the likelihood of it being detected.

Because of this, bed bugs and other parasites including mosquitoes, midges, ticks and leeches prefer relatively hairless areas such as the wrists and ankles, the scientists claim.

Study leader Professor Michael Siva-Jothy, from the University of Sheffield’s Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, said: 'Our findings show that more body hairs mean better detection of parasites.

'The hairs have nerves attached to them and provide us with the ability to detect displacement. By forming a barrier and providing detection, these hairs prolong search time and make detection more likely because the bug has to spend more time clambering over them.

'The results have implications for understanding why we look the way we do, what selective forces might have driven us to look the way we do, and may even provide insight for better understanding of how to reduce biting insects’ impact on humans.'

The findings may explain why humans have retained a body-covering of fine hair.

'Our proposal is that we retain the fine covering because it aids detection and if we lost all hair, even the relatively invisible fine hair, our detection ability goes right down,' said Prof Siva-Jothy.

The research is published today in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters. Prof Siva-Jothy said it would be wrong to assume women will always be bitten more often than hairier men.

He pointed out: 'Men have more body hair than women which is caused by the action of testosterone at puberty. This does not necessarily mean that women are more likely to be bitten.

'Blood-sucking insects are likely to have been selected to prefer to bite hosts in relatively hairless areas.”

The Sheffield scientists are investigating the biology, reproduction and immunity of blood-sucking insects.

Their aim is to find more effective ways of controlling parasitic insects and the diseases they spread.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Bed Bugs Make Jail An Even More Unpleasant Place To Be

The holding-cell area in the 120th Precinct station on Staten Island has been shut down as officials grapple with a bed bug infestation that has made conditions there unpleasant for prisoners. A defense attorney tells the Staten Island Advance that for months now bed bugs have been a problem in the holding cells, which are notoriously filthy. You may recall this dump from the story about the licensed massage therapist who was arrested and forced to clean an overflowing toilet at the station house before cops let her go without charging her. Looks like cops need to arrest a couple of exterminators now.

"There were some critters found in the area where the cell attendant works," one "NYPD insider" tells the Advance. "They’re trying to process as few people as they can through there," says another source. In a statement issued by the Department of Correction, a spokesperson says, "We are aware of concerns in the Staten Island 120 Precinct regarding bedbugs. DOC will have an exterminator go out tomorrow [Friday] to inspect our Staten Island court facilities [holding pens]. If there is a problem, we will arrange to treat the pens with a combination of steam and chemicals when the pens are empty — over the weekend."

Bedbugs have previously infiltrated the school system, the United Nations, district attorneys offices, and Howard Stern—so it was only a matter of time before they wound up in jail. But we think the city is going about this all wrong; they should be welcoming the bed bugs with open veins! Let them have the jail. Hell, let them have the whole precinct. Pack as many bed bugs in there as possible, then bomb the whole place back to the stone age. True, they'd probably survive that too, but it sure would feel good, wouldn't it?

Source: Gothamist.com

George Williams
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA

Don't Let the Bedbugs Bite Your Condo Association

Here's another expense community associations need to add to their budgets: bedbug inspections. Long believed to be almost extinct, these pesky little night-biters have returned with a vengeance and are headed for a mattress near you.

Bedbug infestations in recent years have increased dramatically in all 50 states, according to the National Pest Management Association, which tracks the critters. In a 2010 survey, 95 percent of responding pest-control professionals reported treating bedbugs during the previous year. In 2000, the number was 25 percent.

 Missy Henricksen, the pest management association's spokeswoman and vice president of public affairs, cited possible causes of the invasion: People are traveling more often and also to far-flung locations, and some are bringing the pests home. Also, many bedbug strains have grown resistant to the pesticides available to treat them.

The most common species of bedbugs, scientifically known as Cimex lectularius, are small, brown, nocturnal parasites about the size of an apple seed. Mostly, they thrive on human blood. They hide out until they are hungry but can go a year without food. You might not suspect their presence unless you wake up with reddish welts on your skin.

Bedbugs are especially problematic in condominium buildings, said Sara Kantarovich, technical director and entomologist for Smithereen Pest Management Services, in Niles.

She explained: Bedbugs lurk everywhere, but they are especially attracted to environments inhabited by large groups of people, their primary food source. Those environments include apartments, condominiums, hotels, hospitals and assisted-living centers. Bedbugs easily travel from unit to unit through electrical outlets, under baseboards, across hallways, in luggage and on clothing.

"In an apartment building, one owner has the authority to enforce bedbug services or inspections," she said. "In a condo building, there's no one authority who can enforce those kinds of procedures."

Many condo boards and managers won't even discuss the subject, she said.

"They want to keep things quiet," she said. "They fear that if word gets out, the value of their property will decrease."

Condo dwellers will be relieved to learn that bedbugs are not indicative of poor housekeeping, unlike the presence of German cockroaches and other scavengers, she said.

"People are stigmatized, but this is not a sanitation issue," she said. "You can be the cleanest person on earth or live in a $10million condo. Bedbugs do not see lines of socioeconomic class."

A cluttered home doesn't invite bedbugs, but it does provide more hiding places that make treatment more difficult, she said.

Another reassurance is that bedbugs don't transmit disease. However, they do cause health problems such as varying degrees of skin irritation, stress, anxiety and insomnia, said Henricksen.

Getting rid of the pests is difficult but not impossible. Treatment methods depend on how widespread the infestation is. Among the options are high heat, freezing temperatures, high-powered vacuuming, steam and pesticides, often used in combination. Heavy infestations require more treatments than light ones. Prices range from a few hundred dollars to treat a small infestation to thousands of dollars for a large, stubborn one.

It's not a job for amateurs, said Henricksen.

"A lot of things can kill bedbugs," she said. "You can pour things on them. You can step on them and squish them. But unless you get in to the walls where they are hiding and reproducing, you're not treating the problem."

"They are one of our most challenging pests," Kantarovich said. "It's not like you can put (poison) down, walk away and they are dead. I would take roaches and ants and rats any day of the week over bedbugs."

The professionals said the best control is frequent inspections of common areas and residential units. If an infestation is found in one unit, the entire building doesn't have to undergo treatment, but surrounding units should be inspected.

"Condo buildings that are the most successful with their elimination strategies often have a strong board who is willing to mandate regular inspections," Kantarovich said. "The sooner they start, the more successful they will be."

Source = Chicago Tribune

George Williams
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA

With Bedbugs on the Rise, Entomologist Urges Vigilance

If the nation's capital wants to contain its bed bug problem, its residents, pest control experts and property managers must put long-term action plans into place, a Maryland-based entomologist said Thursday at a summit on the insect.

"You need to recognize high-risk locations," and be proactive with prevention, said Larry Pinto, a Mechanicsville, Md.-based entomologist who gave the keynote address at the summit hosted by the D.C. Department of Health.

A report released this summer by the pest-control company Terminix ranked Washington, D.C., as the ninth most bed bug-infested city in the country; it ranked New York City as No. 1.

A joint statement released in November by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency said the U.S. is now one of many countries "experiencing an alarming resurgence in the population of bed bugs," which had declined in the mid-20th century.

Bed bugs can become problems in low-income housing areas, assisted living facilities and transitional housing sites such as homeless shelters, where people frequently interact and share common spaces, Pinto said.

But their presence is not limited to apartments or low-income housing.

The pests often "hitchhike" on people traveling internationally, and can now be found in almost any setting, Pinto said. This includes bathrooms, office file cabinets and even the brushes of vacuum cleaners.

He said people such as social workers, who often make visits to high-risk sites, should wash and dry clothing immediately after work, since bedbugs are sensitive to dryer heat.

Purchasing pesticides and cockroach-killing sprays is not recommended to eliminate them. Rather, tenants and homeowners are urged to contact pest control professionals for a series of treatments.

Although bedbugs feed on the blood of people and leave itchy welts and rashes, they are not disease carriers, officials say. But they can cause a variety of "negative health, mental health and economic consequences," the joint CDC/EPA report said, including "mild to severe allergic reaction to the bites" and anxiety and insomnia.

Reactions to bedbugs can be extreme, Pinto said.

People "do some pretty crazy things, like bathing themselves in kerosene," he said. "Their first gut reaction is to throw everything they have out."

But that doesn't work, he said. The bugs almost always return unless treated by professionals with a combination of pesticide, vacuum and heat treatments.

Instead of overreacting, Pinto said, citizens and landlords need to constantly monitor infected homes, by visually inspecting for bedbugs and keeping an eye out for bruises on the skin. Three treatments by a pest management company are typically needed to completely rid a home of an infestation, he said, and the bill can run anywhere around $1,200 or more.

But, he added, "I've dealt with properties who spent 60-to-80-thousand dollars (on pest control), and then had to spend another 60-to-80 thousand," if they don't do it right.

For those who aren't quite ready to lay down the cash for long-term bedbug treatment, Pinto suggested taking some simple measures, such as placing mattresses within encasements.

When moving into a new apartment or traveling, he suggests looking for blood smears on walls and ceilings, hotel beds and headboards. The smears would indicate the bugs' presence, because homeowners are likely to crush the bugs.

Constant long-term vigilance is essential, he said.

"Reinfestation is almost guaranteed," he said. "You need a permanent monitoring program."

Source = Capitol News Services

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA

Bob’s Discount Furniture Gets Bitten by Bedbug Ruling

Bob’s Discount Furniture could be on the hook for allegedly selling a bedbug-infested bedroom set.

A customer brought suit against the retailer after an exterminator found bedbugs harboring in the frame of the customer’s daughter’s bed.

A federal judge ruled in favor of Bob’s, but the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a remand, finding that the judge had erred by preventing the exterminator from testifying as an expert witness.

“This opinion evidence, coupled with evidence that the defendant had no written policy regarding the prevention of bedbugs and that it used the same trucks for both delivering new furniture and retrieving used furniture, is sufficient to support a conclusion that the defendant delivered bedbugs along with the bedroom set,” Judge Bruce M. Selya wrote for the 1st Circuit.

The 21-page decision is Downey, et al. v. Bob’s Discount Furniture Holdings, Inc., Lawyers Weekly No. 01-010-11.

SOURCE = The Docket (Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly)

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA