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BEDBUGS
Introduction
Unfortunately, we are experiencing a modern-day resurgence of the bedbug, a minute insect of the Cimicidae family, long eliminated in the United States. This vermin knows no boundary, whether economic or hygienic, infesting five-star hotels as readily, perhaps moreso, as lower-income tenements. Premium hotels can be more susceptible to bedbug infestation because international travelers often sojourn there. The 2011 season is projected to see worse bed bug problems than last season.
In fact, the resurgence of bedbugs is really just one dimension of the new reality of the global health interconnectedness of all human beings, facilitated by new and powerful paradigms in travel and communication. For example, a virus in one part of the world now has its best historical chance of spreading to all parts of the world.
One or more of several possible factors are thought responsible for the resurrection of this once-defeated pest: 1.) its hardy resistance to chemical controls; in other words, the inefficacy of pesticides, 2.) the increase in international travel, which may have re-introduced the pest to the United States, 3.) the rising popularity of second-hand goods, and 4.) the moratorium on hyper-powerful but dangerous pesticides such as DDT.
The bite of the bedbug produces a widely individualized reaction, ranging from no skin change at all, to an ugly rash or deformation. Bedbugs do not carry disease. The adult insect is reddish-brown, the approximate size of an apple seed, while younger offspring can be translucent. Upon careful inspection, even young bedbugs can be visible while moving, although adults are much more easily seen.
Bed bugs locate their victims by tracking the carbon dioxide that all humans expel.
Prevention and Natural Controls
These include:
Sealing mattress and other bedding items with plastic covers. Look for PVC-free covers with as little odor as possible, and air them closed (i.e. zipped) before use to begin to dispel any lingering outgassing odor. Radical reduction in clutter to eliminate breeding and hiding opportunities. Frequent and thorough vacuuming. Steam cleaning potentially affected surfaces, with special attention to nooks, crannies, and crevices. Wash all soft objects such as bedding, clothing, drapes, and even stuffed animals on a regular basis, in hot water. I've so far seen three temperatures asserted as minimal to kill eggs, nymphs, and adults: 113 degrees F, 120 degrees F, and 122 degrees F. This laundering step is crucial as it will kill any eggs hidden and not visible to the naked eye. One of the few protection measures found effective against a bedbug infestation is the Climbup Insect Interceptors product. Given how difficult it is to prevent the introduction of bed bugs into your home, it is imperative that you catch and isolate them once they've arrived--the Climbup Interceptors are an effective mechanism to do this. Keep them in place on every bed, all the time, at home, and most certainly use them when traveling.
In a pinch you can fashion an impromptu interceptor. Buy four, eight, or more small dog or cat food bowls, emplace them under each bed leg, then fill them with soapy water. This ad hoc method, however, is not recommended as a replacement for the Interceptors, as the latter is specifically engineered for this purpose. Moreover, the soapy water will damage the legs on your bed. Before bringing furniture, whether new or used, into your home, conduct a very careful inspection. Bed bugs can be found in mattresses, bed frames, picture frames, wooden lamps and lamp stands, carpets, window drapes, and clothing. For an active infestation, conduct rigorous cleaning, washing, and frequent checking. Caulk as many nooks, crannies, and gaps as possible. Freezing infested items is also understood to work. Certain pest-controllers utilize extremely cold air to rid your home of this vermin, a recommended method, as it will not introduce chemicals into your home or work environment. Since bedbugs are now being found in virtually any and every public place, minimize frequency of social events outside the home such as dining or theater-going. Most of the time, seriously consider more home-bound activities such as renting a movie. Create a portable sprayer for bedbug control while outside your home, by filling a small or medium-sized spray bottle with undiluted isopropyl (i.e. rubbing) alcohol. This agent kills bedbugs on contact, yet is safe for humans providing it is not ingested. Then, exercise care and discretion in sitting or lying on unfamiliar chairs, seats, and beds, such as when eating at a restaurant, sitting in a movie theater, or lodging at a hotel. In sitting down in a restaurant, lounge, club, or bar, or resting your suitcase, purse, or other possession on a hotel luggage rack or stand or other surface, elect for those covered with vinyl or another washable surface. Spray this surface thoroughly with your alcohol sprayer (see previous item), and using several bunched paper towels, wipe the surface thoroughly.
The used paper toweling may contain destroyed vermin including their blood contents, so carefully discard it, then wash your hands thoroughly. When finished, put this out of your mind and enjoy your meal or other activity.
To forestall problems, and as a courtesy, you may wish to apprise the restaurant or other establishment that you'll simply be wiping down your seat with plain rubbing alcohol, and that you'll do it away from other patrons. If a restaurant, please sit a table or two away from existing customers, if possible, so as not to disturb their meal with the odor of rubbing alcohol. Another strategy, that I used during a recent sojourn to the Emergency Room when my mom was experiencing intestinal trouble, goes as follows: simply place a brand new, unfolded trash liner on the chair or seat that you must sit in. Don't shake the liner or otherwise open it--just unfold it from its original square or rectangular shape so it forms a large, flat, malleable barrier over the seat of the chair.
Better yet, if the chair is not too wide, open the entire bag and place it wholesale over the entire chair. In my case I explained to the admitting nurse what I was doing and why; when she heard the word bedbugs she immediately understood.
When leaving, remove the liner by pulling it up and off the chair so your hands don't come in contact with it's inner surface. Discard it. Upon arriving home from any public place where you've sat down, immediately remove outer clothing including jackets, coats, sweaters, scarves, shirts, pants, dresses, skirts, and place in a tightly sealed clothing bag, preferably located outside the main body of the house, such as in a mud room, or front or back hall.
When can you re-integrate these items back into your home? This is a question without a happy answer, as bed bugs can survive without a meal for a very long time. The problematic, though most effective answer, is: until the bed bug epidemic abates, simply do not re-integrate your clothing normally into your home. Re-adjust your perspective so you accept the new reality that for the foreseeable future, an indefinite period, you'll have to keep your clothing outside the main body of your home; specifically, you'll have to maintain one set of clothing to wear outside the home, and another to wear inside, and you'll have to keep both sets tightly segregated from each other.
For example, if your home has a large front and back hall, you might keep your newly laundered and dry-cleaned items in the front hall. This will effectively be your new clothes closet. Then, you'd adopt the habit of entering your home through the back hall, so that after wearing your clothing if you were sitting in a public place, you could remove that clothing in the back hall where it would be kept tightly bagged.
Alternatively, especially if you're particularly uncomfortable at the thought of wearing clothing that may have bed bugs in it, you can adopt the practice of single-use wear, at least for apparel that you've worn when sitting in a public place. Under such a practice, you'd simply throw your clothing into the wash or bring it to the dry cleaner immediately after even a single wearing, if during that wearing you sat down in a public place.
Such stringent rules would particularly apply if you frequently sit in public areas, facilities, or buildings, such as you might if you're a frequent traveler, restaurant-diner, or theater-goer. If an antique collector or otherwise in the habit of bringing second-hand goods into the home or work environment, be sure to broach the topic of bedbugs with the seller, and then inspect these items in an extremely and unusually thorough manner, yourself. If a pest control operation is deemed necessary in your home or place of business, use a natural material such as CedarCide, or perhaps better yet a freezing method, that will not pose any health hazard to you, your family, or your neighbors. Overuse of pesticides, especially standard commercial agents, can pose more danger than the offending vermin.
Relatedly, Best Yet, a top choice of hotel/motel managers, makes use of cedar oil and natural enzymes to kill bed bugs. Another leading product is Rest Easy Bed Bug Spray, which uses cinnamon and other natural ingredients. Although these products are deemed effective, some argue that they don't work nearly well enough to eradicate what some are calling a bed bug epidemic. Suggested is a bit of research to clarify and assist in your choice of material.
Links
Bed Bug Registry
Get Rid of Bedbugs
Student Travel - How to Kill Bedbugs
New Clues to How BB's Spread Through Apartment Buildings
How to Bedbug-Proof Your NYC Apartment
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FIREPLACES & WOOD-BURNING STOVES
Introduction
A home fireplace or similar apparatus may be a quaint, romantic, and in some cases economical heating option, but can also mean injury and even death for yourself or your neighbors, depending on what materials are burned, how they are burned, and the structural and operational integrity of the apparatus, itself.
Infants, children, the ill, and the elderly are especially susceptible to harm.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states, conservatively:
People have been burning wood since the Stone age – why is wood smoke a problem now?
Indeed, wood smoke has been around since the discovery of fire; it is something we all are familiar with. Over time, we have learned a great deal about wood smoke and its health effects. Wood smoke is a complex mixture of gases and particles. When these microscopic particles get into your eyes and respiratory system, they can cause health problems such as burning eyes, runny nose, and illnesses such as bronchitis. Particle pollution also can aggravate chronic heart and lung diseases—and is linked to premature death in people with these chronic conditions.
Additionally, here is an excellent introductory pamphlet published by the Washington State Department of Ecology.
If you elect to use a fireplace, wood-burning stove, or similar apparatus, ensure the integrity of all aspects of its use as summarized above, and consult neighbors for their permission, as even a properly tuned apparatus may produce an acrid odor that permeates the outdoor environment, readily seeping into surrounding homes even with windows and doors closed.
Be a good neighbor, request the same from others, and you'll make use of a vital Key to Good Health, helping build a loving world where socially-induced ill-health, which most ill-health is, becomes a distant memory.
Click for Suggested Links
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