Originally created in 1874 by a young German chemistry student working on his thesis, DDT wasn’t actually used for extermination purposes until 1937. At that time, a man by the name of Paul Müller, a Swiss scientist with a company called Geigy, discovered the incredible properties of the future insecticide. Müller was later awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery (1948).

Once it was discovered that DDT was an effective insecticide, it was used to control lice – particularly those that caused typhus in soldiers during World War II – as well as mosquitoes and flies. It wasn’t until 1942 that it was discovered that DDT killed bed bugs as well. According to the USDA Bureau of Entomology (1945), the results were called “phenomenal” and “the perfect answer to the bed bug problem.” DDT was available to the public by 1945. Ads for DDT products could be found in Pests and their Control, a pest control magazine created for the general public.

What made DDT so remarkable?

There’s no other way to describe the early days of DDT, other than remarkable. Bed bugs, the same bed bugs that survived sprays and fumigants, didn’t stand a chance against almighty DDT. Not only was DDT highly effective, but it also lasted long after its initial application. Some exterminators said that it lasted up to six months, while others claimed that it lasted as long as three years. Whereas sprays had to come in direct contact with bugs and eggs, and fumigants had to be reused over and over again, DDT required one application only. It killed bugs no matter where they were, even those hiding out in hard to find spots. It even killed nymphs and eggs.

Perhaps the best thing about DDT is that it was fairly inexpensive to purchase and homeowners did not require a professional’s assistance to apply it. In fact, it was available for use to the general public, and could be easily used without any cause for concern. A few ounces of powder could treat an entire room without the use of a professional, plus it was inexpensive, which had the effect of making it even more desirable.

According to Lessons from the Past by Michael F. Potter, “after three to five years of civilian usage it became hard to find populations of bed bugs on which to do further testing – another testament to the knockout punch of the material.”

But what happens when you use too much of something for too long?

Information for this post was taken from: The History of Bed Bug Management by Michael F. Potter.

Carrie moved in in August. Not long after moving in, something started to bother her skin. She thought she was having an allergic reaction to something, but couldn’t figure out what it was. By December it was apparent that she wasn’t actually allergic to anything she was wearing. She was, however, highly sensitive to the bed bugs living in her building.

Her first reaction was shame and embarrassment. Since people often described her as a “neat freak,” she couldn’t understand how this had happened. She doubled her efforts and began a routine clean. A little paranoid, she bought a new and better vacuum, and chemicals that were thought to kill bed bugs on contact – pyrethrin spray. Although it worked for a time, the bed bugs always returned. Instead of calling her landlord, Carrie thought she’d talk to the other tenants in the building to see if they were experiencing something similar. Turns out that they were.

Carrie’s neighbours were what you could call somewhat unsavoury characters. The top floor tenants, where it is assumed the bed bugs came from, were filthy. They left piles of dirty clothes all over the floor, and the countertops were covered in rotting dishes. There was a nasty smell emanating from the apartment. The main floor tenants weren’t much better, but there was an added bonus in their apartment. Carrie quickly discovered that they were growing marijuana in the apartment – something they obviously didn’t want the landlord to know. When she asked about the bed bugs, they nodded, saying that they too were experiencing the problem. They were clear, however, that they did not want Carrie to contact the landlord lest he show up at the apartment unannounced.

Weeks later Carrie heard back from her neighbours. The landlord had readily agreed to have them take care of the problem. He said that whatever money they spent on pest control methods would be reimbursed. He left the details to them, since they wanted to be there when the exterminator visited. No one was ever called. In fact, Carrie’s neighbours decided to take matters into their own hands.

Her neighbours, it seems, had decided to purchase diatomaceous earth to solve their problem. They were convinced that the micro cuts inflicted on the bugs would kill them, saying that diatomaceous earth was a much safer option. Carrie, however, did not agree. She had done her research and found that diatomaceous earth was also harmful to those who breathed it in.

The problem was never solved as far as Carrie knows, although she couldn’t say for sure. In April, she threw out everything she owned and decided to start over in Victoria, British Columbia. “It really was the only solution,” says Carrie. She had lost a lot of money and was frustrated and paranoid. She also felt socially isolated, since she couldn’t have anyone into her home, and was wary of what she could possibly be carrying out. Her neighbours, on the other hand, didn’t seem to worry at all. People were constantly coming and going from the apartment, and Carrie was sure that most of them never really knew what they were taking home with them.

To top it all off, those same neighbours later contacted Carrie and asked if she would give them a reference for their next apartment. To her credit, Carrie ignored their request.

So what can we learn from Carrie’s experience?

1. Although your first reaction may be shame and embarrassment, trying to deal with the problem alone rarely works out well.

2. No matter what the situation is in the building, the landlord needs to know if there is a problem. The landlord should also be the one to deal with it, not the tenant.

3. If your home is infested with bed bugs, you don’t need to throw everything out and start all over. There are other solutions.

4. If you have bed bugs, the considerate thing to do is to avoid having guests enter your home. Knowing just how bad the problem is, you certainly don’t want to pass it on to others.

5. Although bed bugs have yet to be considered a health problem, it might be time to reconsider. If not a physical health problem, they do most certainly take a toll on you mentally.

If you or someone you know is dealing with a bed bug infestation, please call us at Heat-n-Go. Even if you just have questions, ask away. We have answers.

Some cleaners used to accept infested items, but the risks are high. If a sealed bag is accidently opened, or somehow gets torn, other items of clothing on the premises could get become contaminated as well. It’s unfair to their other customers to have to worry about bed bugs accidentally hitch-hiking home on their clean clothing.

Some companies, however, will clean infested items, but only if the customers bring them sealed in plastic bags, and bring them to a different location. Bed bug inspectors say that cleaners are high-risk zones, since so many clothes go in and out of the building each day. According to some inspectors, you can kill bed bugs in all stages of development by tossing the items into the dryer for about 20 minutes on high.

According to a survey conducted in Edmonton, as many as 80 per cent of landlords have dealt with bed bugs in the past five years. This is just one of the methods of bed bug management that they employ.

Your thoughts…

Imagine you live in a bed bug infested region. For some reason, you can’t use your home dryer, or maybe you don’t even have one. What do you do with your infested laundry? Do you take it to a laundromat and wash it yourself, or do you drop it off at the local cleaners? Do you inform the laundromat or cleaner of your little problem, or keep it to yourself? What are the risks?

In all fairness, you should inform the owner of your problem, although it might make finding a cleaner that much more difficult. Knowing how hard you’ve had it dealing with the problem at home, it’s just unfair to risk passing it on to someone else – especially when they’re completely unaware of the pest’s existence in the first place.

If a cleaner does accept infested items, should they have to inform the general public? Would you want to know? Assuming that most customers would want to know, would having access to that kind of information adversely affect the cleaner’s business? Most likely it would. It’s safe to assume, therefore, that those cleaners that do accept bed bug infested items likely won’t advertise that they do so.

There are no right or wrong answers here. How we choose to act, however, will make all the difference. Perhaps your cleaner accepts bed bug infested items, but does not want to tell their clientele. In this case, the best thing you can do is ask.

What are your thoughts?

During the 1800s and early 1900s, bed bug sprays were mostly compounds put together by the local druggist. Arsenic and mercury compounds were mixed with alcohol, water or spirits of turpentine. Wherever bugs were found, the concoctions were applied using brushes, eyedroppers, syringes, feathers or oilcans. Exterminators and homeowners also commonly used mercury chloride, a corrosive sublimate better known as the “Bed Bug Poison.” An 1888 issue of Good Housekeeping suggests one could apply mercury chloride by using a feather covered in whipped egg whites. The problem with Bed Bug Poison at that time was that it didn’t just kill bugs – it sometimes killed people too.

Since the mid-1800s, a safer product, pyrethrum, which was made from dry Chrysanthemum flowers, was used in sprays and powders. Also known as “Persian Insect Powder,” its potency was first discovered in Iran. During the war years, Chrysanthemums were hard to come by, so a number of other compounds were used instead, including rotenone, phenol, cresol, naphthalene, and Lethane 384.

Until the mid-1940s, other solutions were used, including turpentine, gasoline, kerosene, benzene and alcohol. Pyrethrum’s results were inconsistent and required multiple applications. Treatments not only had to be thorough, but they also had to be applied wet and come into actual contact with the bugs. For this reason, the method was most effective if the infestation was caught in its earliest stages.

Some exterminators chose to fog rooms, but it didn’t kill them as well as expected. In fact, in most cases it actually prompted them to just move elsewhere. Because early sprays were often foul smelling, it was recommended that sprays were perfumed for use in hotels, coaches and theatres. Bed Bugs and their practical Control, published in 1943, however, suggests that the rank preparations were suitable for “jails, cheap lodging houses and various other free, public institutions.”

Spraying could be tedious and extremely unreliable, not to mention unhealthy. Because many of the sprays were highly flammable, it’s not surprising that their use often resulted in fire. As cities became more densely populated and infestations grew, newer methods of extermination were developed.

More about those next week…

The information for this post was taken from Michael F. Potter’s article, The History of Bed Bug Management.

It is said that one third of all European homes in major cities were infested with bed bugs at this time. It was proposed that all furniture be fumigated before tenants moved in. In some Swedish cities, landlords even provided their tenants with tents to stay in while their homes were being fumigated. They considered building hotels for the same purposes. To prevent further infestations, some German landlords required a “clearance letter” from an exterminator. If the letter could prove that their previous home was free of infestations, they were allowed to move in. In some cities today, landlords are asking similar questions doing the pre-screening phase.

During the war years, bed bug infestations were especially bad. Bed bugs were transported on bedding into air-raid shelters. Soldiers living in barracks and trenches were particularly vulnerable, as bed bugs spread by way of belts, backpacks, canteens and helmets. One World War I account states:

“In the East African campaign the bugs invaded the cork lining of the sun helmets of the soldiers. As the helmets were piled together at night, all soon became infested and the soldiers complained of bugs attaching their heads.”

Bed bugs made their way on warships and into submarines. They were also commonly found in laundries, dressing rooms, factories and furniture upholstery shops. Movie theatres were also a problem, and some owners responded by ripping out entire rows of seats and replacing them – a costly endeavor, no doubt. Other commonly infested areas included coatrooms and school lockers – places where we are seeing reoccurrences today. Public transportation systems, including trains, buses, taxicabs and airplanes, all provide excellent modes of transportation for bed bugs.

According to The Business of Bed Bugs, 47 per cent of Sweden’s 3,000 moving vans were infested with bed bugs in the 1930s. As bed bugs become more and more common today, moving and storage companies will need to be vigilant about inspection. Bed bugs even used to be commonly found in hospitals.

To curb the problem, efforts were made to make bed bug habitations much less desirable. Metal bed frames replaced ones that once had heavy wooden legs that were often cracked and porous – prefect for housing pests. Metal frames were preferred because they were less desirable by bed bugs and much easier to inspect. Homemakers were extra vigilant in their efforts to keep bugs out. They closely inspected bedding and laundry, especially items newly returned from travel, summer camps or cottages. Beds were frequently and carefully inspected. When infestations were found, they were dealt with promptly. Usually, an exterminator was called in and the home was sprayed. Interestingly, historical documents show remarkably little concern for pesticide use in the home, as items were not removed before the extermination process began.

The bed bug epidemic at the beginning of the 20th century led to all sorts of research. Much of what we know about bed bugs today is taken from research that was conducted at that time.

Next week: Stay tuned for the history of insecticides.

The information for this post was taken from The History of Bed Bug Management by Michael F. Potter.

The 1800s

In North America, bed bugs spread with the coming of the European settlers. The first method they used to deter the bloodsuckers was to make their beds of sassafras wood. Once complete, the bed’s crevices were doused in boiling water, arsenic and sulfur – chemicals we obviously can’t use today. While the solution provided temporary relief, it didn’t get rid of them completely.

As villages became cities, populations grew more and more crowded with people – and bed bugs. Increased transportation through ships and railways helped further spread the problem. Infestations were especially problematic in hotels and boarding houses where travellers unknowingly transported bugs from one location to another. Seasoned travellers learned to avoid the problem by pulling their beds away from the walls and immersing the legs in pans of oil. Other travellers used pyrethrum powder: “Dusted between the sheets of a bed, it will protect the sleeper from the most voracious hotel bug” (USDA Division of Entemology Bulletin, 1896).

Bed bugs were a particular problem to the poorer communities in the mid-1800s, especially in the more overcrowded and unclean areas. Wealthy homes suffered the least, particularly because they had an abundance of domestic help keep on top of regular cleaning. It is thought that vigourous housekeeping kept the problem at bay, and particular attention was paid to beds. Beds were completely broken down and doused; springs, slats and crevices were scrubbed in boiling water or grease from bacon. Both proved to be somewhat helpful. Bedding was also washed thoroughly. Perhaps the biggest benefit of vigourous bed cleaning was the early detection of infestations, during the easier to manage, more vulnerable stages. “The greatest remedy is cleanliness, and a constant care and vigilance every few days to examine all the crevices and joints, to make sure that none of the pests are hidden away” (USDA Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture, 1875).

Next week: The History of Bed Bug Management, Part II

Goodnight, sleep tight.

Don’t let the bed bugs bite.

If they do,

Hit them with a shoe,

Then they will not bother you.

It’s been around forever. In fact, my mom used to sing it to me when I was a kid. The rhyme got me thinking, though. Why have bed bugs reemerged? And why is getting rid of them such a challenge? Scientists at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) share new research that explains the challenges that bed bugs pose.

Bed bugs have been around forever. In fact, even the pharaohs of Egypt battled them in their day. Bed bugs, or Cimex lectularius, are pests. When they bite – and they will if they’re around – they cause inflammation and itching. Once they’ve entered your home, it can take several attempts to eradicate them once and for all. Their elimination usually comes at a heavy cost, too.

Recently, at the ASTMH annual meeting, scientists discussed why bed bugs have returned with such a vengeance. One conclusion they came to was that bed bugs are both hardy, and can interbreed without risking a weak and unhealthy next generation. What this means is that they can proliferate quickly.

The theory was further explored when scientists from North Carolina State University conducted two different studies in apartment buildings. What they discovered is that bed bugs from nearby buildings were very closely related, meaning that the infestation started off as small.

While inbreeding in other organisms can cause mutations that can kill a population, bed bugs are different, says one investigator. They can inbreed – even brothers and sisters – without any problems. Because they have the ability to mate with one another without risk, the population can expand exponentially. Another well-known pest, the cockroach, can do this as well.

The other reason for the return of bed bugs is one that we have explored many times in this blog; they have developed a resistance to the insecticide – pyrethroid – that used to kill them. The researchers have found some interesting information on this front, as well.

University of Kentucky entomologist Ken Haynes has been researching bed bugs. He and his team have found that certain enzymes in bed bugs help break down once effective insecticides. It is thought that scientists may actually be able to neutralize them and thereby increase the insecticide’s effectiveness.

Scientists are also working on more effective ways to attract and trap bed bugs. A team of scientists, led by Rajeev Vaidyanathan, PhD, has isolated the compounds that could draw bed bugs into traps.

But perhaps the biggest reason for the drastic increase in bed bug infestations is one that cannot be changed – the fact that we live in densely populated cities, which are havens for the pests. Not only that, but we’ve increased international travel, bringing pests from overseas as well.

The only way to get rid of bed bugs is to stay one step ahead of them and invest in new research.

Information for this post was taken from the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and EmaxHealth.

As with North America and other parts of the western world, the U.K. is also experiencing a steep rise in bed bug infestations. For this reason, parasitic research has increased there, as it has here in North America.

According to the article, bed bugs are deterred by human hair. In fact, Sheffield academics say that hairier skin may be the key to avoiding bed bug bites. The scientific journal, Biology Letters, reports that when hungry bugs are placed on shaved arms they’re more likely to try to feed than if they are placed on unshaved arms. In fact, researchers say that hair actually slows down bed bugs and warns the victim of an impending attack.

So just how did they test this theory?

Professor Michael Siva-Jothy of Sheffield University’s Department of Animal and Plant Sciences recruited some 29 very brave souls specifically for the job. To test the theory, they watched bed bugs as they found a place to feed – removing them only once they had a chance to get a bite in.

He found that hair – both the longer, more visible hairs and the finer, “vellus” hairs near the surface of the skin – deterred the insects from biting, and also acted as a warning system.

“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,” says Professor Siva-Jothy. Hair also slows bugs down while they try to make their way to the skin’s surface.

What’s interesting about this, though, is that even though men are naturally hairier than women, they don’t appear to be attacked less often than women are. In fact, the number of bites received by both sexes was almost identical.

Prof Siva-Jothy suggests that this is because bed bugs have evolved and adapted to their prey – they now head straight for the nearly hairless parts of both the female and male bodies, usually the wrists and ankles.

While one would think that those with an excess of hair would be safer, they’re actually more at risk. A mass of hair provides parasites with the perfect cover and makes them much more difficult to locate.

Evolutionary pressure

The BBC article goes on to talk about how humans came to be relatively less hairy than apes. Some scientists suggest that exchanging fur for clothes was just one way of making infestations and insect bites a less likely occurrence.

According to Professor Mark Pagel, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Reading, parasite bites are the major cause of disease and death worldwide, “making them a potentially enormous evolutionary pressure on early man.”

Since there is no other use for the thinner, “vellus” hair, it’s certainly possible that its development was a response to the selective pressures of the past.

“Mammals are unique in developing this wonderful fur, and humans are the only mammals to jettison it, so there must have been a very good reason to do so.”

Bed bugs had been almost entirely eradicated from the industrialized countries in the 1950s, but have begun to re-establish themselves in the past decade or so. Bed bugs are hard to control for a number of reasons. First, they’re nocturnal feeders, which means they only come out in the wee hours. They are very good at avoiding detection; they crawl into cracks, small spaces and even the tiny creases of soft furnishings. But the biggest reason why they are so hard to control is because they have developed a resistance to the chemicals that pest controllers have used to kill them.

The study’s results were presented at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene’s 60th annual meeting. Results showed that 90% of the 6 populations sampled in 21 U.S. states were resistant to the pesticides known as pyrethroids. Pyrethroids are used to kill unwanted bugs and flies.

Evolutionary biologist Warren Booth, who co-authored the report, explained their findings to the meeting’s attendees. He and his colleagues had collected bed bugs that he said were not domestic bed bugs, but imports.

“If bed bugs emerged from local refugia, such as poultry farms, you would expect the bed bugs to be genetically similar to each other,” said co-author Coby Schal. “This isn’t what we found.”

What the US team discovered was that the populations of bed bugs were very genetically diverse. What this suggests is that they originated from somewhere else. They also claim that they must have come here relatively recently, since the different populations haven’t had a chance to interbreed yet.

The report suggests that the possible source for the outbreaks is warmer climes.

“The obvious answer is the tropics, where they have used treated bed nets and high levels of insecticides on clothing and bedding to protect the military,” says Dr. Booth.

But not everyone believes this hypothesis. Clive Boase, a UK-based pest management specialist says that it is not the tropical bed bug (Cimex hemipterus) that is a problem in the US and the UK. Instead, he says, it is its temperate cousin, Cimex lectularius.

UK- based evolutionary biologist Richard Naylor agrees and says that he is surprised by their interpretation of the scientists’ results.

“It doesn’t seem that difficult to develop resistance or lose it; in lab cultures, if you stop exposing [bed bugs] to pyrethroids it drops out of lab populations very quickly,” he says.

No matter who’s correct, it’s always better to be safe than sorry. Take precautions no matter where you travel.

I read an interesting article on Canada.com this morning. Its author, Mike Stachiew, questions where all the bed bugs have gone, and implies that the North American epidemic is in fact not an epidemic at all.

Stachiew’s story: While travelling in northeastern America, Stachiew saw the occasional sign on the side of the road offering the services of exterminators that specialized in bed bug eradication. This time last year he was taking extra precautions while travelling, but this year, he says he hasn’t heard anything about them. I’m wondering how this is possible. The fact is, I’ve seen more bed bug related news this year than ever before.

Is the problem overstated? I think not.

After his US trip, Stachiew checked the Bed Bug Registry to see if the hotels he stayed at had any reports of the nasty little bugs. It turns out that one of them did, although he didn’t find bed bugs in the room he stayed in. It made him question how relevant the reports are. I have questioned the validity of those reports as well, and have often wondered how damaging they are to the businesses that receive them.

The problem is, what if they are valid? How does one know for sure?

This weekend and last, I had two friends go off to New York City, known bed bug haven, for a weekend vacation. I asked them where they were staying. They gave me the name of the hotels and I checked the Registry. The first hotel was clean, but the second had one report – a somewhat suspicious one, at that. It wasn’t particularly specific and detailed, meaning that the “welts” the person discovered on their body could have been from any number of things.

In both cases, my friends had heard nothing about bed bugs. In fact, they thought a simple aerosol can spray would get rid of them and it wasn’t worth cancelling their reservation. I informed them of their mistake, let them know just how difficult they can be to get rid of and cautioned them to play it safe. At the very least, follow the travel tips outlined in a previous blog.

Stachiew did make an interesting discovery, though. After a little research, he found that Google trends mirrored his thoughts. According to logistics, Google trends found that “bed bugs” peaked in 2010 and dropped substantially in 2011. There is, however, no way of knowing how accurate these findings are, and whether or not they represent bed bug outbreaks in reality. Interestingly, Google trends will even pinpoint specific regions so you can get a better idea of which areas are most affected. Take a look at the findings for New York City and you’ll see why I warned my friends.

Although “bed bug” isn’t trending as much as it had in 2010, that doesn’t mean that the problem is gone. If you’re traveling you still need to take precautions, especially if you’re visiting highly populated areas like New York City.

Check out these travel tips and plan accordingly.