Bed Bug Control – CDC and EPA Announcement

Scanning Electron Micrograph of Bed Bug

The subject of Bed Bug Control has been addressed in a joint statement by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the Environmental Protection Agency.  Here is a direct quote - “the United States is one of many countries now experiencing an alarming resurgence in the population of bed bugs.”   In this article, the CDC and the EPA state that many city and county health care agencies are being overwhelmed with complaints about bed bugs.  Apparently, local agencies have neither the funding nor the expertise to handle insect outbreaks. Furthermore, because the biology of bed bugs is so unique, private pest control companies are also having difficulty.

Bed bugs are expert hitch hikers that often hide in luggage and clothing and are then spread from one infested hotel to another or to individual homes.  A bed bug can go without a blood meal for months.  They are very secretive and typically do not venture out of hiding except at night.  Although visible to the human eye, they can easily be overlooked or miss-identified as some other insect.  Most of the time, the first sign of a bed bug infestation is a telltale pattern of bites.  Generally, bed bug bites are in a line; however, this is not always the case and sometimes bed bug bites are mistaken for flea or mosquito bites.  Bed bugs can hide in crevices or between walls and partitions thus making the application of insecticides very difficult.  Moreover, some populations of bed bugs are resistant to many of the chemicals that private pesticide applicators use. 

One of the concerns of the EPA is that homeowners might try to use higher rates of application in order to control an infestation.  Another possibility is that a homeowner might be tempted to use pesticides that are not registered for in-home use.  The Centers for Disease Control and the Environmental Protection Agency are advocating an IPM (Integrated Pest Management) approach that does not rely strictly on pesticides.  When you consider the poor effectiveness and potential toxicity of pesticides, it is obvious that bed bug traps will be a major part of the effort to get rid of bed bugs.

It is particularly noteworthy that “bed bug control” is described as a national problem that must be addressed by a coordinated effort on the part of federal, state, tribal, and local agencies.  The CDC is working with experts in various fields of biological research including medicine and entomology.  The EPA will concentrate on the proper use of pesticides.  Other federal agencies such as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) are also involved in the bed bug control effort.  (Visit http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehs/publications/bed_bugs_cdc-epa_statement.htm for more information.)

Bed Bug Control – An International Effort

In our previous post, we reported that researchers in Britain are working on a new method of bed bugs control and have had some promising results.  Hopefully, the British bed bug trap will arrive on the market soon.  For now, we can use ClimbUp Bed Bug Control along with bed bug glue traps, specifically BuggyBeds.  We would advise everyone to pay close attention to the customer reviews when purchasing bed bug control products.  There are a lot of products out there and some work better than others.  See bed bug traps review for details.