/24-7PressRelease/ - University Park, PA, September 12, 2008 - An overwhelming resurgence of bed bugs throughout the world is causing alarm, especially in urban areas. A new manual developed from a New York City homeless shelter project includes bed bug prevention and how to control them safely using integrated pest management.
The epidemic of bed bugs is particularly evident in New York City, where most city residents live in multiple-unit housing. In 2005, New York City received almost 2,000 bed bug complaints, but just one year later this number soared to over 4,000, says Jody Gangloff-Kaufmann, area IPM specialist at Cornell University and project coordinator.
According to Gangloff-Kaufmann, "Bed bugs are blood-feeding parasites that bite people at night while they sleep. These tiny (less than 1/8 inch) insects are difficult to control because they hide during the day. However, bed bugs can also occur in other parts of the house where people spend a lot of time. Bed bug bites cause itchy welts on their victims, and bed bugs often leave small dark spots on sheets and other surfaces."
People become desperate to eliminate them, and in many cases will use illegal pesticide products or misuse legal products. "An alarming number of individuals report buying professional use or banned pesticides on the Internet and using them at home with no prior experience or training," says Gangloff-Kaufmann. "Pests like bedbugs and the pesticides used to control them are potential asthma triggers, which is approaching epidemic levels in urban areas," says Gangloff-Kaufmann.
In addition, victims of bed bugs can spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to hire a pest control professional who may be reluctant to guarantee the work because follow up visits and reinfestation are very common. Gangloff-Kaufmann reports that victims often resort to discarding their belongings, including mattresses, beds and other furniture, as well as moving from infested homes, all at great personal expense. "A manual that includes bed bug management strategies and relies on integrated pest management was urgently needed."
Integrated pest management, or IPM, is a common sense approach to managing pests that uses knowledge of pests' habits and needs to help residents implement pest prevention tactics for long-term control. Only pesticide products that are least-toxic and that pose the least risk of exposure to residents are used.
The project, supported by the Northeastern IPM Center and the New York State IPM Program, resulted in a manual for bed bug management in urban homeless shelters for pest control professionals, municipal agencies, and the public. Guidelines for Prevention and Management of Bed Bugs in Common Living Settings covers bed bug prevention, management and control, and education and awareness. The publication also includes fact sheets that can be used as stand-alone educational documents.
The publication is very practical because its contents were the result of recommendations from a stakeholder advisory group that was formed for this project and includes pest control professionals, university and extension staff, and NYC municipal agency officials. In addition, five site visits to homeless shelters in New York City helped to develop a series of experience-based protocols that can be implemented in shelters where bed bugs are a problem. "Long-term shelters are a particularly challenging situation, where bed bugs may thrive and are easily spread within and among shelters and homes as residents come and go," Gangloff-Kaufmann explains. "Yet because guests stay for extended periods of time, bed bugs have reliable access to blood from the shelter residents."
While the publication was produced for use in homeless shelters, the broad protocols can be easily adapted by anyone in group homes or other communal living situations. It is available as a downloadable PDF file from web site http://www.nysipm.cornell.edu/publications/bb%5Fguidelines/. For more information on the publication or to request a hard copy, contact Gangloff-Kaufmann at (631) 420-2022 or e-mail jlg23@cornell.edu.
The Northeastern Integrated Pest Management Center fosters the development and adoption of IPM, a science-based approach to managing pests in ways that generate economic, environmental, and human health benefits. The Center works in partnership with stakeholders from agricultural, urban, and rural settings to identify and address regional priorities for research, education, and outreach. For more information, visit http://NortheastIPM.org.
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