{"id":597307,"date":"2023-11-10T21:01:36","date_gmt":"2023-11-10T18:01:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/why-everyone-is-so-freaked-out-about-bed-bugs-right-now\/"},"modified":"2023-11-10T21:01:36","modified_gmt":"2023-11-10T18:01:36","slug":"why-everyone-is-so-freaked-out-about-bed-bugs-right-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/why-everyone-is-so-freaked-out-about-bed-bugs-right-now\/","title":{"rendered":"#Why everyone is so freaked out about bed bugs right now"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(Photograph courtesy of Yasmin Akhtar, photo illustration by Maclean\u2019s<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This fall, as models and celebs swept through Paris Fashion Week, so too did an outbreak of small, flat blood-sucking bed bugs. \u201cNo one is safe,\u201d warned Paris\u2019s deputy mayor, Emmanuel Gr\u00e9goire<\/a>, when asked whether infestations were confined to a certain area.<\/span>\u00a0Seven schools were forced to close, and sightings of bed bugs in homes, hotels and even the Metro system sparked mass anxiety. <\/span>The crisis stoked fears that bed bugs could spread around the world as fashion week attendees boarded flights home\u2014likely with some stowaways tucked into their clothes and luggage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

University of British Columbia entomologist Yasmin Akhtar spent five years researching bed bugs and she has some scary stats to report. Two of Canada\u2019s biggest cities, Toronto and Vancouver, are the worst offenders, but infestations have popped up far from urban areas, too. So, instead of worrying about Paris, she believes it\u2019s more important to understand how these bugs behave and what we can do to avoid\u2014or, if worst comes to worst, control\u2014any infestations here at home.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n

First things first: how will I know a bed bug if I see one?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Bed bugs are tiny reddish-brown nocturnal insects, oval-shaped and about the size of an app<\/a>le seed. They feed on the blood of humans and need a blood meal to develop through their five nymphal stages before they become adults. Female bed bugs also need blood meals to lay eggs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Bed bugs: Montreal\u2019s most annoying university roommates<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

During the day, they hide in beds, furniture, even books. At nighttime, they come out of their hiding places and suck blood from humans. Some people can have an allergic reaction to the bites, including skin rashes and swelling.<\/span><\/p>\n

What are the biggest misconceptions people have about bed bugs?<\/b><\/p>\n

People may not realize that bed bugs can live without a meal for a year or more. So if there\u2019s a bed bug infestation in an apartment and then it\u2019s vacant for a year, they can survive. But they like clutter. Clutter provides them with hiding places. They don\u2019t transmit disease, and they aren\u2019t associated with bad hygiene. They have nothing to do with cleanliness or dirtiness.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Paris is at the top of lots of people\u2019s minds when it comes to bed bugs. I know people who dressed up as French bed bugs for Halloween. How worried do Canadians really need to be about bed bugs hitching a ride all the way here from Paris?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

If people are going to travel<\/a> from Paris to here, of course some of them are going to bring bed bugs\u2014bed bugs can crawl into luggage, so people can easily carry them from place to place. They can also hide in airplane seats. But we should not worry too much about that because travel has been happening for a long time, and we already have bed bugs in Canada. Especially in Toronto and in Vancouver, there are high levels of infestations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve read that about 30 per cent of people<\/a>\u00a0don\u2019t have reactions to bed bug bites at all. How would they know if they have them?<\/b><\/p>\n

When an infestation increases\u2014and an infestation can spread very fast once a female lays eggs\u2014there are bed bugs everywhere. You can find them in the seams of a mattress, in electrical outlets, behind doors, and in furniture. I\u2019ve seen them in kitchens, in bathrooms, in drawers, on picture frames and even behind curtains. Once an infestation increases, they move throughout the apartment. They also may smell like almonds.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Some are calling the current prevalence of bed bugs a \u201cresurgence,\u201d while others\u2014like <\/b>France\u2019s transport minister<\/b><\/a>\u2014are denying this idea. Globally, what kind of outbreak are we actually looking at right now?<\/b><\/p>\n

For about two decades, there\u2019s been a global resurgence, but the cases are underreported. Why would a landlord or a hotel manager want to report a bed bug infestation? Their business would be affected. Tenants, for fear of being thrown out of their apartment, might also not want to report.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a free public database called the <\/span>Bed Bug Registry<\/span><\/a>, which was founded in 2006, where people can report bed bug infestations throughout North America. It shows about 20,000 posts covering 12,000 locations, but that doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019ve only had 20,000 infestations. If there was a rule that everybody needed to report infestations, the story would be different.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So there\u2019s been a global resurgence for two decades now\u2014what\u2019s behind it?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Travel is a contributing factor. I\u2019m afraid that frequent exchange of secondhand items, like furniture and items, also plays an important role. If those items are infected with bed bugs, you\u2019re bringing the bugs into your home. But the most important factor is that bed bugs began developing resistance to insecticides. DDT was effectively used to control bed bugs after the Second World War, but bed bugs developed immunity. After that, they developed cross-resistance to pyrethroids, another type of insecticide.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If this has been going on for a while, what\u2019s different about the current moment?<\/b><\/p>\n

During COVID, we didn\u2019t hear much about bed bug infestations because of social<\/a> distancing. People weren\u2019t going to restaurants and movies<\/a>, and they weren\u2019t travelling. But after COVID, we\u2019ve seen an increase in travel, and whenever there\u2019s an increase in travel, we also find an increase in infestations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How big is Canada\u2019s bed bug problem right now?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

It\u2019s the same as the past two decades. Sometimes it peaks and sometimes it goes down, but the problem is still there, and it\u2019s widespread. If you look at the reports from the pest control company Orkin, they\u2019ve found that there are <\/span>25 cities in Canada that have been heavily infested with bed bugs<\/span><\/a>. Out of that list, 15 cities are in Ontario. The top two cities are Toronto and Vancouver, because big cities bring in people from all over the world.\u00a0My colleagues and I used to go out and collect bed bugs in the field, so we know how bad infestations can be. Even some hotel managers in Vancouver, who were serious about getting rid of their infestations, allowed us to go inside and collect them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Are bed-bug bylaws a good idea?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

You\u2019ve probably seen more bed bugs than anybody should reasonably see in their lifetime.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

I have seen <\/span>so <\/span><\/i>many bed bugs. I\u2019ve seen them in socks under people\u2019s beds, in clothes, in books\u2014I saw one mattress with thousands and thousands of bed bugs, which we took back to the lab to use for research.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If people are seeing bed bugs on transit and in library books, that would mean infestations in their city are pretty bad. What can people do to avoid bringing bed bugs home?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Monitor your luggage when you come home from travels. Don\u2019t put it on your bed. Bed bugs don\u2019t fly, but they can crawl, so sometimes they can crawl into your bags. When you come back from visiting people\u2019s houses, don\u2019t put your clothes on the bed. You have to be careful. There are bed bugs on planes, on public transport, even in hospitals. There have been cases where people have taken library books to read in bed and they have bed bugs, so when the books are returned, people in the libraries get bitten. A few days ago, a guy told me he bought a sweater from a thrift store and it had bed bugs, so his house got infested. Facebook Marketplace has also become very popular among people of all ages\u2014free stuff and secondhand items are very attractive\u2014but if a house is infested with bed bugs, then of course, they will get to new houses through furniture and clothing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been visiting infested apartments to get bed bugs for my research. They get into my clothes, they get into my shoes. The babies are so small. As soon as they come into contact with your skin, they begin feeding and their size increases. They\u2019re hungry, they\u2019re thirsty. They want to drink blood. But when we get back to the lab, we change our clothes and shoes and put them into a heated area to get rid of the bugs. You have to be careful, because if you bring home one female, they\u2019re going to start a whole colony. But if you take a few precautions, things will be under control.<\/span><\/p>\n

Can you spot them with the naked human eye?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Oh, yes. An aggregation pheromone keeps them together, so they\u2019re found in big crowds, which makes it easy to spot and kill them. Their poop is dried blood, so you can see red spots on sheets, and you can see their white eggs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And what can we do if we find bed bugs in our home?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

You can monitor the bed bug infestation, get rid of clutter and identify infestation areas. They like to hide in the seams of mattresses, and you also have to inspect headboards and seal cracks in furniture. You have to wash sheets and pillows in very hot water, maybe once or twice a week. Sometimes you might have to get rid of an old mattress and buy a new one.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You can also use natural insecticides, like diatomaceous earth, to get rid of bed bugs. You can sprinkle it in cracks and close to furniture, and it will deprive bed bugs of water, rupturing their cuticles. They will die of dehydration. That\u2019s a very effective way of killing them. They can pick up the product and carry it to other bed bugs, which will kill those bed bugs too.\u00a0<\/span>These are the necessary steps that you can take to eliminate bed bugs, even if a pest control company is coming to apply treatments. It\u2019s not enough to have just one\u2014both need to work together.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve read that diatomaceous earth can be dangerous<\/a>. Should people be buying food-grade versions?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Yes, people should buy food grade. You need very little\u2014you don\u2019t need to sprinkle it in a whole room.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As rents rise, it becomes increasingly difficult for tenants to move to new housing. If their current landlord isn\u2019t helping them deal with an infestation, that can leave them stuck in infested units.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Yes, totally. Controlling bed bugs should be done with the co-operation of tenants, government agencies, and pest control agencies. The government has to play a role, because if they make laws that owners are responsible for reporting bed bug infestations and paying to control them, that will be more effective. Bed bugs can move from one apartment to another, so in apartment buildings, it is very important to clean or spray all of the apartments in order to eradicate infestations in that building.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0How the bed bug took over the world<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

In some U.S. states, there\u2019s a law that landlords need to report bed bug infestations to agencies. They have to tell tenants in a building about the bed bug infestations. When landlords and pest companies work together, there\u2019s often a decline in bed bug infestations.<\/span><\/p>\n

What do you think is the worst part of having bed bugs?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Oh my god, it\u2019s psychological. If a person is working full-time and can\u2019t sleep because of bed bug bites, how will they function the next day?\u00a0 I\u2019ve seen people with mobility issues who were sitting in a chair all the time and being bitten by bed bugs. But sometimes entire apartments are infested with bed bugs and they\u2019re feeding on you, and you might not even realize.<\/span><\/p>\n

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n