Don’t Bring Bedbugs Home After Traveling

Long gone are the days of flopping down on the mattress in your hotel room after a long day of traveling.

Health Canada’s website confirms:“Bed bugs are making a comeback. They can now be found everywhere from homeless shelters to five-star hotels to single-family dwellings to public transportation. Anyone can get an infestation of bed bugs,and this does not mean a lack of cleanliness.”

Significant infestations have been reported in Vancouver,Calgary,Winnipeg,Toronto and Montreal. This past summer,Toronto Public Health statistics showed the number of cases in that city had increased 1,000% from five years earlier.

In a Bedbug Registry list of the Top 15 most infested cities,New York City, Philadelphia and Detroit are identified as the top three. A list from Insight Pharmaceuticals places Toronto third,Vancouver eighth and New York City and Columbus,Ohio,as Nos. 1 and 2.

Below is a list of tips to prevent bringing home unwanted bedbugs:

• Before you travel,check out bedbugregistry.com,which has information on hundreds of bedbug reports (though anonymous) around North America.
• Use a luggage liner or garbage bags to protect items that are delicate or cannot be heat treated.
• Upon arrival in your hotel room,place your closed suitcase off the floor and on the provided rack away from furniture and walls. Do not put your suitcase on the bed because that’s where bedbugs mainly hide.  A simple magnifying glass and a flashlight are your best tools,look for itty-bitty fecal stains.
• For an extra measure of protection,some travelers put their suitcases on the toilet or in the bathtub because bedbugs cannot climb up porcelain.
• Hang as much as you can in the closet or on hangers hung on the shower rod
• Keep your suitcase zipped up and put dirty clothes in a sealed plastic bags. Never leave clothes on the floor or bed.
• Once you’re home,keep your suitcase in your garage,on your patio,or in your bathtub. Remove your bagged dirty laundry load by load and wash and dry on the hottest settings possible.  The heat will kill bedbug hitchhikers.