Yellowknife is the capital and largest city in the Northwest Territories, but the population is only 20,000.  From the article below and from several phone calls we’ve received from Yellowknife residents, it sounds like the bedbug problem is significant.

The good news is that health officials and residents are being extremely aggressive and proactive in their efforts to treat the bedbugs by using both chemical and physical methods.

To view the original article source, click here.

Bedbugs are still biting around the city, and the territory has only one man who can help them deal with it.

Concerned Northern Properties tenant Gerard “Mike” LeBlanc provided Yellowknifer with documents confirming his unit in Ptarmigan Apartments has been invaded by the creepy crawlers. This confirmation was dated Jan. 19. Further documentation shows that an initial bed bug treatment was scheduled for the following Thursday, Jan. 26, but was later cancelled because the NWT’s only pest control specialist, the “Orkin Man” based out of Hay River, had to cancel his bi-monthly trip to the capitol city due to an abscessed tooth. LeBlanc received notice on Jan. 31 that the company’s pesticide contractor was rescheduled to spray his apartment to kill the pest on Feb. 22.

A delay in treating a bedbug infestations “would just give them more time to multiply,” said Duane Fleming, territorial chief environmental health officer. The bugs do not pose a significant health risk, because they have never been shown to spread disease.

“They’re not considered a public health hazard that way,” said Fleming. “However, they can cause anxiety – people are afraid to fall asleep or they can interrupt your sleep.”

Bedbugs, which grow to about five millimeters in size,feed on human blood, normally at nighttime.

“I can’t go to sleep at night without things crawling on me or feeling like things are crawling on me,” said LeBlanc. “It’s hell.”

Bedbugs are an ongoing pest problem in Yellowknife, and are not likely to be eradicated any time soon, said Fleming.

“It’s a worldwide epidemic. They exist everywhere,” said Fleming.

“Because people travel, they will always be bringing bedbugs to the Northwest Territories.”

Once thought to be nearly eradicated in North America, bedbugs have become a major problem worldwide over the last 10 years, said Fleming. Yellowknife and the rest of Canada’s North was one of the last places in the world to get them.

Officials with Northern Properties declined to comment for this story, however, the landlord does have detailed protocol that they follow whenever they are alerted to bedbugs in any of their units.

Within 24 hours, an initial inspection should be completed. The purpose of the inspection is to confirm there are, in fact, bedbugs there. They will also remove any badly contaminated furniture from the apartment, which will not be replaced by the rental company. The final step of the initial inspection is to sprinkle diatomaceous earth – the fossilized remains of hard-shelled algae –on the floors of the unit and possibly other infected areas.

A full treatment is then scheduled with the Orkin Man, who visits Yellowknife every two weeks.

During a bedbug outbreak in 2010, the same Orkin Man was responsible for curbing a large outbreak of bedbugs, and before last month had not missed a Yellowknife visit in years, said a source who did not want to be named.

There were apparently 25 Northern Property units infested with bedbugs in 2010, while in the month of January, there were six units scheduled to be treated for the pests. These figures could not be confirmed, however. It is also unlikely that Northern Property units are the only ones currently infested with bed bugs.

In Yellowknife, the bugs can be found in any type of dwelling, said Fleming. Factors such as cleanliness and type of residence have very little affect on whether a home will get bedbugs. However, it is possible for the bugs to spread between units in an apartment building.

“If there is a small opening like a crack, they can move from one room to another or one apartment to another,” said Fleming.

The best way to prevent bedbugs is to be very careful about what comes into your home, said Fleming, especially after travelling or when bringing used furniture into a home. Inspect these items carefully and wash them with hot water to keep these pests at bay.

The Toronto Public Health board asked the province Friday to keep the cash coming to fight bed bugs in the city.

Around $1.2 million in one-time funding from the Ontario Health Ministry to combat bed bug infestations among Toronto’s most vulnerable populations runs out March 31.

Dr. David McKeown, the city’s chief medical officer of health, told health board members the funding is helping treat bed bugs in vulnerable populations.

“These are complex situations, they take a lot of effort in order to deal with them effectively,” he told the board Friday.

With the provincial cash, public health’s bed bug team assessed 4,146 units between May 1 and Dec. 31, 2011. Of those units around 978 had bed bugs.

The team coordinated 175 extreme cleanings and unit preparations for vulnerable residents before their units were treated for bed bugs, referred 59 vulnerable residents to public health nurses and responded to 1,248 bed bug service requests from the public.

McKeown warned the funding could end before current work on resolving some bed bug infestations has been completed and the health unit isn’t seeing any “let up” in the identification of new severe infestations.

He said city budget cutbacks also mean the health unit can’t pick up the cost of the bed bug work if the provincial funding stops.

The health board also voted to have staff find ways for the city to tackle bed bug infestations more aggressively, particularly in buildings where nothing is being done about the pests.

Board member Councillor Paula Fletcher asked staff to find a way for the city to go in and clean up bed bugs in buildings where landlords refuse to tackle the problem. The cost of the clean-up would be added to the landlord’s tax bill.

“If a landlord is chronically refusing to deal with bed bugs the city could go in or public health could go in, do the clean-up and put it on the tax bill,” Fletcher said.

Fletcher and the rest of the board also asked staff to develop a scale to measure bed bug infestations in buildings and determine a point when the problem would be made public.

“I think that might get some more action,” she said, adding it would be similar to the city’s restaurant inspection notification.

“I think that is quite a helpful thing for people to know … and then I think things will get cleaned up a lot faster,” Fletcher said.

To view the original article, click here.

Edmonton’s Guide to Preventing and Getting Rid of Bed Bug Safely

The guide covers topics such as:

• how to recognize a bedbug
• how bedbugs grow and reproduce
• the health effects of bedbugs
• methods for preventing bedbugs from infesting your home
• how to inspect for bedbugs
• tools you can use to trap and kill & prevent bedbugs
• physical, chemical and cleaning measures for getting rid of bedbugs
• what landlords and building managers can do about bedbugs

The guide assists readers to:

• learn about bedbugs and how they thrive
• prevent bedbug from infesting your home
• safely rid your home of bedbugs if they do occur
• selecting and working with a pest control operator

The resurgence of bed bugs in Ottawa has touched city libraries, with periodic infestations at the main downtown branch and the small one on Rideau Street, according to library administrators.

The most recent report was of “bedbug activity” in a book at the main branch just last week, said Elaine Condos, the library system’s manager of system-wide services and innovation. (She’s also responsible for the main branch, and will be the acting chief librarian when Barbara Clubb retires at the end of the year.) “Bedbug activity” means dead bugs, larvae or droppings, though not actual live bugs.

“Ottawa Public Health has been taking the lead,” Condos said, including running a training session for library staff about a month ago. It’s not that different, she said, from training staff to deal with difficult patrons or other routine troubles in modern big-city life. The bed bug population is thought to have increased dramatically over the past decade or so with more frequent travel and, especially, reduced use of pesticides. Last May, the health department reported a doubling in the number of bed bug complaints between 2009 and 2010. They’re a serious problem in social housing and plenty of high-end landlords and hoteliers have spent small fortunes trying to eradicate them.

Bed bugs can be a real nuisance but the health agency doesn’t formally consider them a health threat, because they don’t carry disease and their nocturnal bites, while unpleasant, aren’t deadly. Condos said each library branch has been supplied with Ziploc bags and rubber gloves for library staff to use if they encounter a book with evidence of bed bugs in it. And they call in the exterminators contracted with the city’s public-works department.

It’s easy for bed bugs to make it into a library. Circulating books spend weeks at a time in people’s homes before coming back to the shelves. All sorts of people enter, linger with books and magazines and computers on the furniture, and leave to make way for more. Ottawa’s public library prides itself on being a haven for people from all walks of life, including those who visit mostly for some warmth and quiet human contact, let alone the free enlightenment.

“They are the living room of the downtown and you get a real colourful cast of characters coming in the front door,” said Councillor Jan Harder, who chairs the library board. In an environment like that, there’s no way to keep all bugs out forever. But on the other hand, libraries aren’t terribly nice places for bedbugs to stay and breed: the critters are most active when they feed at night, when typically there’s nobody around, and they like to sleep close to their food sources.

At the same time, it’s unusual for bed bugs to make their way onto clothes that are actually being worn — more typically, they’d find their way into travellers’ suitcases or clothing that’s been stored. It’s not impossible that they could ride home on a library patron but it’s not likely, either.

Last October, libraries in Burnaby and New Westminster, B.C., were closed several days for pest control when patrons found live bedbugs in their books, and a library user in Vancouver reported finding some, too. Earlier in the year, Edmonton dealt with bedbugs in three libraries, though each outbreak was considered isolated and minor. Similar incidents have been reported in Toronto libraries and the Grande Bibliothèque in downtown Montreal, which has also, from time to time, dealt with lice.

In the case of a real infestation, professional exterminators steam-clean the affected area and either dispose of or gently bake books that might have bugs in them — temperatures of more than about 45 C kill bedbugs. (In Ottawa, “we throw them away,” Condos said, and no full closure of a branch has ever been required.) Staff are told to give returned books a careful once-over before reshelving them, just to be sure. It’s a less awful process than evicting the bugs from a home where people routinely sleep, which often entails buying new mattresses, harshly laundering or discarding a lot of clothes and vacating while the exterminators work.

Club and Condos said besides routine cleaning and occasional exterminator visits, the library has addressed the bedbug situation by buying more “hard-surface” furniture instead of soft upholstered pieces. The newer stuff is harder for bed bugs to hide in and it’s more durable and easier to clean.

“It’s just like in nursing homes and hospitals,” Clubb said. “Any institution where you have a lot of people moving through and they’re spending a lot of time.”

Click here to see the original article source.

Bedbugs are most commonly found in bedrooms but infestations can also occur in other rooms such as  bathrooms, living rooms, and laundry rooms.  Top bedbug hiding spots are

-Box Springs

-Mattress

-Couch/sofa

-Bed frame/headboard

-Walls/baseboards

-Nightstand

Other common hiding bedbug spots:

-Bedside table clutter – books, picture frames, clocks, etc

-Pillows

-Quilts, blankets, sheets

-Around window and door frames

-Behind electrical outlet covers and phone jack plates

-Between flooring and baseboards

-Inside hollow items such as table lamps

-Between the folds of drapery, curtains or bed skirts

-In items stored under the bed

-Between couch cushions

What to look for:

Finding bedbugs can be difficult because they can be very small and flat and can hide in tiny spaces and climb through thin cracks the width of a credit card.

Look for blood spots and smears on bedding, pajamas, or mattresses and other areas close to the bed – these may indicate that bedbugs have been feeding.

Adult bedbugs are oval in shape and smaller than an apple seed – usually 4 – 9mm.  Their color varies depending on where they are in their life cycle.  Newly hatched bedbugs are 1.5mm and nearly colorless – although they turn red after feeding.  Adult bedbugs are generally brown but turn reddish-brown after feeding.  As young bedbugs grow and mature, they shed their exoskeleton several times.  Look for shed exoskeletons while searching for signs of bedbugs.

In some cases, the accumulation of bedbug cast skins, and fecal spots, and bedbug eggs are visible under close inspection.

What to do if you find bedbugs:

Discard you mattress or seal your mattress and pillows with a plastic or hypoallergenic zipped covers. A young bedbug can live for several months without feeding and an adult bedbugs can survive for up to a year.  Sealing mattresses this traps the bedbugs inside and prevents them from feeding which will kill them the bedbugs over time.

Do not apply any pesticide to mattresses or other surfaces that will come in contact with the human skin unless the pesticide specifically states that the product can be used in this manner. Food grade diatomaceous earth is an all natural pesticide and one of the best kept secrets in the war against bed bugs.   Try sprinkling food grade diatomaceous earth inside your mattress cover before sealing it up.

Wash all your sheets, mattress pads, pillows, and other washable materials that could have come into contact with bedbugs in the hottest water possible to use without damaging your items.  Place them in a hot dryer – again on the hottest setting possible.

You can vacuum to capture bed bugs and their eggs, but be sure to immediately place the vacuum bag into a plastic bad, seal it tight and dispose of it immediately.

Additional resources:

How to Check Your Bed for Bedbugs

Killing Bedbugs – Tips and Tricks

Bedbug Signs – 4 Signs You Have Bedbugs

External Link – University of Kentucky Bedbug FAQ

Diatoms are small, single celled organisms and a form of algae, with hard outer shells that can be found in bodies of freshwater, saltwater and soils. As they die, the hard shells of the diatoms form layers on the beds of the waters they inhabit and over millions of years these become diatomaceous earth. Depending on its source Diatomaceous earth can have different grades, the most applicable being Fresh-Water Food Grade, which is edible.  Diatomaceous earth is porous and abrasive and these properties lend themselves to a number of uses, but for the purpose of this article we will concentrate on its use as an insecticide.

All insects, from bedbugs to scorpions, have a layer of compounds covering their bodies known as Circulatory Lipids. These compounds protect and contain liquid within the insect and prevent dehydration, but are susceptible to attack. For example, heating can melt the layer of lipids on a bug. Once this layer is gone it cannot be recovered. An insect without its protective lipid layer will rapidly lose both liquid and bodyweight, in a process called desiccation.

When insects come into contact with diatomaceous earth, their protective lipid layer is removed by the abrasive dust, leading to dehydration and eventually killing the insects. An adult bedbug will desiccate and die 24-48 hours after contact with Diatomaceous earth.

Food Grade DE can be applied to the coat of animals to treat fleas, ticks or other hair born pests and can be fed to your pets in order to treat worms and other parasites. DE can even be used as a soil additive to treat against garden pests.

There are many other benefits that DE has over other traditional pesticides. It is all natural, and its effectiveness relies on physical means – not poisons – making it impossible for insects like bedbugs to develop a resistance to it. It cannot expire and it can be laid in the crevices and hard to reach places of your home for long term pest prevention.

The Burnaby Public Library’s Metrotown main branch has had an attack of bedbugs in its thriller-mystery section, causing the library to clear out several shelves for treatment.

A reader told library staff last week there was a dead bug in a book, which was immediately put in a plastic bag. The insect was identified as a bedbug.

Deb Thomas, the manager of the Bob Prittie Metrotown branch library, said a pest control company was hired, which used a sniffer dog to identify the area where a few more dead bedbugs were found.

The area has been treated by the pest control company, which steam-cleaned the shelves. The books that were removed are being heat-treated as a precautionary measure, said Thomas.

The library decided not to issue a general public alert because of the panic that could result over the bedbugs, which are annoying but not dangerous, said Thomas.

Instead, the library contacted a handful of readers of books in the hardcover thriller-mystery section, where the bedbugs appeared to have a taste for W.E.D. Griffin novels on the Second World War.

“Unfortunately, it’s something that libraries are beginning to have to deal with,” said Thomas, noting this is the first known incident of bedbugs at Burnaby Public Library.

Libraries in Canada and the U.S. have been exposed to bedbugs, including in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.

Jean Kavanagh, communications manager for the Vancouver Public Library, said the city’s public libraries have had some isolated cases of bedbugs, but only a few bugs at a time,

The library has a procedure for dealing with the bugs, which includes putting the book in a sealed bag and disposing of it. The occupational and health staff are notified, and if necessary, the area is cleaned, said Kavanagh.

Luckily, libraries are not great environments for bedbugs, as there are no warm bodies for them to feed on overnight, said Kavanagh.

The Vancouver Coastal Health Authority notes bedbugs are not associated with the transmission of human disease, but some people can have an allergic reaction to their bites.

Adult bedbugs – about the size and shape of an apple seed – are very resilient and can survive more than a year without feeding. The bedbugs prefer to hide close to where they feed and go back to the same hiding spot, according to information on Vancouver Coastal Health’s website.

The bugs will crawl more than 30 metres to obtain a blood meal.

To view the original article, click here.

Over the past summer, North America has been gripped by bedbug fever — and not in a good way. The minuscule pests have gotten out of control: In New York, they forced the closure of several high-end retailers, bedeviled Bill Clinton’s Harlem headquarters, and were recently discovered in Google’s offices.

While New York is officially the most bedbug-ridden city in the country, the nocturnal bloodsuckers have become a problem across the country, as the emergence of pesticide-resistant strains of the bugs have made them harder and harder to fight. In 2002, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency declared them a public health pest and, in 2009, it held a national summit to work on the problem.

A vast industry has sprouted up to fight infestation: from bug-sniffing dogs (particularly Beagles) to portable fabric steamers to undercover exterminators, the front lines of the bedbug battle are jammed with all manner of measures, including pricey and high- and low-tech options. Prevention, meanwhile, is the most effective form of bedbug treatment — and it’s largely an open market. Currently, there’s one proven method for preventing an infestation: mattress encasements. Priced between $75 and $180, a well-made cloth encasement ensures that bedbugs inside a mattress or box spring cannot come out to bite. And, if new bedbugs come into the home, encasements make it much harder for them to hide.

Part of the reason for the general lack of bedbug prevention services is that preparation for the little monsters is not easily packaged, marketed or sold: It requires significant lifestyle changes and a great deal of thought. Barring the unlikely development of new pesticides or an EPA decision to permit the use of banned chemicals, bedbugs are here to stay, which means that fighting them will either require a bottomless wallet or a vastly different perspective about cleanliness and prevention.

Eternal Vigilance: The Price of Freedom from Bedbugs

Mattress enclosures are helpful for protecting against bedbugs, but careful, constant observation is the greatest weapon in the bedbug arsenal. The best way to save money on cleanup and extermination is by watching carefully for signs of the bloodsuckers and responding quickly when they show up.

There are two useful early warning signs of a bedbug problem: bites and blood spots. Unfortunately, while itchy bug bites may draw attention to the problem, they aren’t the best indicator. To begin with, between 30% and 50% of people aren’t allergic to bedbug bites, and they often remain blissfully unaware that they’ve even been bitten. Of the remaining 50% to 70%, most will only show small welts that are indistinguishable from mosquito bites. In fact, the main difference between mosquito and bedbug bites is that the little redcoats often leave a line of two or three bites — a formation that some experts refer to as “breakfast, lunch and dinner.”

An even better indication that the critters have arrived is brown or black spots on bedding. Bedbugs often defecate while eating, leaving behind smears of partially digested blood. Later, when they return to their lairs, they excrete even more, depositing telltale collections of dark spots. If either dark spots or the three-bite formation show up, chances are good that bedbugs are nearby.

Why Baby Bedbugs Turn Red

Dealing with bedbugs requires “integrated pest management,” a mix of techniques that attack the tiny bloodsuckers on a variety of fronts. In addition to killing the bugs that have already taken over an area, it’s important to protect against future infestations. This involves completely and thoroughly cleaning the infected space, as well as making changes to reduce the chance of future visits.

After finding bites or blood spots, the next step is to find the culprits. Unfortunately, bedbugs are extremely hard to detect. Fully grown specimens are about the same size as an apple seed and have a dark brown color. Younger bugs, or nymphs, are almost transparent, except when they are feeding — the victim’s blood can be seen through their skin, giving them a translucent red appearance.

Bedbugs cluster in dark, confined spaces. According to Mike Simpson, director of marketing for mattress enclosure manufacturer Protect-a-Bed, a University of Kentucky study found that 65% of bedbugs live in or around the bed. They often hide in the seams of a mattress, around the edge piping, or in the box spring. Susan Jones, an associate professor of entomology at Ohio State University, notes that they can move in behind baseboards or picture frames, in electrical sockets or in furniture. To clear them out, it’s vital to search — and vacuum — every nook and cranny of the home.

Bedbugs also love to hide in clothing. In order to protect against an infestation, it’s important to clean and — most crucially — dry every garment that could be infected. Clothes need to be left in the dryer for at least a half hour at the highest possible temperature; afterward, they should be sealed in plastic containers until the entire living space is clean, as they can be easily re-infested.

Sucking Up the Suckers

Another problem is bedbug eggs. Even after all bedbugs are cleared out of a home, any eggs that are left behind can quickly mature, leading to a fast re-infestation. Unfortunately, getting rid of eggs is complicated: they are tiny — about the size of a speck of dust — and light colored. Also, as Jones notes, they have “a sticky coating that glues them in place.” Removing them requires a stiff-brush or vacuum attachment and a lot of scrubbing.

Bedbugs can also live inside vacuum cleaner bags, hoses and attachments, re-infesting a home even after they are cleared out. To protect against survivors, Jones suggests vacuuming up a half cup of corn starch or talc: the atomized powder will asphyxiate any hangers-on. Afterward, to insure against re-infestation, it’s important to quickly and thoroughly dispose of any vacuum bags by sealing them in a plastic bag and immediately dumping them in trash receptacles that are located outside the home.

Jones highlights the importance of cleanliness for fighting bedbugs, noting that “You can be the best housekeeper in the world and get bedbugs, but if you’re not a good housekeeper, you’ll keep bedbugs.” The filthy suckers love to hide in piles of clothing, dirty laundry, old newspapers, or other clutter.

Jones notes that dumpster diving, thrift-store shopping, and buying things from eBay are all potentially dangerous invitations to an infestation. Before bringing used items into a home, it’s important to make sure that they are clean.

Making the Bedbug Problem Worse

Some companies have used the bedbug epidemic as a way to make a quick buck. Jones notes that many “natural” pest-fighting alternatives have questionable value. For example, diatomaceous earth, a popular nonpoisonous insect killer, may days to work, while lavender- and cedar-based bug killers are unproven.

Even worse, some companies are offering products that will actually make bedbug issues worse. For example, foggers or bug bombs — common tools in the insect-fighting arsenal — can turn a small bedbug problem into a major infestation. Jones warns that, while these insecticides may kill a few bedbugs, they will encourage most of the bugs to scatter to other areas. Instead of being limited to the bedroom, the bugs will spread all over the house, making the problem bigger — and harder to control.

With EPA bans on most types of insecticide and bedbugs rapidly becoming immune to the remaining poisons, it seems likely that the evil little bloodsuckers are here to stay. While exterminators and scientists may develop new treatments to fight them, chances are good that — like our ancestors — we will need to learn how to live with the occasional bedbug bite. In the meantime, with vigilance and a few lifestyle changes, we can make it much harder for bedbugs to get a (super small) toehold in our homes.

See full article from DailyFinance: http://srph.it/g5XBRs