In the first study to use systematically collected data from multifamily housing inspections to track bed bug infestations, investigators “confirm what has long been suspected for bed bugs, but also for public health issues in general” — infestations are strongly associated with socioeconomic factors, including neighborhood income, eviction rates and crowding.
Writing in the journal “People and Nature” about their Chicago-area study, biostatistician Christopher Sutherland from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, along with biologist Daniel Schneider and urban planner Andrew Greenlee, both of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, point out that documenting the scale of bed bugs’ “dramatic resurgence” as a common household pest and identifying socioeconomic factors that determine infestation risk are challenging, because data usually come from self-reporting, which has potential for bias.
But “unlike previous research, our data come from systematic inspections with known sampling effort and are, therefore, uniquely able to attribute observed reductions to declines in bed bug prevalence rather than trends in reporting,” they add.
Sutherland and colleagues say the evidence of higher risk of bed bug infestations in poorer neighborhoods, in areas where evictions are more common and in more crowded neighborhoods, “provides important empirical evidence of the disproportionate allocation of public health burdens upon neighborhoods already facing multiple dimensions of disadvantage — for example, poverty, contaminated water and health inequalities.”
PUBLIC HEALTH BURDEN. Sutherland says he was surprised that the patterns were borne out so strongly. “It’s discouraging that we still have these extreme polarities in society,” he notes. “Differences in socioeconomic factors means that these public health burdens fall on groups that are less able to cope with them than their more affluent neighbors. We shine a light on yet another public health concern that points squarely to who is bearing the burdens.”
Schneider, an expert in dispersal ecology (which is the study of how species move to new habitats), adds, “The map of where people are most at risk for bed bugs looks like the same areas where more kids have asthma, lead in the bloodstream and likely even COVID-19. How cynical we were coming into this determined how surprised we were by the findings.”
The authors’ analysis uses administrative data on inspections from Chicago’s Department of Buildings. From 2006 to 2018, addresses of 21,340 multi-story multiple dwelling residential buildings four stories or higher, and mixed residential/commercial buildings three stories or higher, saw a total 56,384 periodic inspections. Of these, 491 resulted in definitive bed bug evidence — a code violation — at the property. These bed bug-positive inspections occurred at 446 unique properties, indicating that some had bed bugs present across multiple inspections, they note.
Using this and other data, the researchers aggregated the number of inspections and violations in each year at the census tract level and derived socioeconomic measures of each tract. From this, they identified four broad socioeconomic categories —residential stability, housing affordability, resident demographics and neighborhood housing characteristics — and nine variables associated with them.
Their analyses showed that, “in addition to significant variation among years, neighborhood-level median household income was the strongest predictor of bed bug prevalence. Eviction rate and crowding had significant, but relatively smaller effects. We did not find evidence that bed bug prevalence was influenced by mobility rate, percent of renter households or the percent population with a graduate degree.”
Schneider says, “This is just one facet of a larger problem. This is not just a bed bug problem, and if you stack public health issues on top of each other we believe these will correlate strongly.” The work appears in an open-access journal, Sutherland says, “so anyone can access the data. We tried hard to make the language clear enough for policymakers, to show that this is more evidence of serious public health disparity.”
This study grew out of a two-year, interdisciplinary workshop the authors organized for the National Science Foundation’s National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) to study bed bug history, sociology, ecology, entomology, urban planning and epidemiology. The research combined existing environment and social data, melding “ideas that existed but were not synthesized together before,” Schneider said. Source: University of Massachusetts Amherst
Lessons Learned in the Trenches
Bed Bug Supplement - Bed Bug Supplement
At the 2020 Virtual Bed Bug Conference, Rollins’ Judy Black spoke of the lessons she learned throughout the early years of bed bug work — a time when there was still a lot for the industry to learn.
Judy Black, vice president of quality assurance and technical services for Rollins, spoke at PCT’s 2020 Virtual Bed Bug Conference on the topic of lessons learned in the bed bug trenches.
Prior to working for Rollins, Black was vice president of technical services for Rentokil North America since 2015 and for The Steritech Group from 2005 to 2015. Black has more than 30 years of practical industry experience and has been working in the field since bed bugs’ reappearance in the early 2000s. At the height of the bed bug resurgence, Black’s team developed inspection and treatment techniques for commercial accounts, including hotels, health-care buildings, government sites, and non-traditional spots like transportation facilities and movie theaters.
Black’s presentation at the 2020 PCT Virtual Bed Bug Conference covered topics such as learning the basics, making control progress, working on the fly, fine tuning an approach and moving forward.
“This (presentation) really forced me to take a look back at that time period in our industry that was really as confusing as it was exciting,” Black said.
Black started with a timeline of events, stating that PMPs began seeing bed bugs residentially in multi-unit dwellings in 2003 and in detached homes from 2004 to 2006. She also said that the media began covering the bed bug issue in 2005, adding fuel to an already raging fire.
The four topics in which Black categorized the lessons she learned were (1) bed bug biology, (2) effective products, (3) business models and (4) hotel operations. Each category highlights issues and changes that she was able to learn from and share with the event’s attendees.
BED BUG BIOLOGY. When it comes to bed bug biology, some of the most important lessons learned were in regards to the industry’s understanding of bed bug survival time without a meal, dispersion, how bed bugs feed in “nature,” pesticide resistance and population dynamics. Within each of the topics, Black discussed what she learned and experienced over time.
“The lesson I’ve learned is that if you don’t really understand your enemy, you’re going to have a tough time developing the best scope of service possible to be able to get rid of it,” Black said.
One example of gained knowledge Black cited was how old reports claimed bed bugs could go a year without a blood meal, but that was in optimal lab conditions. New research confirmed that in the field, neither nymphs nor adults could survive that long. Additionally, she talked about how, originally, a lot of studies were focused on traumatic insemination as it was believed to be what was making the pests disperse; however, it was later discovered that was not the single cause. Black also explained that bed bugs are opportunistic feeders and, therefore, although they only need to feed every five to seven days, that is not a hard and fast rule.
HOTEL CUSTOMERS. Another major topic that Black covered was hotel operations, in which she shared lessons she learned about why guests do not always notice bed bug infestations. Some of the reasons included: it takes a long time for populations to build to noticeable levels and a guest’s length of stay is limited; there are variations in bite reactions; and bed bugs have a secretive and nocturnal nature. Black said she thinks variations in bite reaction are the most important reason infestations are not reported earlier, because not every guest will know they were bitten.
In her discussion of hotel guests, Black reviewed hotel cleaning operations and the processes the company went through in treating for bed bugs. She noted that housekeepers are paid by the room so the quicker they cleaned, the more they got paid. In order for housekeepers to spend time looking for bed bugs, Black said her company encouraged customers to pay a bounty for each housekeeper who reported a bed bug issue.
“We just had this explosion in bed bug reports,” she said. “And, frankly, I think the same Ziploc bag was just being transferred around by housekeepers to report. So, the whole bounty thing just didn’t work.”
Therefore, through trial and error, Black learned what does and does not work in encouraging hotel workers to report bed bugs. She noted it was simply additional education that led to earlier reporting from customers/the public. Also, Black explained how in the early stages of bed bug work, the company she was working for was having the hotel discard any mattresses and box springs that were infested with bed bugs. Since hotels at the time were willing to do so, it did not seem like a major issue. However, when a large number of rooms were infested, all of those rooms would be out of service until the mattresses and box springs were replaced. With a lack of other products and techniques, this was an easy way to get rid of bed bugs, but they later learned it was not efficient.
“We just didn’t have the variety of materials and methods that we’ve got now to be able to treat and be as effective as we are now,” Black said.
SHARING KNOWLEDGE. After discussing bed bug basics, hotel operations, and how such knowledge or lack thereof impacted the way pest control companies approached bed bug treatment, Black transitioned into a discussion on how progress was made.
“A lesson learned here from that bed bug resurgence trench, so to speak, was that you have got to keep up with your trade journals,” she said.
She explained that, over time, keeping up with industry publications, research and news helps in product and treatment development and leads to an increase in overall knowledge about the pests. Black explained that her company’s first step to understanding bed bugs was through university researchers.
“They were absolutely critical in helping give us these pieces of information that helped us develop protocols or ensure that our protocols were the right choices,” Black said.
Despite receiving research results from third parties, pest management companies began to realize that such organizations might not be capable of looking at some of the questions that they had about bed bugs. So, taking matters into their own hands, Black’s company began conducting some of its own research. Some of the questions they aimed to answer included: How common was it for a hotel to have a bed bug issue? How extensive is the bed bug issue within the hotel? Is it worthwhile to inspect rooms surrounding the infested room? Are there signs of pesticide resistance?
Throughout the process of conducting such research, the company looked at about 700 mid-range hotels that represented about 75,000 rooms. After collecting seven years of data, Black’s results showed that from 2006 until 2009, the number of properties that required treatment increased by 105.7 percent. Out of the total number of locations, 200 did not require treatment, which helped to show the company how prevalent bed bug issues were in hotels, Black said.
Additionally, data showed from 2006 to 2009 the number of rooms treated increased by 130 percent. Despite this increase, most rooms did not need to be treated. Only 1.93 percent of the 75,000 rooms were treated in 2009. Black explained that such data debunked the media’s claim that travelers could not go to a hotel without interacting with bed bugs.
As far as treatments, Black explained the process of providing service to primary and secondary rooms. A primary room is one with bed bugs and secondary rooms are above, below, to the left and to the right of the primary room. Black’s company would inspect each of the secondary rooms and, if bed bugs were found, that room would then become a primary room, and so on.
From 2003 to May 2006, Black shared that 19.7 percent of secondary rooms were reclassified as primary rooms but, by 2009, that statistic dropped to 8 percent. Black credits this progress to education.
“I think that the decrease was definitely due to the fact that people were becoming educated and reporting earlier,” Black said.
Black also explained that their clients became experts at looking for bed bugs and communicating problems, and even began hiring the company for proactive, routine inspections.
CHEMICAL APPLICATIONS. In addition to positive results of increased inspection education, Black said the industry better understood pesticide resistance, a lesson that propelled her company to greater success in managing the pests. Black explained that from 2003 to 2005 there were low retreatment rates but, in 2006, those rates spiked drastically. To determine if the problem was resistance to the synthetic pyrethroids they were using, Black said the firm switched to a completely different class of liquid residual and also used a new class of dust. By adding in a residual aerosol, encasements and vacuuming, the company employed improved IPM practices. As a result, there was a significant drop in retreatment rates in 2007 and 2008, she said.
“The conclusion that we came to was that we were doing the right thing essentially as far as our inspections, but from a resistance standpoint, we needed to be a lot smarter than that,” Black said.
As a result, Black said they learned to fine-tune their approach.
“I think it’s a valuable lesson to see that the way we’re doing things now is not really how we did it back in 2005,” Black said.
As the company continued learning how to best approach resistance, some of the university research Black and her team relied on was that bed bugs evolved nerve axons that were not compatible with pyrethroids; they evolved to be “efficient detoxifiers” and they evolved “thicker” chitin. Black discussed areas of increased focus such as location of bed bug activity in hotel rooms and the concept of introduction versus infestation.
As Black showed a diagram of the top five places for bed bugs to be found in a hotel room (the number one location being the box spring), she said that her own initial thought that the headboard would be the number two location was incorrect.
“That was my own personal observation, which is a lesson learned,” Black said. “Nationwide data isn’t always going to support your limited personal observations.”
Back in the early stages of the resurgence, it was common to find hotel headboards with 500+ bed bugs. These situations were examples of infestations, which Black said was a concept the industry had not thought much about in the early stages of the bed bug resurgence compared to introductions.
“At first we were scrambling just trying to kill bed bugs,” Black said. “And I think as time went on, we started thinking about this concept of introduction versus infestation and how can we actually stop that introduction from becoming an infestation.”
Black recognized that one way she learned how to limit infestations was through proactive treatments, but such treatments were not as practical in the early stages of bed bug work.
“I would say we didn’t really have the products, the chemicals that people felt would work as a proactive treatment,” Black said. “Whereas now I think that we do have some products that do hold up well.”
Looking forward, Black listed a variety of tools that the pest control industry now has that they did not have in 2005. Such tools include more educated PMPs with detailed visual inspection and proactive treatment capabilities; educated clients and a growing segment of the public who communicate and report early; more effective pesticides and heat treatments; canine scent detection; and monitors.
“We have a lot more tools available to us now,” Black said.
In conclusion, Black said it’s important that pest management firms continue to evolve. They can drive growth via new service offerings like disinfection services many have offered throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, like she did with bed bugs in the 2000s.
“I have no doubt there is going to be some learning as we go and some fine tuning as we move forward,” Black said.
Erin Ross is an Ohio-based writer.
Bed Bug Myths
Bed Bug Supplement - Bed Bug Supplement
There are lots of myths about bed bugs. Customers may hear odd stories from friends, family or the online community that have no basis in fact or science. What’s the craziest thing you have heard from a customer about bed bugs?
In the September 2020 issue of PCT, I wrote about recent scientific research that had been published on bed bugs and how those facts might help your treatments. This month, let’s look at the other side: the misinformation and myths that are floating around. Some of these stories are amazing, some are just wrong, and some are downright scary.
Bites are in threes. This myth is about a bed bug probing twice before fully inserting its mouthparts to feed. There are a few other versions of this theory, including that bed bugs only bite in a line and bed bugs always bite multiple times. The truth is, bed bugs may sometimes probe but most often just jab their little mouthparts in and start sucking up blood. Unless they are disturbed, they only feed once a night. They don’t need to feed multiple times in one night. The one partial truth to this is that people may find “lines” of bites. Bed bugs go for exposed skin; they don’t work to get under clothes. As a result, people may find these lines of bites around collars, cuffs or wasitbands, because that’s the area multiple bed bugs were able to easily access.
A bed bug bite is distinctive. There is no way to tell what creature bit or stung a person unless you visually see it. The CDC says, “Because bed bug bites affect everyone differently, some people may have no reaction and will not develop bite marks or any other visible signs of being bitten.” Studies vary but an estimated 30 percent of the population has no reaction to bed bug bites at all. Many of you have probably received pictures from a customer, or worse, had them start to peel off clothing to ask, “Is this a bed bug bite?” The correct answer to this question is that there is no way to tell and they should see a medical professional if they have concerns.
They only infest “dirty” places. My dad told me once there was no way he could get bed bugs because he only stayed in “nice” places. Bed bugs don’t care how many times you shower, that you clean all your dishes as soon as you are done with a meal or that housekeeping takes good care of the rooms. Bed bugs are after their next meal, and since everyone has blood, everyone is susceptible. People are just as likely to pick up bed bugs at a five-star hotel as they are at a no-star hostel. The difference is typically how quickly a particular location reacts to a bed bug issue. Those sites with more resources and that are more invested in their online reviews are likely to jump on a bed bug issue as soon as they are aware of it. Those with fewer resources will try the DIY route, and the problem can get significantly worse before they call in the professionals.
There’s a distinctive smell. One news article I read said that if “you go somewhere there are bed bugs, the smell will be immediately obvious.” Immediately? Those of you who work with bed bug canine teams know a dog can definitely sniff out a bed bug. Bed bugs have aggregation pheromones that do have an odor. In light infestations, this odor can’t be picked up by humans. In heavy infestations, there is absolutely a smell. Is that smell bed bugs though? For those of us who have dealt with a massive infestation, we know as soon as we walk into that home or apartment that something is definitely not right. There are usually sanitation issues, often cockroaches or other pests, and perhaps other issues. It is not likely the bed bugs are putting off that eau de parfum; it’s probably all the other issues.
OTC products are just as good. I know I’m preaching to the choir here. You, the pest management professionals, know this yet the customer may believe that over-the-counter products work just as well as the products we use. When someone posts online to that neighborhood message board or starts spouting their home remedy at the next backyard BBQ, take the opportunity to (gently!) educate them on this. Scientific studies have shown that the products most DIYers can buy are all pyrethrum-based, which bed bugs are now resistant to. Also, “bug bombs” can be very dangerous, and news reports abound on homes and apartments catching fire or even blowing up.
Chelle Hartzer is a Board Certified Entomologist at 360 Pest and Food Safety Consulting. Email her at chellehartzer360@gmail.com.
Getting Schooled
Bed Bug Supplement - Bed Bug Supplement
Tips from a teacher-turned-technician on how to educate customers about bed bug control and prevention.
Pest management professionals say educating customers is the most challenging part of bed bug control.
But your ability to eliminate the pests is far greater if you can enlist their help as informed partners, whether that’s preparing the site for treatment or stopping the cycle of bed bug re-introductions.
Getting clients on board is a particular skill of Tom Sieminski, owner of Team Pest Control in Sayville, N.Y. He’s a former high school biology and chemistry teacher and once an educator, always an educator, he says. “I’m still teaching,” he adds.
Like many in the industry, Sieminski got into pest control “by accident.” The teacher wanted to make more money, so he began buying and renting houses. He asked his friend who performed pest control at these properties to teach him how; the friend said he couldn’t do that but encouraged Sieminski to take the certification course. Before long, Sieminski was doing pest control for his school colleagues as a “moonlight” job. When he retired from teaching in 2002, he stepped into pest control full time. He now has five technicians and provides service in New York City and the Long Island areas.
HAVING THE TALK. The conversation Sieminski has with customers before bed bug work begins is most important. This is where he sets expectations and explains bed bug biology so they understand the reason for mattress encasements, the timing of follow-up inspections and “why the dryer is their best friend.”
He allots an hour for this talk. Customers ask a lot of questions and you have to be able to address them all, he points out.
“I make sure I am patient and I’m listening to their questions; I’m sensing their anxieties and I’m trying to make them feel better. When you make someone feel better, there’s a greater chance that they’re going to trust you and listen to you and honor the instructions you’ve given them,” says Sieminski, who learned this by coaching youth basketball.
He suggests five steps to gain the support of customers:
1. Say You’re Sorry. When someone calls and says, “I think I have bed bugs,” Sieminski’s first response is, “I’m so sorry this is happening to you.”
“I give them my empathy first. If I say that, I already can hear their lungs expand and they’re like, ‘Oh, thank you for telling me you understand what I’m feeling.’”
2. Tell Me Everything. Next, Sieminski asks the customer to tell him everything and leave nothing out. He wants to hear the customer’s story. For example, where the client recently visited or who visited her, how she traveled, when bed bugs were first noticed.
During this time, “I’m putting it all together, sort of like a detective,” he says. Sieminski thanks the client for sharing and asks if it’s OK for him to now ask some questions. He then becomes “the one who’s overturning the rocks they forgot to overturn.” Key questions he asks include which rooms the client considers to be hot spots, where the suitcases are stored, which closet is available to use to quarantine items. “I’m starting to get them to see I’m doing my side to prepare for what I need to do,” he explains.
3. Connect Treatment to Bug Biology. When explaining how treatment works, Sieminski doesn’t just say he’s going to spray XYZ product here and put ABC product under there; clients don’t understand what this means. Instead, he explains how his treatment strategy syncs with the biology of the bed bug. This helps clients clearly see why he applies products to certain areas, why follow-up inspections take place when they do, why mattress encasements are installed, why items must be put in the dryer on high heat. He uses simple terms (no industry jargon) and explains what the treatment will accomplish.
“Then I say to them, ‘Do you feel any better?’ and usually I get, ‘Yes, I feel so much better now that I’ve spoken with you,’” he says.
4. Explain Their Role. He then asks clients to review the information on bed bugs on his website, but not to confuse their internet search with his master’s degree. Then he laughs and says he’s going to send the client a quiz at the end of the week “so they know I’m still being a teacher” and that they have some homework due.
“I also try to instill in my customers that they have to become part of the team,” and that they have responsibilities, as well for the treatment to succeed. Sieminski asks clients to download the site preparation guidelines from his website. If they can’t or don’t want to undertake prep themselves, he tells them he understands and that arrangements can be made to have his team undertake site preparation.
5. Discuss Price Last.
Finally, Sieminski visits the residence to perform an inspection. “I give them the price at the very end when I’m done with the inspection,” he says. He also allots time to answer any additional questions the client may have.
“We take care of very demanding people,” says Sieminski, whose affluent clients include professional athletes, celebrities, lawyers and doctors. While his bed bug work comes strictly from word of mouth, many PMPs emphasize the benefits of service in their bed bug control marketing efforts.
According to the PCT 2020 State of the Bed Bug Control Market survey, which was sponsored by Bayer and conducted by independent research firm Readex Research, key marketing messages are having certified technicians (61 percent), excellent control (57 percent), a service guarantee (49 percent) and free inspections (44 percent).
The author is a frequent contributor to PCT.
Light the Way
Special Report: Mosquito Control - Special Report: Mosquito Report
A new study reveals how different mosquitoes respond to light and time, which may help aid in new control methods.
In a new study, researchers found that night- versus day-biting species of mosquitoes are behaviorally attracted and repelled by different colors of light at different times of day. The findings have important implications for using light to control them.
The University of California, Irvine School of Medicine-led team studied mosquito species that bite in the daytime (Aedes aegypti, a.k.a. the Yellow fever mosquito) and those that bite at night (Anopheles coluzzi, a member of the Anopheles gambiae family, the major vector for malaria). They found distinct responses to ultraviolet light and other colors of light between the two species. Researchers also found light preference is dependent on the mosquito’s sex and species, the time of day and the color of the light.
“Conventional wisdom has been that insects are non-specifically attracted to ultraviolet light, hence the widespread use of ultraviolet light ‘bug zappers’ for insect control. We find that day-biting mosquitoes are attracted to a wide range of light spectra during the daytime, whereas night-biting mosquitoes are strongly photophobic to short-wavelength light during the daytime,” said principal investigator Todd C. Holmes, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the UCI School of Medicine. “Our results show that timing and light spectra are critical for species-specific light control of harmful mosquitoes.”
The new study titled, “Circadian Regulation of Light-Evoked Attraction and Avoidance Behaviors in Daytime- versus Nighttime-Biting Mosquitoes,” was published in Current Biology. Lisa S. Baik, a UCI School of Medicine graduate student researcher, is first author.
The new work shows that day-biting mosquitoes, particularly females that require blood meals for their fertilized eggs, are attracted to light during the day regardless of spectra. In contrast, night- biting mosquitoes specifically avoid ultraviolet (UV) and blue light during the day. Previous work in the Holmes lab using fruit flies (which are related to mosquitoes) has determined the light sensors and circadian molecular mechanisms for light mediated attraction/avoidance behaviors. Accordingly, molecular disruption of the circadian clock severely interferes with light-evoked attraction and avoidance behaviors in mosquitoes. At present, light-based insect controls do not take into consideration the day versus night behavioral profiles that change with daily light and dark cycles.
“Light is the primary regulator of circadian rhythms and evokes a wide range of time-of-day specific behaviors,” said Holmes. He added that by gaining an understanding of how insects respond to short wavelength light in a species- specific manner, researchers can develop new, environmentally friendly alternatives to controlling the harmful insects more effectively.
This study was funded in part by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and the ARCS Foundation. Source: University of California, Irvine
