AEPMA Hosts Bed Bug Workshop in Australia

SYDNEY, Australia - The Australian Environmental Pest Managers Association (AEPMA) held a one day training workshop on bedbugs and their control at Westmead Hospital in Sydney on May 7.

The global pandemic has meant that many nations have had to actively respond to the re-emergence of this nuisance public health pest. In Australia alone, bedbug infestations increased by an extraordinary 4,600% between 2000 and 2006, and this prompted a world’s first – the development by AEPMA of a Code of Practice for bedbug control – this can be freely downloaded from www.bedbug.org.au. Already this Code has gone through two iterations, and the release of the third edition is planned later this year.

The curriculum for this workshop was developed by the working party associated with the Code of Practice and covered the following aspects:

• Bedbugs, an overview and medical implications
• The impact of bedbugs on the accommodation industry
• The Code of Practice and the history of bedbug control
• Inspecting for bedbugs
• Non chemical control of bedbugs
• Chemical control of bedbugs
• Bedbug contracts and pest management plan
• Case studies
• Bedbug prevention (harm minimisation)

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