"The results of this study are further evidence that bed bugs are continuing to make a strong comeback in this country and aren't going away any time soon," said Orkin Technical Director Frank Meek, who is considered a leading expert on the pest. To combat the increases in bed bug infestations, Orkin has tested a new preventative treatment protocol. The new treatment will be available to hotels, motels and apartments beginning in late spring 2005. Designing an effective prevention protocol was a challenge, Meek explained, because the insects can arrive at any moment, transported in travelers' luggage. Once indoors, they spread rapidly from room to room, hitchhiking on clothing and luggage - even vacuum cleaners. The hardy insects can live for more than a year without eating and withstand a wide range of temperatures from nearly freezing to almost 113 degrees Fahrenheit, making them harder to eliminate.
Orkin's preventive service starts with a thorough examination of a room's carpet, furniture, wallpaper - even light fixtures - to identify potential bed bug hot spots. Targeted areas are then treated with materials such as non-repellent and repellant dust. Other common breeding or transportation areas are treated as well, from housekeeping carts to storage rooms to laundry facilities.
More targeted pest control practices and reduction of broad-spectrum pesticides over the past several decades may have contributed to the resurgence, and increases in international travel may be a factor as well, said Meek. As a result, an increasing number of infestations have been reported in hotels, motels, homes, apartments, dormitories, condominiums and cruise ships since the late 1990s.