New Jersey Bed Bug-Related Service Requests Expected to Rise, NJPMA Reports

LIVINGSTON, N.J. — Noting “a dramatic increase” in calls concerning bed bug problems over the last two years, Leonard Douglen, executive director of the New Jersey Pest Management Association, estimates that bed bug-related calls to pest management firms throughout New Jersey are likely to increase anywhere between 25% and 40% in 2007.

“This is such a big problem the association held a seminar last year to educate our members regarding the best procedures to treat for bed bugs,” Douglen said. “The irony is as a pest problem bed bugs were virtually eliminated in the U.S. in the 1950s thanks to the use of DDT.”

The bad news, Douglen said, is that this tiny creature cannot be exterminated with off-the-shelf pesticides, Douglen said. “Only a professional pest management firm has the knowledge and the EPA-approved pesticides to rid a home or other structure of bedbugs. It usually takes several trips to do it.”

Douglen noted that pest management professionals frequently recommend purchasing plastic cases for mattresses that will trap any existing bed bug infestation and keep out a new one. The plastic must be at least three millimeters thick.

“The good news is that bedbugs do not spread diseases in the same way as mosquitoes or other pest insects,” Douglen said. “This doesn’t mean, however, that being bitten by them doesn’t cause a lot of itching and discomfort. The problem is attributed to the increase in international travel. People coming into New Jersey and other States from foreign nations bring them in via their luggage. From there, they can spread to anywhere people stay for the night.”

Not only do Americans travel abroad in large numbers, but millions of foreigners visit the United States every year.