Most Recent Bed Bug—NY Times Article

Read the entire article at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/21/nyregion/21bedbugs.html?_r=2&th&emc=th

Jeremy Sparig spent months fighting bedbugs. Now, to some people, he is like a mattress left on the street, something best avoided in these times.

“They don’t want to hug you anymore; they don’t want you coming over,” said Mr. Sparig, of East Williamsburg, Brooklyn. “You’re like a leper.”

At the Brooklyn district attorney’s office, which recently had a bedbug breakout, defense lawyers are skittish about visiting, and it is not because of the fierce prosecutors.

Even Steven Smollens, a housing lawyer who has helped many tenants with bedbugs, has his guard up. Those clients are barred from his office. “I meet outside,” he said. “There’s a Starbucks across the street.”

Beyond the bites and the itching, the bother and the expense, victims of the nation’s most recent plague are finding that an invisible scourge awaits them in the form of bedbug stigma. Friends begin to keep their distance. Invitations are rescinded. For months, one woman said, her mother was afraid to tell her that she had an infestation. When she found out and went to clean her mother’s apartment, she said, “Nobody wanted to help me.” Read more….

Read the entire article at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/21/nyregion/21bedbugs.html?_r=2&th&emc=th

www.nybedbugdogs.com

New York Times Art Article

Perils of Do-It-Yourself Bedbug Control
By JOHN COLLINS RUDOLF

Bedbugs, the bloodsucking scourges of sleepers everywhere, have had a mighty resurgence in recent years, enabled largely by their now-widespread resistance to once highly effective pesticides. After being virtually wiped out in the United States in the mid-20th century, infestations have again become common in cities from coast to coast.

The epidemic nature of the rebound, combined with the high cost of professional pest control, is causing some homeowners at their wits end to turn to do-it-yourself solutions that could put them and their families at risk, according to a new consumer alert from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Of particular concern are growing reports of homeowners and renters’ applying pesticides within their homes that are approved only for outdoor use. The improper use of these chemicals can make people and their pets sick, the E.P.A. said.

“When people become increasingly desperate, they start doing these kinds of things,” said Michael F. Potter, an entomologist and bedbug expert at the University of Kentucky. “It’s a concern.”

Other dubious do-it-yourself solutions include the heavy application within the home of products like bleach, ammonia, kerosene and alcohol, and the intensive use of “bug bombs,” wasp sprays and other conventional insecticides not specifically designed to kill bedbugs. These methods are not only ineffective but can pose a fire hazard.

“What’s the harm in this? Some of this stuff is highly flammable,” Dr. Potter said. “You can burn your house down.”

The E.P.A. alert also warned consumers that inexpensive quick-fix solutions advertised widely on the Internet were of limited value in fighting infestations. Among the products touted online as sure-fire bedbug killers are products like diatomaceous earth – a powder made from the ground-up shells of tiny marine organisms. These powders can kill bedbugs and are used by professional exterminators in concert with pesticides and other techniques. But when used alone and by a nonprofessional, they are unlikely to get rid of an infestation.

“If it was that easy, if all those products were so great, don’t you think the professional pest control industry would have this thing licked?” Dr. Potter said. “It takes more than just buying a powder to get rid of this bug.”

In today’s economy, going to the dogs will save your business.

On ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Bedbug infestations are on the rise. The numbers are clear: nearly 11,000 calls about bedbugs were made to 311 in 2009, compared with 537 in 2004. Confirmed infestations have also increased in New York City from 82 six years ago to 4,084 last year. No business is immune. Reports of infestations are common, like here and here. And it not just a New York plague, either.

In response to the increase in infestations, New York City has created the Bedbugs Advisory Board. There’s even a web site that searches for bedbug sightings.

Don’t let Bedbugs damage the reputation of your business. Hire an externinator that uses bedbug sniffing dogs to uncover bedbug infestation. The best exterminators have comprehensive bedbug inspection, elimination and prevention programs. Many tailor them to fit your needs.

The best plans offer a weekly, bimonthly, monthly visits based on your needs. These services are ideal for dormitories, condominiums, office buildings, hotels and motels, and cruise liners.

Certified and highly trained bedbug dogs pinpoint bed bug infestation in minutes. For example, a bed bug canine can search an average hotel room in less than 2 minutes!

Man’s best friend is now Business’s best friend.

Who ever heard of a dog sniffing out bedbugs — and doing it better than any electronic device?

Dogs are trained to detect bombs, drugs, money, weapons, so why not bedbugs? They locate bedbugs by smell, and not vision. Smell is the dog’s main sense, so much so that a huge part of its brain is devoted to analysing odors. a Dog’s sense of smell is reckoned to be 100,000 times better than a humans.

While the human brain is dominated by a large visual cortex, the dog brain is dominated by an olfactory cortex. The olfactory bulb in dogs is roughly forty times bigger than the olfactory bulb in humans, relative to total brain size, with 125 to 220 million smell-sensitive receptors. Dogs can discriminate odors at concentrations nearly 100 million times lower than humans can. The wet nose is essential for determining the direction of the air current containing the smell.

Electronic Bedbug locators combine a vacuum pump and sensors. The device draws in an air sample through a 12 inch telescoping probe, and powerful sensors pick up on gases produced from the digestion of blood.

Cutting-edge technology doesn’t come close to the natural receptors of dogs. Dogs can be trained detect bed bugs through all lifestyle phases from eggs to nymphs to adults.

Bedbug Dogs

Bedbugs are back and harder to kill than ever. They can live in your home, undetected and difficult to exterminate. Canines are trained to sniff them out. They can quickly target the rooms that need attention.