Bed Bugs Hurt the Hotel Industry

As we have warned you before on this blog, bed bugs can find you even on vacation and in fact they enjoy residing in hotels. There have been huge infestations uncovered in hotels around the country. People are scared and for good reason and this is hurting the hotel industry in quite a few ways.

In 2010, it seemed all but impossible to escape bedbug infestation and paranoiain New York City. Almost everyone knew someone that had to deal with them; I remember guilt-ridden conversations of how to politely escape social gatherings at the homes of friends who had had them.

That year was the peak of bedbugs in New York. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development reports that infestation cases have been falling since thenlast year’s case number—2,268—is less than half of what it once was.

Nevertheless, bedbugs are still a huge concern for the hospitality industry.  The reason isn’t merely the bugs themselves, but how travelers choose their accommodations these days: online, guided by the reviews of their fellow travelers. And those online reviews can do real damage to a hotel if there is just the slightest hint of a bedbug infestation.

That’s the finding of three researchers—Michael Potter, veteran entomologist, and agricultural economists Jerrod Penn and Wuyang Hu at the University of Kentucky—who teamed up to look at the economic impact of bedbugs for the hotel industry. Their forthcoming report was funded by Protect-A-Bed (a company that makes mattress protectors), and it shows that bedbug reports lowered the value of a hotel room by $21 for leisure travelers and $38 for business travelers.

The researchers conducted a survey of more than 2,100 respondents, asking them what factors were important to them when picking a hotel. In order to mimic the way bedbug information would be discovered in real life as travelers booked hotels online, Penn explained, the information about bedbugs required a couple extra clicks from the participant. They found that bedbugs were at the top of people’s lists of concerns when picking a hotel. Further, if an actual bedbug was found—participants reported it as the number one reason they’d leave the hotel immediately.

Read more at: http://theatln.tc/1KjaI8H

Bed Bugs Even Scare Doctors

hospital
There is no doubt about how easily bed bugs can move from place to place, infesting hotels, offices, homes, schools and hospitals all because of one person unknowingly carrying them from place to place. Now doctors are starting to question the protocol for what happens if a person comes in to receive medical treatment and they have bed bug bites. Here is one story of just that happening in a hospital.

Aurora resident Christine Lewis went to the doctor recently for a routine pain injection. When she showed the nurse her bed bug bites, however, the routine changed. Lewis says she was denied her injection and, citing the risk of contaminating their operating room with bed bugs, her doctor asked her to leave the hospital.

“He totally disregarded me. I told the hospital, now I know how AIDS patients felt 20 years ago. Everything he said implied I was a dirty person, not up to standard and that’s not right” Lewis told ABCNews.com

While the doctor’s response at the Medical Center of Aurora was against Health One’s policies, an established protocol for similar situations could not be verified.

Peggy SaBelle, RN, the Regional Infection Prevention and Control Director for Kaiser Permanente in Colorado, told Denver’s 7News that counteractive procedures should begin immediately after any bed bug signs. In addition to hospital countermeasures, patients are advised to eradicate bugs from their home.

Bed Bugs Are a National Problem

bed bug

Most people realize the severity of bed bug infestation but there are few who understand exactly how endemic it is and the dangers these bugs could potentially have if the infestation grows large enough. Since the problem is growing at an alarming rate, the rate at which people are attempting to eradicate bed bugs on their own is growing. Because people are resorting to doing the extermination themselves, the bed bugs don’t really go away and unnecessary pesticides are being used. Do yourself a favor and call Arizona Heat Pest.

A resurgence of bedbugs across the U.S. has homeowners and apartment dwellers taking desperate measures to eradicate the tenacious bloodsuckers, with some relying on dangerous outdoor pesticides and fly-by-night exterminators.

The problem has gotten so bad that the Environmental Protection Agency warned this month against the indoor use of chemicals meant for the outside. The agency also warned of an increase in pest control companies and others making “unrealistic promises of effectiveness or low cost.”

Bedbugs, infesting U.S. households on a scale unseen in more than a half-century, have become largely resistant to common pesticides. As a result, some homeowners and exterminators are turning to more hazardous chemicals that can harm the central nervous system, irritate the skin and eyes or even cause cancer.A resurgence of bedbugs across the U.S. has homeowners and apartment dwellers taking desperate measures to eradicate the tenacious bloodsuckers, with some relying on dangerous outdoor pesticides and fly-by-night exterminators.

The problem has gotten so bad that the Environmental Protection Agency warned this month against the indoor use of chemicals meant for the outside. The agency also warned of an increase in pest control companies and others making “unrealistic promises of effectiveness or low cost.”

Bedbugs, infesting U.S. households on a scale unseen in more than a half-century, have become largely resistant to common pesticides. As a result, some homeowners and exterminators are turning to more hazardous chemicals that can harm the central nervous system, irritate the skin and eyes or even cause cancer.

A resurgence of bedbugs across the U.S. has homeowners and apartment dwellers taking desperate measures to eradicate the tenacious bloodsuckers, with some relying on dangerous outdoor pesticides and fly-by-night exterminators.

The problem has gotten so bad that the Environmental Protection Agency warned this month against the indoor use of chemicals meant for the outside. The agency also warned of an increase in pest control companies and others making “unrealistic promises of effectiveness or low cost.”

Bedbugs, infesting U.S. households on a scale unseen in more than a half-century, have become largely resistant to common pesticides. As a result, some homeowners and exterminators are turning to more hazardous chemicals that can harm the central nervous system, irritate the skin and eyes or even cause cancer.

Read more at: http://huff.to/1EtaslN

Home Remedies May Not Remedy A Thing

5407193467_bd69449997_b

Most people implicitly trust products that are sold in stores because we assume that they had to go through the FDA or some other form of evaluation that guarantees their effectiveness. This is one of the most potentially devastating misconceptions people have. The FDA does not regulate an alarming number of products that are available and when it comes to products claiming they can kill bed bugs, almost all of these products don’t do what they say that will.

Don’t fall for the hype on quick remedies for killing and preventing bed bugs. Federal regulators say they lodged deceptive advertising charges against two companies marketing anti-bed bug products.

There’s no evidence that the ingredients in “Rest Easy” and “Best Yet!,” – including cinnamon, lemongrass and cedar oil – can eliminate or prevent bed bugs, the Federal Trade Commission said Monday.

“Best Yet!,” sold by Cedarcide Industries Inc., also claims to treat head lice. Also deceptive, the FTC says.

The agency sued Cedarcide and RMB Group LLC, marketer of “Rest Easy,” in federal court. RMB and its owners agreed in a settlement to make no claims that their product or any pesticide kills or repels bed bugs or creates a barrier against them.

Read more at: http://huff.to/1J5BL6G