New York City's Bed Bugs Problem

[Franky]

I live in New York and see this all the time and now that we are in this recession, it is only going to get much worse for people now. People in NY throw out furniture all the time, some on purpose for others to use, sadly they usually end up infested with bugs depending how long they are left outside.

This problem is pretty wide spread in NY and I wish the city would do a better job at letting people know about the potential problems with bedbugs. Since bedbugs are not deadly, they are not taken as seriously as other insect threats. I have included a link to a NY Times Story on the subject.


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Complaints about bed bugs in New York City are rising steadily. As any health official can attest, the only good thing about these nighttime pests is that they don’t seem to cause disease. That doesn’t count panic attacks and the outsize frustration for residents who try to get help from a maze of local and state bureaucracies.

There are a lot of agencies that do a little about bed bugs, but nobody that can help with the whole shebang. The city health department has some information. The housing people can come take a look. The state controls the pesticides, although not well enough to advise homeowners what works and who exterminates carefully.

Gale Brewer, a member of City Council, has been trying for years to get help for any family under attack. After sleepless nights and days spent covered in calamine lotion, these exhausted people need a one-stop link or telephone line to guide them, she rightly argues.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/14/op...ml?ref=opinion

[Morgan]

Thanks for the story.

When me and many others first contracted this the first person some of us called was the "Orkin" man to do an inspection.

One of the things he spoke of was a resurrgance in bed bug infestations for
whatever reason and I live in Michigan.

After he told me this he also went into what it takes to remove them from a home and it really stuck in my memory. He said it can cost a homeowner
thousands of dollars. He said they basically have to treat EVERY innaimate object on the premisis and this does not always do it the FIRST time. Behind pictures frames, inside and underneath dresser drawers, you get the picture..pardon the pun.

So, this really freaks me out whenever a member of my family visits ANY hotel.
I make them go through the DECONTAMINATION process BEFORE they enter this house. Clothes go right into washer & luggage fumigated..haha

I even spray and vacuum the car. I know it sounds fanatical but it I just cannot handle any more financial hardship if it can be helped.


All for now,

Morgan


Morgan

[carla]

Cases of Bedbugs have tripled in the UK too,unless it is Morgellons wrongly diagnosed.
Wasn't there something effective that they banned a few years ago?

[Kritters]

I remember hearing about this resurgence of bedbugs two years ago. It was also stated that they don't hurt people or cause disease. I wonder if that's true and I wouldn't be surprised if they did.

Kritts

[Sadsack]

At one point DDT almost eradicated bed bugs. The first time I heard about them being back was shortly before I was bitten by one in 1985. I was a supervisor in an expensive private psychiatric hospital in the suburbs of Boston.
We had a patient who was a sociopath and not really mentally ill. None of the staff liked him, and when he started complaining about being bitten upper management ignored him. He showed me his back which was COVERED with horrible bites. So I was sitting in his room talking to him about it when I was suddenly bitten on the ankle. I looked on the floor and there was FREAKEN TRAIL of these things crawling from the guy's bed to the chair I was sitting in.
Of course I ran for dear life. That night I couldn't sleep because the bite was so incredibly itchy. I can't imagine how this guy felt with hundreds of bites.
I informed the upper management and they finally took it seriously and had a company come in to fumigate. The beds had just been purchased from Prison Industries in one of the area prisons and came with a little surprise.
I left soon after, so I don't know whether they succeeded in eradicating them or not.
Hmmm...I wonder if that had anything to do with my Morgellons....
SS