Don't let the bedbugs bite: these night-feeding nuisances can cause financial loss from lawsuits and lost residents and long-term damage to a community's reputation. Learn how apartment owners can bite back.

Bedbugs are back, and according to Dr. Michael F. Potter at the University of Kentucky, they are back "big time" (Pest Control Technology magazine, October 2005). During the past few months, media outlets, such as The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post and MSNBC, have been warning of the resurgence of bedbugs throughout the United States. Within the last few months, the Today Show on NBC, The New Fork Times and USA Today have reported on the bedbug "boom."

What does this mean to the apartment industry? For starters, members of the general public, including apartment residents, are becoming more concerned with the issue and sensitive to the fact that their homes could become infested with these transient pests. Second, once introduced, bedbugs can easily move from unit to unit. An infestation could result in multiple complaints from residents, financial loss from lawsuits, lost residents and long-term damage to a community's reputation.

What Are Bedbugs?

Bedbugs are small, flat night-feeders that, despite their name, reside in more places than the bed. They seek harbor in cracks and crevices throughout a bedroom, including bedside tables, headboards, floorboards, stucco ceilings, electronic equipment, switch plates and loose wallpaper. Couches and chairs where people rest are also common hiding and feeding areas.

Bedbugs are also known to crawl considerable distances for food, will feed undetected and can consume up to three times their weight in human blood in 10 minutes. While mainly a nuisance pest, many people have unsightly allergic reactions to their bites, not to mention the embarrassment bedbugs bring to building management and residents.

Bedbugs were common pests up until the mid-1940s, at which point they virtually disappeared because of the use of the pesticide DDT, which has since been banned. Add to this a significant increase in travel, particularly international, and, once again, the bedbugs are biting. Bedbugs hitchhike from place to place, often in luggage, which makes them an immediate threat that can appear seemingly out of nowhere. Residents in apartment communities can bring them home from vacation or business trips, on second-hand clothes and furniture and even on antiques.

According to the National Pest Management Association, bedbugs have been spotted from coast to coast. Pest management professionals (PMPs) who used to receive one or two calls a year about bedbugs are now fielding one or two calls per week.

What Can Be Done?

First, building staff should learn how to recognize live bedbugs, their molten skins and other signs of infestation. A strong, sweet odor and reddish brown fecal or blood spots are typically found where bedbugs hide and feed. As more and more people become familiar with these pests, property management and staff must also be able to address concerns from residents and answer questions.

Treating bedbugs is always a job for a professional. Bedbugs are not the sort of pest that residents can easily thwart on their own with an over-the-counter insecticide or by simply washing their sheets regularly in hot water.

Here are a few things to know about professional bedbug control. When working with a PMP, it's important to understand what a thorough treatment entails. Apartment managers should make sure PMPs follow the EPA-approved instructions on treatment labels to protect individuals and non-targeted animals throughout the treatment. Any PMP should take the following steps when faced with a bedbug problem.

Inspection. It is important that the PMP perform a detailed inspection before any treatment takes place. The PMP should look for common bedbug harborages around mattresses, bed frames, headboards, hanging pictures, nightstands, couches, etc.

Clean the Room. Before any treatments, the room should be cleaned and the bed linens stripped. The bed linens should be placed in a plastic bag until washed so as not to transfer bedbugs to other areas. Also, vacuum bags should be placed in a plastic bag and discarded immediately. If possible, the curtains should be cleaned as well.

Perimeter Walls. Once the initial inspection is complete, wall voids (the open area between two walls) should be the first to be treated. Also, the PMP should treat all natural openings, including electrical sockets. In addition, surrounding rooms should be inspected and treated if necessary because bedbugs will migrate.

Bed Area. Because bedbugs are usually found close to the bed, it's important to focus on all possible hiding areas, including headboards, bed frames, baseboards and pictures above the bed. All cracks and crevices should be treated with a broad-spectrum, pyrethroid insecticide that provides residual control and is labeled for use in all areas where bedbugs hide. Next, the box spring and mattress should be sprayed and allowed to dry before the bed is made. Another treatment option is to apply an insecticide dust to the mattress and box spring. Removing the cover on the bottom and treating the inside of the box spring provides the best coverage. Once dusted, the powder should be allowed to remain in contact with the surface for four to six hours and then thoroughly vacuumed. A third option is to use a dry steamer and steam the entire box spring and mattress. If a bed mattress and box spring are heavily infested, they should be thrown out.

Night Stand, Furniture, Curtains and Tables. Next, the PMP should conduct a thorough crack and crevice check of all furniture in the room. It is important not to miss any cracks on wooden furniture pieces. Carpet Edges. Finally, all baseboards should be treated using a crack and crevice treatment. The PMP should be sure to pull back the edges of the carpet, inspect the area and lightly treat between the tack strip and the wall if bedbugs are present.

Follow Up. This should be done within rive to 14 days and include another inspection and treatment. A follow-up is a must since bedbug eggs will hatch and there is a possibility that they may find an untreated zone.

Treating bedbugs can be a lengthy process, but it's worth the investment to ensure the pests are successfully eliminated. "The key is attention to detail and thoroughness," said Jeff Eisenberg of Pest Away Exterminating Inc. in New York City. "You simply can't spray the baseboards and assume the bedbugs will go away. It takes time and the work of an experienced professional."

Gordon Morrison is a Marketing Manager for Bayer Environmental Science, makers of products for control of bedbugs and other pests. He has served on the board of directors for the Professional Pest Management Alliance and has more than 25 years of experience in the professional pest management industry. Morrison can be reached at 919/549-2535 or [e-mail]. Photos courtesy of Dr. Mike Potter University of Kentucky.