Taking the bite out of bedbugs: these prolific pests can survive in the smallest of crevices and quickly spread from unit to unit in even cleanest environments. How can you prevent bedbugs from taking up residence in your apartment community?

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Bedbug infestations are spreading throughout the United States at an alarming rate. In New York City alone, there were more than 4,600 bedbug complaints in the 12-month period ending June 30, 2006.

Big cities in the Northeast aren't the only havens for these egregious pests. Every region of the country has been exposed to their scourge, according to a Northeastern integrated Pest Management Center survey. Pest control companies across the nation are reporting significant increases in their bedbug control business--some as high its 200 percent. Bedbugs are also a growing problem around the world.

Apartment owners and managers confronted with bedbugs can face a complex situation. News of It bedbug problem can spread as quickly as the bedbugs themselves, with serious implications for both revenue and reputation. Word-of-mouth is not the only way the word spreads. Because of the stigma attached to blood-sucking parasites and the emotional trauma they can create for their human hosts, bedbugs have become topics of choice among many news media and--equally important--online bloggers.

Beyond public relations, there ate other thorny issues for apartment owners and managers. Consider, for example, the publics' right to know. At what point is it necessary to advise residents or potential residents that a problem exists in a building--a business decision that should not be taken lightly given the potential fallout in the marketplace and the courts?

Building owners and managers have been sued for fraud and negligence for failing to warn residents about bedbugs or for improperly treating the problem. In one case widely reported by the media, Maya Rudolph of "Saturday Night Live" fame recently filed suit against her apartment owner to the tune of $450,000 because her apartment was infested with bedbugs. In another case, the stakes are much higher--a hotel is being sued for $20 million by the victim of bedbug bites. Resident rights concerning treatment of their apartment units and belongings can be another complicated matter.

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Chaos-Causing Pests

What exactly are these creatures that are causing such chaos and why are they becoming a problem now? Bedbugs are oval-shaped, flat pests that grow to one-eighth to one-quarter inch as adults. They are brown or reddish brown in color and give off an odor that is often described as sweet or musty. These parasites thrive on warm-blooded hosts, extracting their meals with sucking mouths that pierce the skin, yet their bites are seldom felt unless they are in areas of the body with sensitive nerve endings. About one-third of the human population will react to the bites, suffering itching, swelling, welts, blisters and redness that can last for several days or more.

Bedbugs are highly prolific. One female bedbug can lay five eggs a day and up to 500 in a lifetime. A colony of 40 bedbugs in a room can multiply in six months to more than 5,000 at normal room temperatures.

Bedbugs, which were last a significant problem in the 1950s, are making a comeback for several reasons. Experts say affordable international travel, particularly from the developing world, the banning of certain powerful pesticides, and pest control methods that leave bedbugs unharmed are fundamental causes.

Bedbugs can be found in both sanitary and unsanitary living environments. They are carried indoors in clothes and shoes, backpacks and luggage, used mattresses, rental furniture and other mobile materials. Because these parasites prefer to feed at night, they gravitate to areas where people sleep, taking refuge in bed linens, mattresses and box springs.

How to Stop the Scourge

Bedbugs, by their very nature, are intimidating to those who have to deal with them. The best way to counter an emotional response from residents and others is with accurate information about the pests, their effects on humans and how they can be treated safely and effectively. (See sidebar below.)

Commitment is critical to prevention. Bedbug infestations can be prevented and controlled. The key is commitment by apartment owners, managers and maintenance staffs to an ongoing, in-house, aggressive maintenance and prevention system. Given the ramifications of bedbug problems to income and reputation, commitment to a preventive program should not be a difficult to obtain.

Set and adhere to strict standards for furniture entering a building. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as the saying goes. This is extremely critical when it comes to bedbugs, considering their amazing ability to hide in small cracks and crevices and to rapidly grow in number.

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Used furniture moved from place to place is an attractive form of transportation for bedbugs and is particularly problematic on college campuses and in lower-income areas. All used, rented or second-hand mattresses, box springs, bed frames, pillows, couches and chairs, drapes, nightstands, other furniture and wall-mounted artwork should be inspected before they are allowed into a building. This inspection should be extremely thorough and methodical because bedbugs often seek haven in cracks and crevices and even pleats and hems of draperies. Look for signs such as bloodstains, fecal discoloration, cast skins and, of course, live bedbugs and their eggs.

Determine vulnerability using a blueprint. It is important for apartment owners and managers to conduct a vulnerability study of their properties to determine areas where bedbugs are most likely to take hold.

Blueprinting is particularly useful, providing a template for the rest of the facility. Choose an apartment home that is similar in layout to the greatest number of homes in the apartment building or community. Using a two- or three-person team to ensure that no areas are overlooked, survey the representative unit from top to bottom for potential problem areas, making certain that all items and surfaces, cracks and crevices are thoroughly inspected. Be sure that closets and other potentially cluttered areas are included. Carefully note those areas that appear to be most highly susceptible and use this as a guide when inspecting other units.

Importantly, do not forget storage areas. They provide innumerable harborages for bedbugs and must be examined and treated in the same manner as residential areas.

Rely on the maintenance staff for surveillance and treatment. Apartment building maintenance staffs are routinely in direct daily contact with areas where bedbugs take refuge. As a result, they are well positioned for ongoing, systematic surveillance and routine cleaning to remove bedbugs from a building and its units. Maintenance personnel must be trained to rely on the vulnerability blueprint and to be thorough because bedbugs are difficult to locate. They should have photos to help them distinguish bedbugs from other pests.

A competitive game of "hide and seek" has proven to be an effective, inexpensive way to train maintenance staffs in locating bedbugs in furniture, furnishings and in apartments themselves. Managers strategically place stickers representing bedbug infestations in common infestation areas. Employees are directed to search for the stickers and place them on game cards, which are reviewed by managers who recognize the most proficient employees.

Use the proper cleaning tools. Maintenance staffs should be armed with HEPA filtered, canister-type vacuum cleaners fitted with crevice tools; flashlights; small paintbrushes; magnifying glasses; and spray bottles of contact insecticide as they continuously search for bedbugs.

Bedbugs prefer to colonize on fabrics and textured surfaces to which their sticky eggs adhere. As a result, it is necessary to use the paintbrushes to agitate the bugs and dislodge their eggs so that they can be easily vacuumed. The paintbrushes are also useful in removing the bugs from hard-to-vacuum spaces, such as crevices and seams. It is critical, given the bedbug's amazing ability to hide in spots that are difficult to see, to inspect cleaned areas using a magnifying glass to ensure that all insects and their eggs have been removed.

Inspect adjoining units. Discovering and cleaning an infested area is just the first stage of the battle. Adjoining rooms and units--above, below and on all sides--must be inspected immediately because it is highly probable that the bedbugs have spread there through cracks, crevices or electrical outlets.

Importantly, maintenance staff should never remove furniture or other materials from an infested area until these items are treated to eliminate bedbugs and their eggs. Untreated items, especially mattresses, should be intentionally defaced or damaged so they cannot be salvaged and reused. These items must then be wrapped in plastic before they are removed so the bedbugs cannot escape to other areas.

Strategically apply the right control products. Use of a non-residual, contact insecticide in ongoing cleaning and to treat used or second-hand furniture before it enters a building is highly recommended to eliminate concentrated infestations of bedbugs. Prepackaged, properly labeled spray bottles of federally approved insecticide are convenient tools for maintenance staff and are readily available. These products are designed for programmed, routine treatment of items such as mattresses, bed frames, drapes, upholstered furnishings and nightstands. Bulk containers of federally approved, non-residual, contact insecticide can also be purchased.

Most over-the-counter insecticides are not approved for use on bedding. Using them may irreparably contaminate sleep surfaces and violate federal law.

Contact insecticides should not be applied universally when treating rooms or furnishings. Instead, they should be focused strategically only on those places where bedbugs reside. A rule of thumb is to spray bedding, upholstery and other fabrics so that they remain damp for approximately 15 minutes.

Combating well established, widespread bedbug infestations will require the use of a licensed pest control firm. Even with their expertise, they will find waging a bedbug battle difficult. A recent survey by the Cornell University Survey Research Institute indicated that two-thirds of the 225 pest control companies surveyed required two or three visits to a site to solve a bedbug problem.

10 Things You Didn't Know About Bedbugs

1. Bedbug infestations can occur in some of the cleanest and best maintained apartment buildings and individual units.

2. Although studies have shown that HIV can survive on bedbugs' mouthparts for up to an hour, the pests do not transmit disease; however, they can harbor pathogens in their bodies that can cause significant problems for humans, raising welts and blisters that are painful, itchy and unsightly.

3. Bedbugs cannot fly, but they can move quickly over floors, walls, ceilings and other surfaces. Once established in an apartment, bedbugs can move from room to room or unit to unit in many ways, including wall cavities and conduits through which wires and pipes pass.

4. Bedbugs are vulnerable to extreme temperatures.

5. The EPA has approved "all-in-one" insecticides suited for controlling bedbugs on sleep surfaces and other areas that also control roaches, ants, lice and other pests.

6. Male bedbugs find their mates simply by stumbling upon them. A male will attempt to mate with a piece of cork carved into the shape of a bug.

7. It takes about five to 10 minutes for an adult bedbug to feed.

8. Bedbugs can live for 18 months without feeding.

9. A bedbug is an equal opportunity feeder. According to Robert A Schwartz, MD, MPH, and Anna Gorkiewicz-Petkow, MD, PhD, bedbugs do no show race, age or sex preference in choosing their victims' blood.

10. Bedbugs do have natural predators. The masked hunter, an insect named for its habit of covering its head with lint or debris, will feed on bedbugs. The masked hunter also occasionally bites humans. Relying on masked hunters to control bedbugs is not practical.

Systematic Prevention

The bedbug is a pest that no apartment owner or manager wants to confront. The public relations outfall and the potential impact on revenues and occupancy from an infestation can be significant. It is far better to commit to a routine, systematic prevention system that focuses on two important elements:

1. Inspecting used and second-hand furniture and furnishings and treating them as necessary with a non-residual contact insecticide before they are allowed in a building; and

2. Constantly assessing and treating the areas and contents of an apartment building that are most vulnerable to infestations of these egregious pests. The return on investment in this prevention system will be significant if it will help avoid a bedbug debacle.

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Cliff Zlotnik is President of Microban Systems Inc., a leading supplier of pest control products, located in Coraopolis, Pa. He is a Certified Pest Control Applicator and Indoor Environmentalist with 30 years' experience in the pest control field. He can be contacted at [e-mail] or 800/332-6037.