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SCARC Bed Bug Training
Education, Treatment
and
Prevention
History of Bed Bugs
• Bed bugs and mankind
– Cavemen and bat bugs
• Humans moved out of
caves and started
agricultural civilization
• Early 1900’s through
1945
• Re-introduction of bed
bugs to the US
• Global economy
Allergic reaction?????
We are not alone
• This is the first of its kind for SCARC.
• Bed bugs have become an epidemic in the
USA and around the world. In 2013“Nearly half the
cities in the US show a rise in bed bug treatments. #1 is
Chicago with NY coming in 17th, Syracuse #14.
• There are many other ARCs and agencies in NJ
that are dealing with this issue or have dealt
with it in the past.
Where did we get bed bugs?
• Traveling and staying in
a hotel
• Clothing stores
• Offices
• Buying used or new
furniture
• Doctor’s offices
• Nursing Homes
• Movie Theatres
• College dormitory
• Sleep away camp
Biology of Bed Bugs
Lifecycle
• Five developmental
stages
• Feed exclusively on
blood
• Need a blood meal to
develop into next life
stage
• All insects have an
exoskeleton
• Shedding their skin is
called molting
• Nymphs need to feed to
molt successfully
• Adult males & females
need a meal to
reproduce
Biology: Lifecycle
• Egg to adult in 37 days
under optimal
conditions
• Adults lifespan can be
up to 1 year or more
depending on regular
access to food
• If bed bugs are starved
of food they most likely
will die from
dehydration.
• Adults can go 12
months or more
without food but will
likely die after that.
Biology: Feeding Behavior
• Secretive lifestyle
• Active at night between
12:00am to 5:00am
• Can travel yards to feed
• Attracted to CO2 and
body heat
• Like to aggregate near
where we sleep
– Box spring, headboards,
bedframes, nightstands
• Breakfast, lunch and
dinner bite pattern
• Feed 5-10 minutes
• Return to aggregate
sites hiding in cracks &
crevices
• Begin to digest &
excrete fecal matter
• Feed every 3-7 days
How big are these little critters?
A better look!
Biology: Egg production
• Females lay between 17 eggs per day
• Can produce 5-20 eggs
from a single blood
meal
• Male to female ratio:
– 1:1
• Female can lay on
average 150 eggs during
her lifetime
Important to know?
• Bed bugs are human parasites.
• Bed bugs are not necessarily attracted to
unsanitary conditions.
• Bed bugs do not jump or fly, they crawl. They are
known as excellent “Hitchhikers”. They love to
travel in or on bags!
• Bed bugs do not transmit disease. Research is
ongoing.
• Bites go unnoticed while they are feeding.
• Bed bugs like stillness.
Where do they aggregate?
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Tufts, seams, button on mattresses
Inside and under box springs
Bed frames and covers
Couches and chairs
Window and door moldings
Behind wall paper and pictures
Cracks in hardwood flooring
Under carpet along walls
Wall voids behind switch plates and outlets
Luggage, backpacks, clothing
Visual Inspection
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Seams of the mattress
Box spring
Bed frame
Headboard
Encasements
Interceptors
• Look for fecal matter
• Bed bugs
• Shell casings from
molted bed bugs
• A good flashlight helps!!
• If there is a suspicion,
contact the Facilities
Department, your
Director or AOC.
Canine Inspection
“Pheromone Sniffers”
Dana Pest Control Specialists
Walter
Lucy
Treatment Options
• Pest Control
Treatments- Chemical
• Heat Treatment
combined with pest
control products
Pest Control-Chemical Treatment
Process
• Treat mattress and box
springs
• Treat bedframes
• Treat night stands
• Treat all emptied dressers
• Treat all emptied closets
• Treat all baseboards
• Treat light and outlet
boxes
• Treat couches
• All steps mentioned are
repeated three times over
a period of a month to
break the bed bugs
lifecycle.
– 1st Treatment
– 2nd is one week later
– 3rd is about two weeks
later
Bed Bug Chemical Treatment
Preparation
• Empty all bedroom dressers, night stands, closets
and place all bedding, clothing, curtains, linens,
stuffed toys (from bedrooms) in a dryer on high
heat to kill the bugs and eggs for at least 45
minutes.
• After drying the items, put them in new large
plastic bags and live out of the bags for 30 days.
Dirty laundry should be bagged separately and
when cleaned placed in new clean plastic bags.
More prepping!
• Prior to each treatment, VACUUM mattress(es), box
springs, bed frames, night stands, dressers, closets,
baseboards, picture frames. Discard or empty vacuum
contents outside. Vacuuming should be a daily activity
with extreme vacuuming at least once per week.
• 1st treatment: remove all light and outlet switch-plates in
bedrooms. (Pest control technician or SCARC
maintenance will do this)
• Must not return to location for at least 4 hours after
treatment.
• Following the last treatment mattress and box spring
encasements go on.
• Sheets must be changed at least once per week!
Heat Treatment
• A company will heat up
an entire house to a
sustained temperature
of 140 degrees.
• The temperatures are
monitoring via heat
sensors.
• Most time companies
will use the heat
treatment in
combination with some
sort of residual (liquid)
application.
Bed Bug Oven
Current Plan
• Locate the bed bugs
– Canine Inspections (Lucy and Walter)
– All SCARC locations will be inspected.
(Completed!)
– Following this initial period, inspections will occur
on a quarterly basis, until the situation is
remediated. (Schedule TBD)
– Once located, a treatment plan will be put into
action
How are we doing?
Treated Locations/persons
affected
By the Numbers
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Locations Inspected: 43
– 9 SLP Apt
– 1 SLP Office
– 19 GHs
– 4 ILP Apartments
– 7 Day Program Areas
– 1 Training Department
– 1 Employment Connections Office
– 1 Main Office
Vehicles Inspected
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1)Lafayette GH
2) Hampton GH
3) Stillwater GH
4) Valcourt GH
5) ILP 1 @ Carlton Village
6) Swartswood Apt
7) Landmark West Apt
Total affected
•
8) Sparta Center
3 areas in
program
•
9) Main Office
1 chair
which was
removed
83
People potentially effected:
• Residential Census
• Day Program Census
173
– (SCARC Residential)
– (Other Residential)
107
99
74
4
2
2
1
1
1
1
12
Treatment Plans
• A strategy will be determined by the type of
situation, location or possibly other
conditions:
– Options:
• Relocation until treatment can be scheduled and
home/program can be prepared for treatment, return
after 1st treatment, or
• Treat in place without a relocation
• Plan will be decided in consultation with our Pest
Control company regarding the best strategy to use.
Vehicles
• Vehicles can be a aggregate for bed bugs, but
unlikely. To date we have not had an alert on
any vehicle.
• Why?
• No food source
• Not comfortable for them
• “May hitch a ride on someone”
Basic Tools for staff to use
• Tyvek coveralls and Protective footwear for use
during initial preparation for chemical treatment.
• Rubber gloves (standard for universal
precautions)
• Rubbing Alcohol in spray bottles (kills bugs, eggs
on contact)
• Large supply of plastic bags (for use to dispose of
bug invested items and to use during 30 day
period.
Bed Bug Inhibitors
• Mattress encasements
• Interceptors
• Chemically treated (RV)
strips for bags of items
that you cannot
launder.(available only
through an
extermination
company)
Some suggested repellents
• Lavender scented items
– Dryer sheets with lavender
– Linen spray with lavender
– Rubbing Alcohol (70 or 91%) in spray bottles (a
mixture of lavender can be used)
– OTC insecticides such as, OFF, Deep Woods.
– Grapefruit seed extract
– Garlic!! They don’t like garlic in the skin..
Treatment Challenges
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Cluttered conditions
Intricate bed frames, platform beds
Stuffed Toys!!
Poor cooperation/follow thru
Reintroduction of bed bugs
Where might we be picking them up
from???
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Shopping malls
Big-box stores
Bowling alleys
Movie theaters
Other peoples’ homes
Libraries
Apartment buildings
Buses/trains/taxis
Hotels
Anywhere!!! They are now firmly entrenched in the
Northeast US
Preventative Measures
to lessen the spread
• Hot clothes dryers, on for at least 45 minutes will kill them
• Rubbing alcohol will kill them on contact with a 15 minute residual
effect. Make sure you have plenty of rubbing alcohol spray, and
spray beds routinely as you change the sheets each week.
• Bring as few items into the environment as possible; leaving coats,
purses and other personal items in your car.
• Avoid sitting or placing items on beds, couches or upholstered
chairs.
• Be aware by doing self-checks inspecting clothing, shoes, purses,
backpacks, etc.
• Ensure that all rooms are clutter-free.
• Utilize the bedbug interceptors on all beds, and check them weekly.
Make sure they have a small amount of talcum powder in them.
• Ensure all beds have encasements on the mattresses.
• Be constantly vigilant!!!
The end……… for now????