(FYI If Traveling to) More bedbugs are biting in Cincinnati

[DogPoundPup]

Source: L.A. Times

Reporting from Cincinnati -- In this Ohio city, it seems, it really is tough to stop the bedbugs from biting.

When complaints about the bloodsucking insects first trickled in to Cincinnati's public health department three years ago, officials assumed it was an anomaly -- or perhaps the overactive imagination of a bug-phobic public. After all, Cimex lectularius had all but vanished here by the 1950s because of the frequent use of DDT and other now-banned pesticides.

But that trickle of complaints has grown into a flood: A recent public survey found that one in every six people here has had a run-in with the biting bugs in the last 12 months.

Dozens of fire stations in Cincinnati have had to dump furniture or exterminate their living quarters because firefighters unknowingly brought the eggs in on their boots or pant legs. Assisted-living complexes have spent tens of thousands of dollars on pest-control companies because, the thinking goes, visitors may have carried in the bugs on their purses or bags.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-bedbugs4-2009jan04,0,1108531.story

[applegrove]

1. There is a bedbug outbreak all over North America. It is because business people travel

so much these days ... all around the world. And they bring home the bedbugs from their travels.

[caseymoz]

7. To think that only 5 years ago, a lot of people thought bedbugs were a myth.

They were almost completely eradicated!

[aquart]

2. What shocked me is they can hide out in electronics.

They are evil.

[rwheeler31]

3. Freeze your sheets.

[kywildcat]

4. I lost most of what I own to a bedbug infestation

in northern kentucky 2 years ago. A group of mauritanians who rented the apartment above me brought the bugs with them. when the mauritanians vacated the apartment above me, the landlord let it sit empty for 6 moths rather than treating the building (or telling anyone what was going on). New furniture, new beds, pictures with frames, books, clothing, drapes, bedding, everything had to be destroyed. The few things I could keep (kitchen ware) I put in outdoor storage for 18 months and sprayed once a month. And to beat all, I carried renters insurance-which in the state of kentucky does not cover bedbug infestation. The Health Department told me to suck it up and tough it out.

[Muttocracy]

5. Bunch of good info about how to check for and get rid of bed bugs

"Bed Bugs are Back! An Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Answer" - 5 page factsheet
http://www.nysipm.cornell.edu/publications/bed_bugs/files/bed_bug.pdf


Public service announcement
http://nysipm.cornell.edu/psa/bedbugs2.mp3


Travel cards to print and carry with you with tips:
http://www.nysipm.cornell.edu/publications/bed_bugs/files/bb_travelers_online.pdf


Detailed publication, emphasis on public housing, shelters, etc. but has general info too
http://nysipm.cornell.edu/publications/bb_guidelines/default.asp

[mopinko]

6. they are bad in chicago

my daughter lost most of her furniture, and had to move out of her apartment.