Bed bugs rampant locally, nationally and globally

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DAVIS Bed bugs may be little, but they are a big problem infestations are rampant locally, nationally and globally, says Tanya Drlik, integrated pest management (IPM) coordinator of Contra Costa County who will speak at the University of California, Davis campus at the May 3 meeting of the Northern California Entomology Society.

"We've had a reprieve from bed bugs for about 50 years, but now they're back," said Drlik, who will discuss "The Resurgence of Bed Bugs and Current Effective Control Methods" at 9:45 a.m. in the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road.

The society-membership is open to the general public, meeting 9:15 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Drlik is one of five speakers on topics ranging from bed bugs to lacewings to endangered species.

Drlik, who formed the Bed Bug Task Force to help prepare Contra Costa County to meet the challenges of the mounting bed bug infestation, says that bed bugs "have no regard for wealth or class everyone is vulnerable. Bed bugs can be found all across the country in apartment buildings, hotels and motels, private residences, hospitals, waiting rooms, fire station, taxis and buses...and the list goes on. They've infested four-star hotels and penthouses as well as homeless shelters and rundown apartment buildings."

"Judging by history and the experience of other jurisdictions across the country, the problem is only going to increase, and more and more public buildings and homes will experience infestations," said Drlik, who has a master's degree in ecosystem management and nearly 40 years of experience in the field of IPM. "Bed bugs are difficult to control because of their small size, their secretive nature and their growing resistance to the pesticides we have at our disposal. Poverty, clutter, and poor housekeeping do not cause bed bug infestations, but they make eliminating infestations much more difficult."

Bed bugs "can be seen in epidemic proportions in some areas of the United States, including New York City and central and southwestern Ohio," said Drlik, adding that since 2004, New York City has experienced a 2,277 percent increase in complaints about bed bugs in the five boroughs (source: New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development). "Colleagues in the Franklin County Health Department in central Ohio have commented to us that they were completely unprepared for the rapidity with which bed bugs spread throughout their county."

"Bed bugs are far more common in urban areas, and the poor, the elderly, and the mentally ill suffer disproportionately because they do not have the funds, the information, and often the wherewithal, to eliminate infestations," she said.

The Nor-Cal Entomology Society agenda:

The Department of Pesticide Regulation will grant continuing education hours: two and a half hours of "laws," and an hour and a half of "other," according to Nor Cal Entomology Society president Bob Case of Concord, retired deputy agricultural commissioner from the Contra Costa County Department of Agriculture.

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Bed bugs rampant locally, nationally and globally