Category Archives: Bed Bugs Kentucky

Evansville, IN (PRWEB) April 17, 2014

Since making a resurgence several years ago, bed bugs have proven to be a difficult and hard to treat pest, infesting homes and hotels, retail locations and even places of employment. Although a year-round concern, experts from the National Pest Management Association (NPMA) want people to be on high alert prior to heading into the busy summer travel season, declaring April 20th the start of Bed Bug Awareness Week. In recognition of the observance, Action Pest Control is advising people in Indiana, Kentucky, and Illinois to be extra vigilant to help curb the spread of this blood-sucking pest.

Summer is a prime time for bed bug infestations because travel increases and people are more likely to pick up bed bugs during transit between locations, said Kevin Pass, President at Action Pest Control. We encourage all travelers, from college students coming home for break to families going on vacation, to keep a close eye out for bed bugs looking for a ride home in suitcases.

Public vigilance can start with careful inspections upon check in at lodging accommodations. According to 2013 research by the NPMA and the University of Kentucky, 75 percent of pest control professionals indicated that they have encountered infestations of bed bugs in hotels and motels in the past year. Hotels are taking a proactive stance on protecting their establishments from bed bugs with strict protocols that include routine inspections, but guests also play an important role in bringing bed bugs to managements attention and to help limit the spread of bed bugs to other locations.

To prevent an unwanted encounter with bed bugs this summer, Action Pest Control shares the following prevention tips for travelers:

For more information on bed bugs, please visit http://www.actionpest.com.

About Action Pest Control Action Pest Control is the largest independent pest control company in Indiana and Kentucky. With seven branches throughout Indiana, Kentucky, and Illinois, they serve residential, commercial, and industrial clients throughout their service area. Action offers a full range of pest and termite control solutions for individual homeowners, large industrial facilities, and everything in between. For more information about Action Pest Control, visit http://www.actionpest.com.

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Tips for Staying Bed Bug Free This Travel Season

ANCHORAGE, Alaska Blood-sucking insects are on the rise in Alaska, and it's not even mosquito season.

The state Department of Health and Social Services issued a bulletin Tuesday announcing a proliferation of bedbugs, the apple seed-size pests that can double in number every 16 days.

The biting bugs are more of a public nuisance than a health hazard, the bulletin said. Bites are at first painless but can turn into itchy welts. Some people do not develop welts.

Signs of an infestation include molted exoskeletons and white eggs or eggshells about one millimeter long. Bed bug excrement looks like small rusty or reddish stains on bed sheets, the bulletin said.

Bedbugs can arrive with people back from trips outside, or new residents.

"They're the ultimate hitchhikers," said Tony Barrett, environmental health program manager for the municipality of Anchorage. They arrive and lay eggs in a couch or bed, he told the Anchorage Daily News (http://bit.ly/1fHEy7j ).

"Bed bugs don't care if it's a four-star hotel or a no-star hotel," he said.

Anchorage received 68 bed bug complaints in 2013, down from 84 in 2012. However, in 2007 and 2008, the city took just one call each year on bedbugs.

Ken Perry, general manager of Pied Piper Pest Control in Anchorage, has been dealing with bedbugs since 1987 but has seen high rates only recently. The company takes five calls per day on the pests.

"We've always done bed bug work," Perry said. "Maybe one a year or two a year, it's always been there. It's never completely disappeared. But then, we started seeing a huge increase in 2000, predominantly in the travel industry."

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska: Complaints of bedbugs increase in ...

Travelers should be vigilant in protecting themselves. Before settling into a hotel room, inspect in and around the bed for bed bugs. Courtesy photo

Published on: Wednesday, March 19, 2014

NewsUSA, Special to The Sentinel

Choices. Choices. There are countless options of what souvenirs to bring home from summer vacations. The National Pest Management Association (NPMA) lightheartedly recommends opting for tchotchkes or t-shirts and notbed bugs.

"Summer is prime time for bed bugs," notes Missy Henriksen, vice president of public affairs for NPMA. According to a recent survey, Bugs Without Borders, by NPMA and the University of Kentucky, nearly half of respondents in the pest management industry suggest infestations occur most often in the warmest months. Henriksen suggests, "Since people tend to travel more and enjoy added leisurely pastimes during the summer months, it's likely a greater number of people unknowingly transport the bugs home from their travels and recreational excursions."

Check out NPMA's Summer Guide for Avoiding Bed Bugs:

Hotels and Motels. Travelers should be vigilant in protecting themselves. Before settling into a hotel room, inspect in and around the bed for bed bugs. Keep suitcases off the ground, and don't put them on the bed. Store luggage in plastic bags. When returning home, wash and dry all clothes on hot cycles.

Trains, Busses and Taxis. According to the Bugs Without Borders study, 21 percent of pest professionals treated transportation systems for bed bugs. When on public transportation, keep bags and luggage off the floor or in plastic bags if possible.

Movie Theaters. Theaters across the country have experienced bed bugs, and with so many great new releases hitting the big screen this summer, it's worth remembering a few precautions. Keep purses, bags and sweaters in your lap, and inspect yourself and all belongings upon returning home.

Libraries. Bed bugs must have something in common with bookworms because reading rooms and the spines of books are often harborage areas for these pests. Inspect all books carefully prior to check out.

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Bedbugs: An Unwanted Souvenir

Just the mention of bedbugs is enough to raise concern about transmitting the insidious creatures from one location to another.

Eliminating the stigma attached to discovery of them in a home helps get the problem addressed before drastic measures may be needed, official said.

Psychologically they can mess you up. We really want to take the education approach to dealing with the problem, said Bracken County Health Department Director Tony Cox. They are not a health hazard, but they are annoying and not a stranger to any economic level.

For those who try to avoid the cost of professional treatment, home remedies have had dangerous and tragic outcomes in the region, police said.

From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Phoenix, Arizona, cases are documented of fires related to attempts to exterminate bedbugs.

A fatal fire in Bracken County in July 2013, that killed five members of a family, was determined to be the result of an attempt at home treatment, and an infestation turned into a tragedy.

According to Kentucky State Police officials, the incident has been labeled an accidental fire that resulted in the death of Rani Doss and her children Emily, Bradley, Dylan and Michael.

Parts of the house was treated with a flammable product with residual fumes for an infestation of bedbugs and was not adequately ventilated, police said.

As a result, something in the house ignited the remaining fumes, causing the house to explode and catch fire, police said.

Investigators, due to the complete destruction of the house along Kentucky 19 in the fire, were not able to determine an ignition source, which could have been any spark, police said.

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Bedbug education and safety a concern

Bed Bugs in the News: Lexington On Onrkin Top 50 Cities For Bed Bugs

Bed bugsprobably received their common name from their habit of feeding on humans while they sleep in their beds. Bed bugs have also been called red coates, mahogany flats, and wall-lice.

Bed bugs have been a household pest issue for more than 3,300 years, dating back to ancient Egypt. They were first brought to the United States by early colonists, where they thrived for many decades. However, by the 1950s, bed bugs had been all but eradicated in the developed world, thanks to the availability of new pest control products, coupled with the widespread use of vacuums and washing machines which helped to control the spread of infestations in living spaces.

Several factors led to theresurgence of bed bugsbeginning in the late 1990s; increased international travel, more targeted pest control products and methods and a lack of public awareness about pest prevention methods.

For information about Spiders, please visit http://www.spiderslexingtonky.com

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