Category Archives: Bed Bugs South Carolina

Garron Bradish, the countys environmental health supervisor, fields many complaints about bedbugs.

He has advice to offer to callers, but can do nothing to force landlords to address a bedbug infestation.

Actually, they arent considered a public health threat because they dont spread any kind of disease, he said. Theyre more of a nuisance.

Bedbugs are tiny insects, less than a fifth of an inch, that live on human blood, hide in dark crevices and can go up to a year without eating, all the while laying eggs and increasing their numbers.

They are hard to spot because they dont like light, but evidence of their presence is detected in bites left behind on humans or animals.

The presence of bedbugs is unrelated to cleanliness, according to experts. They find their way into a dwelling through furniture, clothing or luggage. Bedbugs are capable of surviving on cats, dogs or birds, but prefer a human host.

An inspector with the county environmental health office was one of several regulators who investigated conditions at the apartment of Regina Mathis in September. While there were plenty of roaches in the apartment, no bedbugs were found, which wasnt surprising, Bradish said. Thats because bedbugs often dont come out in the daylight.

Once bedbugs have invaded an apartment complex, they are difficult to eradicate without treating all of the units.

Bedbugs travel through the walls, ducts or electrical outlets, Bradish said. They can move from apartment to apartment. Years ago they got into the Towers in Waynesville.

In that case, the infestation was treated and the problem was solved, he added.

While mattresses must be tossed, bedbugs can be killed through a heat treatment in some cases. Furniture cushions can be placed in black trash bags, and left in the sun or a trunk, for instance, and clothing can be washed in hot water and placed in a hot dryer.

But the best way to be sure they are gone is by using a chemical spray, Bradish said.

Kevin Hathorne, the technical director at Terminix Service in Columbia, South Carolina, said each bedbug situation is different and the control strategies depend on the severity of the problem.

Bedbugs dont care if a house is dirty or clean, he said. If there is a lot of clutter, it will make a situation a lot worse and a lot harder to get under control. It helps tremendously to get rid of clutter and clean up.

Bedbugs are small and extremely flat, he said, which means they can get into places such as microwave or television circuits or electronics places not traditionally associated with an infestation.

However, if a home is treated, items such as electronics, lamps, computers and other belongings must be cleaned or specially treated to prevent the chances of a re-infestation.

If the treatment area adjoins another apartment, units on either side of the infested unit must be treated, Hathorne cautioned, as bedbugs commonly use wall voids, electrical wire conduit lines and pipes to travel between apartments.

The most expensive but permanent solution is fumigation, where a tent is placed over the entire building that is sprayed and left vacant for three days.

Heat treatment, where a propane or electric powered unit pumps heat into a house, is effective, he said. Since the heat generators must remain outside, this option doesnt always work on upper floors, and the units cant be placed in a hallway.

In a situation like a several-story, multi-unit apartment complex, a multi-faceted approach would likely be needed, he said, and all tenants would definitely need to agree to comply.

If one resident isnt cleaning and washing bed clothes, over time that will have the possibility of spreading bedbugs back out, causing the situation to happen again, Hathorne said.

Spray treatment would likely be tailored according to the infestation level in each unit, he said, with preventative methods chosen for units not yet infested.

Getting bedbugs out of an apartment complex is difficult, Hathorne said.

Its a tough situation, especially when there are no laws to keep people responsible, he said. The longer it goes on, the worse the infestation gets.

Even if you spend the money to have your unit treated, units surrounding you can be a source of infestation. Its not a good situation.

More here:
Bedbugs are an insidious neighbor | News | themountaineer.com - The Mountaineer

(MENAFN - The Conversation) Some critics of Black Lives Matter say the movement itself is racist . Their frequent counterargument: All lives matter. Lost in that view, however, is a historical perspective. Look back to the late 18th century, to the very beginnings of the U.S., and you will see Black lives in this country did not seem to matter at all.

Foremost among the unrelenting cruelties heaped upon enslaved people was the lack of health care for them. Infants and children fared especially poorly. After childbirth, mothers were forced to return to the fields as soon as possible, often having to leave their infants without care or food. The infant mortality rate was estimated at one time to be as high as 50% . Adult people who were enslaved who showed signs of exhaustion or depression were often beaten.

As a professor of social work , I study ways to stop racism, promote social justice, and help the Black community empower itself. A relationship exists between the health of enslaved Blacks and the making of America.

White masters, often brutal and violent, dehumanized the enslaved people who worked for them and became wealthy from their work. Slaveholders justified their treatment by relying on the widely accepted view of Black inferiority and the physical differences between Blacks and whites. Racist medical theory, the racist notion that the blacks were inherently inferior and animal-like who needed maltreatment to be sound for work, was a critical element .

Enslaved people were poorly fed, overworked and overcrowded, which promoted germ transmission. So did their housing bare, cold and windowless, or close to it. Because they were not paid, slaves could not maintain personal hygiene. Clothes went unwashed, baths were infrequent, dental care was limited, and beds remained unclean. Body lice, ringworm and bedbugs were common .

This treatment began in slave dungeons, built by Europeans on the coastal shores of Africa, where enslaved Blacks awaited shipment to the New World. In Ghana, for example, perhaps 200 were cloistered in tiny spaces where they ate, slept, urinated and defecated. Archaeological research has shown the dirt floors were soaked in vomit, urine, feces and menstrual blood. Conditions within the dungeon were so deadly that cleaning them was discouraged; those who tried risked smallpox and intestinal infections .

Diseases among the enslaved people in the colonies and later the states were common and at a disparate rate when compared to whites: typhus, measles, mumps, chicken pox, typhoid and more. Only as a last resort did the slave owner bring in a doctor . Instead, the white master and his wife would provide the health care, though rarely were either one trained physicians. Older enslaved women also helped , and brought their knowledge of herbs, roots, plants and midwifery from Africa to the Americas. As with everything else, Blacks had no say about their care. And if a doctor was involved, Black patients were not necessarily told anything about their condition. The medical report went directly to the slave owner.

Black women played multiple roles. Of course, they were part of the labor force. And they took care of the sick. But they were also the machinery for producing more black bodies. After the mid-Atlantic slave trade was banned , slave owners needed a new source of labor. A pregnant enslaved woman provided that possibility. The birth of a baby born into slavery meant profits that potentially lasted generations, a product requiring little investment.

Some of the Black women were used in medical experiments ; much of the research, some conducted without anesthesia, focused on maternal health. As the white scientists inflicted tremendous pain on the pregnant women, the infants being carried sometimes died . Through the torture of these enslaved women, many white physicians and white medical institutions gained considerable fame and wealth .

Adverse health consequences for Blacks facilitated the establishment of some medical advances, such as the invention of the speculum for gynecological exams. One enslaved woman reportedly endured 30 gynecological surgeries without anesthesia. Medical interests and also economic and political interests were served.

More than 150 years later, the health disparities of Black and white Americans remain. To fix what is wrong today, an understanding of the inequities of the past is an imperative. Only then can we begin to dismantle the structural racism that is replete within the American system. Knowledge of the history is necessary to explore and identify the underlying mechanisms to understand how racism revives itself to continue to produce health disparities, and ways to interrupt it.

MENAFN3007202001990000ID1100566321

See the original post:
Enslaved people's health was ignored from the country's beginning, laying the groundwork for today's health disparities - MENAFN.COM

If you have ever encountered bed bugs in your home or hotel room

You might be wondering how they got there.

They can quickly get into your luggage and travel back home with you, causing an infestation that can be a nightmare to deal with.

Every state has their problems, those of which can affect you as you travel from state to state.

So its natural to wonder

How do you know if the state youre in has a high rate of bed bug infestations?

How do I minimize the risk of encountering bed bugs?

What states have the lowest number of infestations?

In this article we will answer these questions and run through the list of the top bed bug infested states and cities.

On that note lets dive in.

Unfortunately, there have been reported bed bug cases in EVERY state in America.

Not a single state is immune to infestation.

For years now, the number of cases have been growing, with thousands of reported cases in 2019.

Though the problem isnt only affecting America.

In fact.

Bed bugs are not native to America, and they have spread to every continent nonetheless.

(except Antarctica)

Thats because they are avid hitchhikers.

Bed bugs tend to climb into peoples luggage or belongings, allowing them to quickly spread as people travel.

As transportation becomes more efficient, people are traveling more and more. This leads to bed bugs being spread faster than ever.

This is the reason bed bugs have made a major comeback in the 21st century.

That being said

Bed bugs dont discriminate. They dont care about state borders and cleanliness.

Theyre not attracted to dirt, so they can be anywhere Whether it be run down apartments or 5-star hotels.

These pests have been significantly multiplying over the past 3 decades.

In the early 20th century, bed bugs were a very common problem. But that was before we had all the pesticides that eradicated them

Or so we thought.

From about the 1950s all the way to the 1990s

There were very few cases of bed bugs in the US. The pesticides did the work, and we almost entirely forgot about the little critters.

But then they came back with a vengeance, utterly resistant to the chemicals that used to kill them, reproducing at a lightning-fast pace.

From about 2015 onwards, the number of bed bug cases have exploded.

The popular pest control company Orkin, has recently published reports on the worst states for bed bugs, as they do every year.

For 3 years in a row The number 1 Bed Bug State is.

Maryland.

Which continues to be one of the most bed bug infested states. Mostly thanks to cities like Baltimore and Washington D.C.

Indiana and Georgia originally werent in the top 10, but since 2019 infestations in these states have grown.

With Indianapolis and Atlanta holding the 9th and 10th spot, of bed bug infested cities respectively. .

Rounding out the top 5 we have Illinois and California. You can begin to see a trend here, whereas states with major cities are more infested.

(Due to population density)

To sum up here are the top 10 most bed bug infested states:

Here are the top 10 cities in the US with the most cases of bed bugs in 2020 (Source: Orkin)

To help you get a bigger picture of the spread of bed bugs across the United States

Here are some bed bug maps that are eye-opening.

Based on a bed bug infestation map published in 2016:

It shows that New York City had the most reported bed bug incidents at the time a staggering 4,490 reports.

Thats a massive difference from the figures of Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, which had 485, 446, and 403 reports, respectively.

You can see that the east coast is hit by far the hardest.

This is because the east coast is much denser than the rest of the country. There are also many popular tourist, and business travel destinations in these states.

This map also has powerful statistics about where bed bugs are found.

Here are the top locations where bed bugs are located by percentage (2015 Survey):

For more recent insight, we also looked at a 2019 map of bed bug infestations.

Its almost as if youre looking at the same map.

And as you can see from the top 10 list above, things are not so different in 2020. The share of states being hit the hardest is consistent, the only difference is that the sheer number of cases have gone up everywhere.

You can see that some of the states have traded places, but the problem still exists everywhere.

If youre planning on moving to another city in the US or youre planning a vacation, you may not want to consider cities that have seen a jump in cases.

Here are the 10 cities with that have experienced significant growth in bed bug infestations.

For the first time, Toledo and Myrtle Beach made the top 50 list according to Orkin.

Though both Ohio and South Carolina have hard hit states for years.

As mentioned, the degree to which a state is infested has a lot to do with population density. Similar to infectious disease, bed bugs spread more when there is more person to person interaction.

Therefore, here are some of the states with the lowest numbers of bed bug infestations.

Though infestations in the above states is relatively less

Its still important to be cautious about bed bugs when traveling.

For example, If youre staying at a hotel you should properly inspect the hotel room for bed bugs before spending the night.

If you happen to encounter bed bugs anywhere across the US, be it your apartment or hotel, we can connect you with a lawyer to discuss your options.

If youve suffered bed bug bite injuries or experienced a bed bug infestation in your residence due to someone elses negligence

You may be able to file a lawsuit and potentially get financial compensation.

Keep in mind that our lawyers can only represent you on a pre-litigation basis only. That means we can only assess your situation to help you determine if you have a case.

If you do, a licensed attorney will fight for you to get compensation for your losses.

(for both your injuries and expenses)

Get in touch today for a Free Consultation. There are no fees unless you win your case.

Originally posted here:
Top 10 Worst States For Bed Bugs | Which State Has The ...

South Carolina General Assembly 120th Session, 2013-2014

Download This Bill in Microsoft Word format

Indicates Matter Stricken Indicates New Matter

H. 3143

STATUS INFORMATION

General Bill Sponsors: Rep. Gilliard Document Path: l:councilbillsagm19770ab13.docx

Introduced in the House on January 8, 2013 Currently residing in the House Committee on Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs

Summary: Bedbug infestation

HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

View the latest legislative information at the LPITS web site

VERSIONS OF THIS BILL

12/11/2012

TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING SECTION 45-1-15 SO AS TO REQUIRE NOTICE OF BEDBUG INFESTATION TO A TRANSIENT GUEST OF A HOTEL OR SIMILAR LODGING; BY ADDING SECTION 27-40-445 SO AS TO REQUIRE NOTICE OF BEDBUG INFESTATION TO A TENANT UNDER THE RESIDENTIAL LANDLORD AND TENANT ACT; AND BY ADDING SECTION 15-75-70 SO AS TO REQUIRE NOTICE OF BEDBUG INFESTATION TO A PERSON SEEKING TEMPORARY OR PERMANENT RESIDENCE IN A CHARITABLE OR EMERGENCY PROTECTIVE SHELTER, AMONG OTHER THINGS.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. Chapter 1, Title 45 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:

"Section 45-1-15. (A) Every boardinghouse, hotel, motel, bed and breakfast, residential-type lodging facility, tourist camp, roadhouse, or other similar lodging governed by this chapter where transient guests are lodged in exchange for valuable consideration shall conspicuously post a notice of bedbug infestation in any guestroom in which there has been a bedbug infestation about which the owner, manager, or other responsible party is aware.

(B) The notice required in subsection (A) must be conspicuously posted within one inch of the notice required in Section 45-1-10 if the lodging is a hotel.

(C) Whoever fails to comply with the provisions of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be punished by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than sixty days or by both fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court. Every instance in which the required notice is not provided as required in subsection (A) constitutes a separate offense under this section for the purposes of prosecution and conviction.

(D) As used in this section:

(1) 'Bed and breakfast' means a residential-type lodging facility where transient guests are fed and lodged for valuable consideration, and includes a bed and breakfast inn, homestead bed and breakfast, and a country inn.

(2) 'Bed and breakfast inn' means a residential-type lodging facility that has three to ten guestrooms and serves only breakfast to registered guests.

(3) 'Guestroom' means a sleeping room, or a combination of rooms for sleeping and sitting, that include:

(a) a bed;

(b) a private or shared bathroom;

(c) clothes hanging and storage amenities; and

(d) a selection of furniture and lighting.

(4) 'Home stay bed and breakfast', a residential-type lodging facility that has one to three guestrooms and serves only breakfast to registered guests.

(5) 'Hotel' means a inn or public lodging place of more than ten bedrooms where transient guests are fed or lodged for compensation.

(6) 'Innkeeper' means the proprietor of a bed and breakfast.

(7) 'Residential-type lodging facility' means a facility that:

(a) serves as both the innkeeper's residence and a place of lodging for transient guests; and

(b) is primarily residential in style regarding the amenities provided to guests.

(8) 'Transient guest' means a person who lodges for less than one week at such a hotel."

SECTION 2. Article 3, Chapter 40, Title 27 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:

"Section 27-40-445. (A) A landlord or a person authorized to enter into a rental agreement on behalf of a landlord shall disclose to the tenant in writing at or before the commencement of the tenancy notice of bedbug infestation in any room in which there has been a bedbug infestation about which the landlord or a person authorized to enter into a rental agreement on his behalf is aware.

(B) A violation of this section entitles a tenant to remedies available under Section 27-40-610.

(C) A person authorized to enter in a rental agreement on behalf of a landlord who fails to comply with subsection (A) with regard to such an agreement becomes an agent of the landlord with respect to that rental agreement for:

(1) service of process and receiving and receipting for notices and demands; or

(2) performing the obligations of the landlord under this section."

SECTION 3. Chapter 75, Title 15 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:

"Section 15-75-70. Notwithstanding another provision of law, if any room in a charitable or emergency protective shelter, public or private, experiences a bedbug infestation, an agent of the shelter shall provide written notice of the bedbug infestation to a person seeking temporary or permanent residence at the shelter within twenty four hours of the person commencing his residency in the shelter. A municipality or county in which a shelter violating this section is situated may obtain injunctive relief against the shelter for a violation of this section."

SECTION 4. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

This web page was last updated on Thursday, February 28, 2013 at 3:23 P.M.

Read more:
2013-2014 Bill 3143: Bedbug infestation - South Carolina ...

Saren Idaho (L) and Prince Latoya were held for five months in a police cell in Sierra Leone's capital

Saren Idaho said he has no connection to Sierra Leone and had never been to the country until he was deported there from the US six months ago.

"I know nobody here," lamented the 55-year-old father of two.

Looking unwell and struggling to walk, he sat down on a plastic chair in his sparsely furnished hotel room in the capital, Freetown. As he was talking he played with a pack of cigarettes and several butts were squashed in an ashtray beside him.

At least this was better than the crowded police cell, where he slept on the floor "with cockroaches, rats and bed bugs" for the first five months of his time here.

Prince Latoya, 47, was on the same deportation flight and is in the same situation.

Both men, who had never met before coming to Sierra Leone, were long-term residents of the US. But they say they were originally from the Caribbean, which the US authorities dispute.

Idaho and Latoya were expelled last August, along with 17 Sierra Leoneans, among other West Africans, who had been convicted of committing crimes in the US.

They ended up on that flight after staff at Sierra Leone's embassy in Washington DC were put under pressure by US officials, according to Isha Sillah, director for the Americas and the Pacific at the foreign ministry here.

She said that the US immigration authorities had submitted documents to the embassy that "appeared to suggest" that the two men were from Sierra Leone. Without cross-checking, embassy officials issued them each with an Emergency Travel Certificate (ETC).

Embassy staff had told her that "what contributed to the issuance of the ETC was also pressure piled on them by the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security" to accept them as Sierra Leoneans.

BBCAmerica forged documents to bring me here. And I know I was not born in this country"Saren Idaho

"The Sierra Leone government are like puppets to the Americans," Latoya, who said he was originally from the Bahamas, told the BBC.

Idaho was angry with the US authorities.

"America forged documents to bring me here claiming this to be my country of citizenship," he said. "And I know I was not born in this country.

"I am from the Commonwealth of Dominica. What is so hard about returning to the US?"

This has now become a massive bureaucratic problem.

The foreign ministry has contacted the two Caribbean countries' embassies in Washington to certify that the two men were born there.

"The Dominican embassy has denied that Idaho is their national while the Bahamian embassy says more documents are needed to enable them make a determination - hence it's inconclusive," Ms Sillah said.

Meanwhile, they are stuck in limbo in the hotel.

The manager, Osman Kamara, said the men were checked in by the police with an advance payment for their lodging, but that ran out and an anonymous businessman stepped in to pay the bills to stop them being thrown out.

He also paid for a food and clothing allowance.

Before that, they were each getting $2.50 (2) to cover daily costs, which they said barely paid for breakfast and bottled water.

"We have been living here with no food, no medical care, nothing," Latoya said.

The two men had been receiving extra money from relatives sent through Western Union. But as their Sierra Leone travel documents have now expired, they can no longer pick up the cash as a valid photo ID is required.

Idaho said he had been living in the US for 28 years until he was arrested and jailed in 2018 for driving while drunk.

He has lost all his ID documents. They were in a house that was seized by the bank as he was unable to pay the mortgage because he was imprisoned, he said.

"All my possessions, including my birth certificate, are locked in a store somewhere after the takeover of the house," he told the BBC.

His wife of 17 years, Mowanda Idaho, and his two sons, aged 14 and 11, are now living in the US state of South Carolina.

"It has been devastating for me and the two boys with the 14-year-old now living in a state of depression and failing in school," Ms Idaho, who is an American citizen, said by phone.

She last saw him for "a five-minute encounter" when he was taken to prison in April 2018.

She had spoken to an immigration lawyer who told her that he had heard nothing like her husband's case before. But she says she cannot afford the legal fees to take the authorities to court.

Latoya, who had lived in the US for 25 years, was convicted of identity theft. He said he had no wife or children.

But the US government sees things differently.

In an email to the BBC, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) described Latoya as a "criminal alien who has been convicted of multiple identity theft-related criminal offenses".

It said that he entered the country illegally in 1997, and "on numerous occasions, Latoya stated to US immigration officers that he was a citizen of Sierra Leone".

The Sierra Leonean embassy in Washington confirmed his citizenship, the DHS said.

BBCI never told then I was from Sierra Leone. Ask them to produce anything that said I claimed Sierra Leonean citizenship"Prince Latoya

Latoya vehemently denied that he had made any claim to being from Sierra Leone.

"I never told then I was from Sierra Leone," he said.

"I don't know where they got this idea from. I went [to the US] by boat from the Bahamas. Ask them to produce anything that said I claimed Sierra Leonean citizenship."

The US authorities also called Idaho "a criminal alien", who entered the country in 1999, adding that he had "multiple convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol".

He had told the immigration officials that he was from Sierra Leone, according to the email from the DHS.

"I never claimed Sierra Leonean citizenship," Idaho said in response. "I don't have a multiple criminal record. I have only one conviction for driving under the influence of alcohol."

As for the idea that the US authorities pressurised the Sierra Leonean embassy into issuing travel documents, the DHS is adamant that this did not happen.

In fact, it said that "Sierra Leone has a history of refusing to issue travel documents for its citizens", a situation which put the country under temporary US visa sanctions in 2017.

But the government here does not think the men are Sierra Leonean. It had wanted to fly the two men to the Caribbean, but without confirmation of their citizenship it now hopes to hand them over to the International Office for Migration (IOM).

The IOM chief in Sierra Leone, Sanusi Savage, said that his agency had not received an official request. He said he had only received phone calls from foreign ministry officials including from the minister, Nabilla Tunis, to help.

"I promised to support them with tickets but upon producing official travel documents and acceptance of their countries of origin," he told the BBC.

But that has not happened yet and the two men continue to live at the mercy of bureaucratic bickering.

More:
We were deported from the US to the wrong country - Myjoyonline.com