Category Archives: Canada Bed Bugs

John Langdell said he had some unexpected visitors in his hotel in Whitehorse. An American tourist on a motorcycle trip with his friends, he said he was bitten by bedbugs in his hotel.

"The first night, I thought I'd been bitten by a mosquito, I had a couple of bites on my hands and my arms," said Langdell. He said they swelled to be about the size of a dime.

"The next night I got bit even worse. Boy, they itch like crazy."

He said he wasn't sure what the bites were from, mosquito, spider or bedbug. But he has since spoken to a doctor who told him they were bedbug bites.

Despite the bites sticking around for a week, he said, Langdell wasn't put off by Whitehorse. For him, those creepy, crawly hitchhikers are almost anticipated while travelling.

A recent visitor to Whitehorse reports he was bitten by bedbugs at a hotel in the city. (CBC)

"It's just one of those things that happens," he said, "part of travelling, and you can't really avoid it."

The summer months are the peak for spread of bedbugs, explained Whitehorse exterminator Nolan Newman with Orkin pest control.

With many people travelling, he said there is a greater chance of someone staying in a place that has bedbugs, and picking up bedbugs unknowingly.

"A lot of people when they check into a hotel, the first thing they do is throw their luggage on the bed and they leave their clothing around the bed," said Newman.

"Bedbugs are very attracted to body odours and they will crawl into the clothing or into the suitcase."

It isn't just hotels that are grappling with this pest. They even crawl their way into private residences.

Arthur Johnston said his downtown apartment building has an infestation of bedbugs.

"For the last two months now I haven't been able to stay there at all due to my little bedbug buddies," said Johnston.

Though he is still paying rent, Johnston said he has been living elsewhere due to the bugs. The landlord of the building said they have spent thousands of dollars dealing with bedbugs.

Despite the fact that they make just about everyone feel itchy just to mention them, bedbugs are not actually considered a health concern, explainedCraig Vanlankveld, a public health officer with Yukon'sEnvironmental Health Services.

Bedbugs have not been known to transfer diseases, so they are considered a nuisance rather than a public health issue, he said.

Because of this, cases of bedbugs are not officially tracked. According to Shane Hickey with the Residential Tenancy Office, the responsibility typically falls to the landlord or property owner to deal with the bedbugs, and pest control companies like Orkin are the go-to to get rid of them.

While there are some acute cases of bedbugs in the city, Newman said this year has fewer than previous years.

"We've had some cases where we do almost daily calls for bedbugs," said Newman. He says Orkin is currently receiving a couple of calls a week in Whitehorse about bedbugs.

"This year hasn't been too bad."

Newman said education and early detection is key to preventing bedbug infestations. Listen below to his suggestions on how to curb the pests.

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'Boy, they itch like crazy': Bedbugs bother Whitehorse visitors and residents - CBC.ca

Summer is the perfect time for travel, but be careful about bringing home unwanted guests to the house, especially those that can crawl into the bedroom.

Bed bugs are extremely efficient hitch hikers. They can move easily across a room and climb onto luggage or anything left on a bed in just one night, Orkin Canada wrote in a release, warning travellers to be vigilant about the accommodation they stay in.

The pest control company has recently released its list of top 25 bed bugs-infested cities in Canada. The data was compiled from the number of residential and commercial bed bug treatments they performed annually until June 30 this year.

The itchy list puts Sault Ste. Marie at number 23, while neighbouring city Sudbury lands at eight.

The top five:

1. Toronto

2. Winnipeg

3. Vancouver

4. Ottawa

5. St. Johns.

In response to the Orkin list, Algoma Public Health says they dont track the number of bedbug infestations in the city, though they do encourage anybody who has issues with the bugs to contact APH.

We can provide them with advice. Well talk, assess the situation, and see what we can do, said Nicole Lindahl, a public health inspector with Algoma Public Health.

Regardless how the creepy bugs made their way in, the best way to remove them is to contact professionals.

We always encourage to contact a licensed pest control company for bed bugs treatment because theyre always going to provide you with the best service and treatment, she said.

Bed bugs, which are about the size of a sesame seed or an apple seed, generally feed off humans at night and hide during the day. They lay eggs in secluded dark areas and prefer fabric or wood hiding spots.

As unnerving as that sounds, in most cases they are merely a nuisance.

Theyre pesky, hard to get rid of, said Lindahl, adding that the small, wingless insects are not considered as a health hazard because they dont spread any infectious diseases.

However, the bites can potentially cause secondary infections from scratching or an allergic reaction and dealing with the issues can lead to stress and anxiety.

Its best then to seek the advice of a healthcare professionals, Lindahl told The Sault Star.

For tenants dealing with bedbugs, she suggests informing the landlord as soon as possible. If the complaints are not dealt with properly, the best course is to contact the Landlord and Tenant Board.

The board will provide them with advice regarding landlords roles and responsibility. Thats not our area of expertise, she said.

The APH website has resources on bed bugs, including some dos and donts, which include tips like de-cluttering the house. This allows people to reduce hiding places of the critters and make cleaning easier. Once cleaned, it's recommended to empty the vacuum outside in the garbage can or put the bag in a sealed container in the freezer.

The site doesnt suggest using bug spray, as most bed bugs are resistant to such treatment. It would also leave trails of toxic chemicals in the house and merely move the bed bugs to other areas and furniture.

For more information, visit http://www.algomapublichealth.com/inspections-environment/environmental-health/bed-bugs/.

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APH responds to Orkin's bed bug cities list - Sault Star

St. John's has made it to the top of another list, but this time it's not for the colourful houses or oceanfront location.

The most easterly city in Canada is also housing a host of unwanted guests bedbugs.

Pest control company Orkin Canada released data gathered from the number of treatments it performed at both residential and commercial properties throughout the country from July 1, 2016, to June 30, 2017.

Toronto topped its list of bedbug ridden cities, followed by Winnipeg, Vancouver, Ottawa, St. John's, Edmonton, Halifax, Sudbury, Scarborough and Calgary.

Bedbugs rely on humans for more than just lunch.

Orkin released its list of the 25 most bed bug-ridden cities in Canada. (Orkin Canada)

"They're great little hitchhikers, and unfortunately we're a great mode of transport," said Ken Penney, service manager for Orkin in St. John's.

"From our luggage, purses, bags, wallets, cell phone casesthese are all the ways we have confirmed bed bugs navigating from one place to the other."

Penney points to the oil boom and a reliance on the tourism industry for St. John'shigh ranking among much bigger cities on the list.

"In recent years we've become an oil-based society and we rely heavily on tourism, hence we inherit the trends that come with those industries," Penney told CBC Radio's St. John's Morning Show.

"Increased tourists means increased hotel capacities, [workers] travelling between job sites, shared quarters, carpooling and disposable income, which also means vacationing, so all of these things are part of the bed bug equation.

"So it has increased, but that's the cost of our lifestyle."

The parasitic insects tend to live and hide in the areas where we sleep, but they aren't limited to hotels and apartment buildings, Penney said. They've been found in buses, taxis, theatres, food courts and offices.

Some people get red, itchy spots when bitten by bedbugs, some show no signs at all, Penney said, so it isn't always obvious there is a problem.

Penney has seen infestations so severe they had to tear out the walls and flooring in a home and throw out all the furniture.

"And the occupants are just there stood up saying, 'I had no signs, I didn't know that this happened,' and we're finding hundreds of bugs in behind almost every obstacle."

This fed, adult bed bug is no bigger than an apple seed. (Sudbury & District Health Unit/www.bedbugsinfo.ca)

Bedbugs can thrive in a spotlessly clean room, and one female bedbug can lay one to five eggs per day, so vigilance is key.

Penney's best advice is to thoroughly inspect the area around your bed, including linens, creases in mattresses and furniture, the box spring, headboard and framed pictures.

Look for insects adults are reddish-brown and about the size of an apple seed eggs, blood stains and fecal matter.

"St. John's is a small city, but it's also one of North America's oldest cities, hence we shouldn't believe we should be impervious to one of North America's oldest pests."

Originally posted here:
St. John's is Canada's 5th most bedbug infested city, says extermination company - CBC.ca

Sudburians may be the happiest in Canada, as one survey found, but it looks like we are also among the itchiest.

A recent report from Orkin, a national pest-control company, ranks Sudbury eighth in the country for bedbug infestations.

That's behind Toronto -- the bedbug capital -- and a few other major centres, but well ahead of Sault Ste. Marie (No. 23) and other northern communities.

The rankings were based on the number of calls Orkin received in each centre over the course of a year (from July 1 of last year to June 30 of this year) for residential and commercial bedbug treatments.

The local Orkin outlet services a broad area of the North, but the city's placement in the Top 10 was based on calls specific to Greater Sudbury, which has experienced a bigger outbreak of the biters in recent years.

"A lot of it has to do with travellers," says Andre Briere, manager of the Orkin branch in Sudbury. "People travel a lot more, and if you look at the list, it's usually Toronto, Vancouver, wherever there's international airports, that are in first, second, third. That's where it stems from."

Briere says the bloodsucking bugs aren't indigenous and weren't a major issue a decade ago in Sudbury, but they've become more prominent as more people trot the globe -- or simply trot down the highway to Canada's bedbug capital.

"Seven or eight years ago Toronto was doing a lot of bedbug work, and we were just barely getting into it," he says. "It's nothing for people now in Sudbury to go down and grab a Jays game and come back. The hotel they're staying in may have some, and next thing you know they're bringing them back home."

The bugs like to "hitch rides in luggage and clothes," he says, and will pop out -- mostly unseen -- when people unpack.

Adult bedbugs are visible to the naked eye, Briere notes, but they tend to hide along the seams of beds and in other crevices, and may go undetected for weeks. The eggs of the insects, meanwhile, are "the size and colour of a grain of salt," he says.

Once established, the unwelcome guests are hard to evict, or eradicate.

"The reason it's causing such a problem is we don't have a magic wand where we can walk into a room and spray a chemical and they're dead," says Briere.

Rather, it's a three-step process to de-bug a household, or hotel room.

Orkin staff will go in first to blast an infested area with steam, he says, as only heat will kill the eggs. Then they apply a chemical treatment to kill the adult bugs. Finally they come back for another round of spraying to catch any nymphs that may have hatched from overlooked eggs.

"It's not walk in and walk out," says the pest control expert.

High-rise apartment buildings and big hotels are particularly susceptible to bedbug issues, he says, given the population density and the comings and goings of people toting clothes and furniture.

Briere advises against picking up a couch or mattress from a yard sale, and says travellers should leave their luggage in a garage or other outbuilding for a week or so after returning home. You should also put your clothing in the dryer and run it at the highest temperature for at least 15 minutes.

If you're checking into a room, meanwhile, "put your luggage in the bathtub," Briere suggests, or on an elevated rack, until you have a chance to inspect the premises for evidence of bedbugs, such as blood stains, droppings, dead bugs and eggs.

Unlike with some other pests, like cockroaches or ants, cleanliness isn't a big factor in whether or not a building will wind up with bedbugs.

"It has nothing to do with sanitation," says Briere. "You could have a five-star hotel where somebody has brought them in, while a one-star hotel won't have any."

People tend to flinch at the mere thought of bedbugs, probably because they inhabit beds, not to mention feed on blood. But they are not known to transmit disease, Briere says, and can't hop or fly about, like fleas, so in some ways are cleaner and more containable than other pests.

Still, they are definitely an unpleasant thing to have around, and can cause extreme itchiness, allergic reactions and insomnia.

Briere says the critters tend to peak in summer, or after Christmas, when people do the most travelling.

In a release accompanying its list of bedbug cities, Orkin Canada says it "expects this to be a bumper year for bedbugs."

Anyone detecting signs of bedbugs is advised to seek expert advice to prevent widespread infestation.

For more information about bedbug prevention and ways to counter an outbreak, visit orkincanada.ca.

You can also learn more about bedbugs and how to report them by visiting the Sudbury and District Health Unit's page on the insects at http://www.sdhu.com/health-topics-programs/housing/bedbugs.

jmoodie@postmedia.com

Top 10 Bedbug Cities

1. Toronto

2. Winnipeg

3. Vancouver

4. Ottawa

5. St. John's

6. Edmonton

7. Halifax

8. Sudbury

9. Scarborough

10. Calgary

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Sudbury on Top 10 list for bedbugs - The Sudbury Star

Complaints of bed bugs, stoves that turn on by themselves, break-ins and a landlord that tenants say ignores their cries for help led to a protest that saw dozens of residents demanding to speak with property management on Saturday afternoon.

Chanting, placard-waving tenants are accusing mega-manager,RealstarGroup, of failing to maintain the safety and livability of theirScarboroughbuilding complex in the Oakridge area.

They claim the company has createdan atmosphere of aggression in the process.

Mohammed Rokonuzzaman, a tenant representative of the building and member of advocacy group ACORN, has a list of grievances he says aren't being addressed. (Keith Burgess/CBC)

Residents say management has tried to charge them an air-conditioning fee, has notbothered to keep up with maintenance requestsand has failed to adequately address vehicle break-ins.

Realstar, whichmanages $6 billion in assets and operates hotel chains and residences in Canada and the United Kingdom,denies the charges.

"The problem is getting severe," said Mohammed Rokonuzzaman, resident of the building and a member of theAssociation of Community Organizations for Reform Now, otherwise known as ACORN.

One tenant said he felt Realstar had created an atmosphere of 'systemic fear' in the building complex. (Keith Burgess/CBC)

ACORN, which bills itself as "an independent national organization of low- and moderate-income families,"helpedRokonuzzamanand other tenants organize Saturday's protest.

Amongst the thefts and pest problems, tenants say they have been called "rude"and"racist"by property managers, Rokonuzzaman alleges.

It's an attitude he sayscreates "systemic fear" for those living at 30 Denton Avenue.

Rokonuzzaman pointed totenants who he says have been sleeping on couches to avoid bedbugs, calling the conditions "miserable."

Other tenants at the protest agreed, chanting slogans with ACORN organizers.

Some, likeMohammad Ud-doula, think the management's treatment of tenants stands in the way of a friendly community.

One tenant had belongings wrapped in plastic bags in an effort to fend off bed bugs. (Keith Burgess/CBC)

"The main problem is their attitude towards us as tenants," said Ud-doula, who has lived in the building for nine years.

"More communication, more listening, and a better attitude" is needed from management, he added.

Ud-doula says residents asked management to place security cameras in the hallways on each floor to fight vandalism and theft, but says management refused, citing privacy issues.

Realstarsenior vice president Mark Hales told CBC Toronto on Saturday the company has done all they can to prevent break-ins, including the installation of 30 security cameras and new lights, hiring night security patrol and adding an electronic access system to the main entrance.

But of break-ins, Hales said, "unfortunately they can happen anywhere and we take them seriously."

A few dozen tenants gathered outside their apartment complex Saturday in a protest organized by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. (Keith Burgess/CBC)

Hales added he isn't currently aware of any outstanding maintenance problemsat the property.

'We have investigated and aren't aware of any issues of significance," he said.

ACORN organizers pointed to new apartment bylaws in the city, whichcame into effect July 1, as impetus for Realstar to take protesters' concerns seriously.

The bylaws, collectively called "RentSafeTO,"imposestandards for rental maintenance on managers that would compel them to carry out regular pest inspectionsand respond to service requests within a set timeframe.

Halessays Realstarstands by their staff at 30 Denton Avenue, but said lines of communication with tenants would be kept open.

"The residents are entitled to voice their concerns and we respect that," he said.

Tenants with complaints, Hales added, are"welcome to approach management office to discuss that."

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From bedbugs to break-ins, Scarborough tenants demand change - CBC.ca