World, Bed Bug Registry Map – Infestation Reports

Most Americans fear bedbugs but the majority can't identify one out of a lineup of other common insects, new research shows.

In a survey of U.S. travelers conducted by researchers at the University of Kentucky, 60 percent of participants said they would switch hotels if they found evidence of bedbugs in a guest room.

However, only 35 percent of business travelers and 28 percent of leisure travelers correctly identified a bedbug when looking at a group of similar small pests.

"Considering all the media attention paid to bedbugs in recent years, the fact that most travelers still have a poor understanding of them is troubling," said Michael Potter, Ph.D., extension professor in UK's Department of Entomology and co-author of the study.

The study, published in American Entomologist, the quarterly magazine of the Entomological Society of America, found bedbugs were a much bigger concern than other potential hygiene issues at a hotel. Less than a quarter of people surveyed said they would switch hotels for factors such as signs of smoking or dirty towels or linens.

Which of these common insect pests is a bedbug? In a survey conducted by researchers at the University of Kentucky, just 35 percent of U.S. business travelers and 28 percent of leisure travelers could correctly identify the bedbug. The answers: 1-Ant, 2-Termite, 3-Louse, 4-Bedbug, 5-Tick.

Entomological Society of America

The findings are particularly worrisome for the hotel industry, the researchers say, given the role that online reviews play when travelers are determining where to stay. More than half of the people surveyed said they'd be very unlikely to select a hotel with a single online report of bedbugs.

"The fact that there's a pretty obvious misunderstanding of what a bedbug looks, like much less what to do about it a lot of these reports are anecdotal, unconfirmed and they may not even have a whole lot of relevance," Potter told CBS News.

For the report, the researchers surveyed nearly 2,000 business and leisure travelers from across the country.

The results also showed that the overwhelming majority (80 percent) said hotels should be required to tell guests if their room has had a prior problem with bedbugs. Forty-six percent said if a hotel were to proactively provide information on steps it takes to prevent bedbugs, they would choose to stay there and appreciate knowing about these measures. Twenty-four percent wanted hotels to "do it, but don't tell me."

Potter recommends that people familiarize themselves with images of bedbugs online so they know what they look like.

"An adult bedbug is about the size of a tick small, brownish and flattened," he said. "But the immature [stage] of that bug, things we call nymphs, can be very tiny. A newly hatched nymph that comes out of an egg is not much bigger than the head of a pin."

If you can't see the bedbugs themselves, a telltale sign is the fecal spotting, which looks like "black speckly spots that they leave on mattresses and bed frames and other surfaces" Potter said.

He recommends doing a bed check upon checking into a new hotel room, especially at the head of the bed and in the seams of the mattress for signs of bedbugs.

If you think there is a problem with bedbugs at your hotel, alert the front desk immediately. You should be relocated to another room.

"It would be prudent to request a room further away than the one you're in because bugs do tend to move," Potter said.

From there, the question of how likely it is that bedbugs could have gotten into your clothes is complicated.

"It's not a certainty that you're going to transport bugs to the other room or bring them home with you," Potter said. "It's a function of how many bugs there were in the room initially and how open your things were."

As a precaution, he recommends not leaving your suitcase unzipped on the floor or bed, but rather zipped up on a hard surface, and avoiding spreading your belongings out all over the room.

If you think you may have picked up bedbugs in your clothes and especially if you come home with itchy red welts put all your clothes in a drier on high heat setting. "You can wash them before if you want, but the heat of the clothes drier will pretty much kill everything," Potter said.

The new report highlights that many U.S. travelers should try to better educate themselves about bedbugs, how to spot them, and precautionary measures they can take, the researchers say.

However, there are also important lessons for the hotel industry. "I think it really emphasizes that if they don't already have one, hotels need to develop some sort of reputation management plan to respond to reports of bedbugs," Potter said. "They ought to teach their housekeepers what to look for and their front desk people how to respond quickly and effectively when incidents arise."

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Do you know how to spot a bedbug? - CBS News - CBS News

Which of these common insect pests is a bed bug? In a survey conducted by researchers at the University of Kentucky, just 35 percent of US business travelers and 28 percent of leisure travelers could correctly identify the bed bug. Poor awareness of bed bugs enables their spread and causes problems for the hotel and lodging industry. The answers: 1-Ant, 2-Termite, 3-Louse, 4-Bed Bug, 5-Tick. Courtesy of Entomological Society of America Most business and leisure travelers in the United States can't identify a bed bug, and yet the tiny pest evokes a stronger response in hotel guests than any other potential room deficiency--putting the hospitality industry in a difficult spot. In a survey of U.S. travelers conducted by researchers at the University of Kentucky, 60 percent said they would switch hotels if they found evidence of bed bugs in a guest room. Meanwhile, no more than a quarter said they would switch hotels for factors such as signs of smoking or dirty towels or linens. In the same survey, however, just 35 percent of business travelers and 28 percent of leisure travelers correctly identified a bed bug in a lineup of other common insects. The results of the research are soon to be published in American Entomologist, the quarterly magazine of the Entomological Society of America.

"Considering all the media attention paid to bed bugs in recent years, the fact that most travelers still have a poor understanding of them is troubling," says Michael Potter, PhD, extension professor in UK's Department of Entomology and co-author of the study.

It is particularly problematic given the central role that online reviews play in travelers' selection of where to stay. More than half of survey respondents said they would be very unlikely to choose a hotel with a single online report of bed bugs.

"From a hotel industry perspective, it's worrisome that a single online report of bed bugs would cause the majority of travelers to book different accommodations, irrespective of whether the report is accurate. Furthermore, the incident could have involved only one or a few rooms, which the hotel previously eradicated," says Jerrod M. Penn, Ph.D., postdoctoral scholar in UK's Department of Agricultural Economics and lead author of the study.

Other findings in the survey include:

Despite a highly negative impression of bed bugs, more than half (56 percent) of respondents said they either never considered the threat of bed bugs while traveling or considered it but were not worried.

If a hotel were to proactively provide information on the steps it takes to prevent bed bug infestations, 46 percent of respondents said they would stay at the hotel and would appreciate knowing about those measures. The second most common response, however, was "do it, but don't tell me" (24 percent).

An overwhelming majority (80 percent) of respondents said hotels should be required to tell guests if their room has had a prior problem with bed bugs. Among those who wanted such a disclosure, 38 percent of business travelers and 51 percent of leisure travelers said they would want to know of prior infestations going back a least one year or more.

Responses to bed bug concerns were generally consistent across various demographic cross-sections in the survey.

Potter notes that the public's lack of understanding of bed bugs "contributes to their spread throughout society as a whole." But the hospitality industry must deal with both the pest itself and consumers' strong, if ill-informed, attitudes about bed bugs.

"Hotels and others in the hospitality sector should develop a reputation management plan to prudently respond to online reports of bed bugs in their facility. Hotels should also train their housekeeping and engineering staffs to recognize and report bed bugs in the earliest possible stages, when infestations are more manageable. Similarly important is training front desk and customer service employees to respond promptly and empathetically when incidents arise within the hotel," says Wuyang Hu, PhD, professor in UK's Department of Agricultural Economics and senior author of the study..

"Bed Bugs and Hotels: Traveler Insights and Implications for the Industry," by Jerrod M. Penn, Hannah J. Penn, Michael F. Potter, and Wuyang Hu, was published online on June 13 in American Entomologist.

Source: Entomological Society of America

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Bed Bug Awareness is Poor Among US Travelers, But Reactions are Strong - Infection Control Today