Is the bedbug scare real?
 

Reports note that bith incoming and returning tourists are importing bedbugs. Comments?

As long as they declare them at Customs, who am I to object

Given that the news is that it is a NYC hotel being sued for bedbugs, why assume that they are imported into the U.S.?

Below is the NYTimes article from the end of November. Some of the blame is put on tourists bringing the bugs with them..however they get there, it is terrible.


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/27/ny...Is8yR6dUxKnANg

The Tinyurl for that article is

http://tinyurl.com/8b4ka

The TinyUrl website is http://tinyurl.com/

Sleep tight...don't let the bed bugs bite!

It's been a problem through the ages. Too bad it's still a problem today.

They've been flying non-stop for years; before that they came by boat or by land - everywhere in the world. Periodically, there is a breakout somewhere! They're like cockaroaches; will be here long after we aren't.

It's because DDT is no longer used.

MissPrism, thank you so much. I have this new computer and I am clumsy on it often. My friend cigale has mentioned tinyurl but I had no idea how to get to it..thanks!

oh and sleep tight and don't let the bedbugs bite :D

The bedbugs aren't even just in the hotels, they've spread to some of the fanciest apartment buildings on Park Avenue.
Ways they can spread:
People bringing them home in luggage or sleepwear worn in a bed that was infested

You buy a brand new mattress, it's nice and clean, but it's on the same delivery truck that contains a used mattress that someone else had removed when they got their new one, and that used mattress has the bugs

they can also live on pets, though they prefer humans

They live on blood but they can survive for up to one year without eating, so they can hang around in carpeting, old suitcases, coats.

One thing I'm never going to do anymore is come home from a trip, spread an old sheet on my bed, and put my suitcase on the bed so I can unpack.
From now on I spread plastic on my bed or on the floor, and I throw it out when I'm finished.
I knew saving old dry cleaner bags was good for more than just packing.

One thing I've done for years when traveling is using dry cleaner plastic to line drawers in hotels, wasn't sure about putting my clothes straight into those bureaus or on those shelves. Now I'm REALLY sure.

Ick.

Just read the NY Times article Scarlett provided. Yuck! I first heard of them last year, when an acquaintance who lives in Seattle, ahd found them in her home. They are coming! They are here!

I'd rather have them than ticks.

We got a room in Colorado. We noticed a couple of spots on the wall. Later at bedtime, we noticed that the spots had moved. We checked and found dozens on ticks on the walls and other places.

The manager was very upset about it. He refunded our money without a problem. Problem was that the next closest hotel was 2 hours away, 2AM.

We figured that the cattle trucks parked right next to that end room, and they moved indoors. Ticks can carry many types of fevers that can go unnoticed, or misdiagnosed, until too late

"I'd rather have them than ticks."

I'd rather have the flu than bubonic plague, but truth be told, I don't want none of 'em.
:)

I live in South Florida, and have heard some horror stories (which I know are true, as I know the people involved), who have had tick invasions, all over the walls - which seemed to happen overnight. They are awful to get rid of.
These people had dogs, and just one or two ticks can multiply very fast.

I once had a rental house which was totally INFESTED with fleas when the woman moved out with her German Shepherd dog. After several treatments by the exterminator, I finally had to have all the carpeting replaced. That was like a nightmare (and to this day, my heart goes out to that poor dog), but I can just imagine what a worse nightmare bedbugs and tick infestations must be!