Do Not Spread Bedbugs
 

If you have a bedbug problem and are planning to travel, for the love of pete please have some common decency and do not check into a hotel or cabin or any other place where you will inflict bedbugs upon others.

I was just about ready to toss a few bags of bedbugs into my suitcase to take along, and here you go and ruin my plans.

I guess I'll just have to substitute my cockroaches instead - they love it when I leave leftover food at the cabin.

I never cared much for Pete anyway.

thanks for the laugh!

SO?? Why not name the hotel or cabin you stayed at that had the bedbug problem?

The state park lodge where we planned to spend a weekend this summer just called to say they are dealing with a bedbug problem. Recently, the bunkhouse where our county sixth graders spend a week was found to be infested. (Other groups are also allowed to rent the bunkhouses.) It's been pretty well documented that the whitewater rafting center where we vacationed last week had a problem with bedbugs recently. Fortunately, we have not been picked up the horrible little critters, but obviously somebody carried them to the places I mentioned and other people took them home as a vacation souvenir. I guess that's pretty funny to read about. You might not think it's so funny if you stay in a hotel where someone left bedbugs and your house becomes infested.

Many years ago I stayed at the Casino Palace Hotel in Port Said, Egypt. The hotel had likely been an elegant place decades earlier but by 1965 it was a dump.

When I woke up the first morning there I was horrified to see blood spots on my tee shirt.
I went to the lobby, asked for the manager and pulled up my shirt to show him the evidence of my bedbug infestation.
When he saw it, he said "Sir, we have not had any complaints about bedbugs *in that room* for a long time. You must have brought them with you."

I doubt that anyone seeks out to spread bedbugs, influenza, or leave muddy footprints - these things just happen in a world where we go anyplace other than home with anyone other than ourselves.

If I stayed someplace that was infested with bedbugs, I would be furious. But if one followed your reasoning, none of these 12 and 13 year olds would have been allowed back home either since they might be carry bugs.

One way bedbugs are spread is by "free mattress removal" by even very reputable companies. If you have bugs, get a new mattress because of it, the old one is hauled away by the deliverer in the same truck, giving all your ex-tenant bugs a chance to explore new travel venues on other new mattresses. While plastic wrapping helps quite a bit - it is no guarantee.

Just as certain bacteria have become resistant to a range of antibiotics, so have various parasites - and with insects this is even more pronouced since we have banned many of the truly effective and lethal insecticides for environmental reasons.

Bedbugs, Norwalk virus on cruise ships, etc can rarely be traced to an individual - and are the type chances we all take by leaving home.

You are right to be concerned. I would imagine, though, that most people who transmit bedbugs from place to place are unaware that they are doing so.
After reading the article below, I started becoming paranoid about the problem myself. A friend of mine even brings her own sleep sheet when she travels. I think I might do the same.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/14/bu...0travel&st=cse

Gail, I think you have much more faith in human nature than I have. I believe some people know they have bedbug problems but travel anyway with no regard for the damage they leave in their wakes.

How about some tips with your comments? Apparently you just stayed at a rafting center with bedbug problems....what means did you take to make sure you didnt' take a bedbug home with you in your suitcase or shoe?

Bedbugs are appearing in hotels and residences at some of the most exclusive addresses in town. Bedbugs do not discriminate between two star and four star hotels nor do they distinguish work-a-day from luxury housing. There are things you can do to minimize your risk when traveling and prevent bedbugs from accompanying you home.

In addition to the NYT article link posted above, there is a Times Topic on bedbugs that addresses every aspect of the problem:

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/refere...ugs/index.html

It's a good place to get scared, er, I meant started, learning about the problem.

Good question, clarkgriswald. Lately when we travel, I take as few clothes as possible and pack them in inexpensive bags. I also take large plastic trash bags. If any of us showed symptoms of being bitten by bedbugs, we would be out of there fast. I would try to seal the clothes we wanted to keep in the trash bags until we can get to a laundry mat. Then I'd throw the cheap luggage away. I'd probably throw our shoes away too, although that would be very painful for me. I wouldn't bring a thing in the house that hadn't been washed. Other than those things, I have no idea what to do. We love to travel and don't want to let bedbugs stop us. But I have to admit I get more and more wary every trip.

The first thing I do when I walk into a room while traveling is check the mattress for signs of bedbugs. There are many articles out there telling what to look for.

When a bedbug bites he gets enough juice to last 5 or 6 months. Doesn't bite again for a long time. So just because you don't get bitten by a bed bug in a hotel doesn't mean that you won't be bringing a bed bug along with you and back to your home. That December vacation might come back to bite you in the _ _ _ next June!

What about people who send their kids to school with lice?

"Gail, I think you have much more faith in human nature than I have. I believe some people know they have bedbug problems but travel anyway with no regard for the damage they leave in their wakes."

And those types of folks are unlikely to change their behaviour as a result of your rant, no?

Can someone on this thread please explain why somebody would talk about their hotel or whatever which has a bedbug problem and yet fail to reveal the name and location?

is this the same as being decent and not spreading an infestation?

I simply do not understand this behavior at all.

This had to be the funniest title of a thread in a long time. I laughed out loud. It was just so naive...Do you also put "forward this to ten people or bad luck will come to you" at the bottom of your emails? That is the tone you are using. But seriously: Just because I'm laughing doesn't mean I think the subject itself is funny.

You don't understand how this stuff gets transmitted. Lots and lots of people take a trip where they stay at 2-3 hotels on their trip, like we did this summer. You could potentially pick up some bedbugs at Hotel 1, and not even know you have them when you carry them to Hotel 2. And on it goes.

The media has been saturated with stories about bedbugs for the past 5 years or so. If you are now afraid to travel, there are websites devoted to chronicling the date someone stayed at a specific property and exactly what evidence of bedbugs they found. People will post bedbug experiences to TripAdvisor. There are also great reports on how to treat them in your home and survivor stories out there.

The bedbug resurgence first became noticed in larger cities. During my own trip planning, it appeared to me that the smaller cities where we stayed had more current postings about hotels with potential bedbug problems. I believe the reason is that small-town property managers haven't gotten educated about how to identify and eradicate bed bugs.

HTH

I loved Helsinki's tale. We are soon going to India. I hope the Egyptian hotelier son does not change countries.