There are two things to remember amid all the bedbug hype ”“ they do not transmit diseases and they are not related to cleanliness, observers say.
“I think a lot of times, it”™s more hysteria,” said Janet Serra, executive director of the Western Connecticut Convention & Visitors”™ Bureau. “It”™s not like they carry malaria.”
She said her office has yet to field one call from a tourist imploring about bedbugs.
“We handle a lot of telephone inquiries for a 63-town registry in Connecticut and not one visitor has asked about bedbugs,” she said. “If there were a problem, we”™d be the first to hear. I”™ve seen no uptick in this situation at all.”
According to health officials, bedbugs frequently travel and move from apartment to apartment, among hotels and cruise ships, in luggage and on used furniture and mattresses.
“Many hotels don”™t want to admit whether or not they have bedbugs because they will then be known for having bedbugs and no one will want to stay there,” said Anthony Glen, general manager of Veganix Pest Management in Elmsford and Stamford, Conn.
He called the process of elimination “very intensive.”
“I go to check with an infrared light, bring up the mattress and take a look, and most of the time, it”™s nothing,” he said. “I would say, 60 to 70 percent of the time, it”™s nothing. Hotels, they”™re not really treating for it and we”™re not really getting that many calls, but we should be because it can be a very serious problem.
“Customers have said, ”˜We”™ve just gotten back from vacation and we have bites all over,”™” he said. “And these are nice, high-end condos in places like Scarsdale.”
Glen said he has treated hotel rooms in the tristate area. “Some hotels will tell the exterminator just to spritz and really don”™t want to invest because it”™s so expensive,” he said. “But, they spread. They follow the electrical line and go room-to-room.”
Glen said it costs about $300 to $400 per room to apply chemical treatments and 120-degree Fahrenheit heat.
“I know most hotels have strict protocols to deal with the issue,” Serra said. “Many housekeepers are trained to look for a problem. Once it”™s found, the room and the rooms around it are isolated.”
Of the circulating reports of bedbugs making guest appearances at midtown Manhattan motels, movie theaters and clothing stores, Serra said geographically, New York could be more viable.
“New York is an enormous city with a large international tourist flow,” she said. “But, no hotel is immune to bedbugs. The person usually brings it in.”
Edwin Rivera, president of White Plains-based Pest2Kill Exterminating Co. called the bedbug craze “an epidemic” that really began in 2000 to 2001.
“That”™s when we first started getting calls and the calls just got greater and greater,” he said. “With roaches, you can just spray, but that”™s not the case with bedbugs. You have to be well-prepared and go in and do special treatments.”
