Tips to prevent bring home Bed Bugs

Recently I attended a meeting in Tyler, Texas with some other entomologists. While staying at the hotel one of the entomologists found bed bugs in her hotel room. On March 3, 2016   Dr. Katelyn Kowles Extension Agent-IPM for Lubbock and Crosby counties, posted a to-do list to help prevent bringing back bed bugs from your vacation, on her blog (http://lubbockcountyipm.blogspot.com/2016/03/a-travelers-nightmare.html). This to do list includes how to check hotel room for bed bugs and what to do if you find them in your hotel room. Below is the checklist put together by Dr. Kowles, along with some useful pictures of bed bugs.

Tips for Travelers: Scouting for Bed Bugs

How to scout your hotel room for bed bugs:

1. Don’t put any belongings on the bed or unpack before you complete your inspection. I put my luggage on the luggage rack (usually in the closets of most rooms) or in the bathroom until I have checked for bed bugs.
2. Things you are looking for:
• actual bed bugs
• shed skin of immature bugs
• dark brown fecal spots (dried excrement)

Adult bed bugs are approximately a quarter of an inch long and red-brown with oval, flattened bodies. Immature bed bugs are smaller versions of the adults, but with a much lighter color and approximately the size of a pinhead.

3. Begin with a preliminary check around the room. Focus on the corners of ceilings and the baseboards.
4. Remove the corners of the fitted sheet and look underneath the mattress and box spring. Examine the mattress seams and crevices in the box spring. Pay special attention to head of the bed. Most cell phones have a flashlight that is very useful for this!
5. You should also inspect crevices in the bed frame. This is especially important if the bed frame is wood!
6. If there is a removable headboard, remove it from the wall and inspect the crevices on the back. This is a common place for bed bug infestations to begin. If you have never done this before, make sure you have two people to remove it safely

What to do if your hotel room has bed bugs:

1. Call the front desk and request a new room. Problems are usually contained in a particular area, so try to get a room in a different area.
2. Quarantine all your belongings in garbage bags (or something similar), especially if they were on/near the bed or if you experienced bites.
3. Put everything that is safe for laundering in a dryer at high heat for at least 45 minutes. DO NOT wash first! A washing machine does not typically get hot enough to kill all the bugs. After you have dried everything, then you can resume a normal washing routine.
4. Keep your luggage/anything that can’t be laundered in a closed garbage bag until you can treat it. Contact your local pest control company for how to do this.

Important facts about bed bugs:

·       Bed bugs feed only on the blood of animals and spend most of their time where they can get a reliable blood meal from their host. In the case of hotel rooms, this is near the bed. Only when they are very hungry, or there is a bad infestation, will you find them in other places.

·       Bed bugs do not transmit diseases when they bite. Every person reacts differently, ranging from mild irritation and itching to large, red welts. Some reactions are delayed and occur days or even weeks after the bite.

·       Bed bug bites are usually painless so people don’t always realize they are being bitten. Any exposed skin is vulnerable, such as arms, legs, face, or neck. Bed bugs will typically make several bites at at time, often in a short line.

·       Bed bugs are mostly active at night and can go months without a blood meal. Therefore, ignoring a problem and hoping that they starve is not a reliable solution.

·       There has been a global resurgence in bed bugs over the last decade and eradicating an infestation can be time-consuming and expensive. Taking pro-active measures when you’re traveling to avoid bringing them home is always worth it!  

Other things that can be inspected include behind picture frames or couches and chairs. But limit your search to items near the bed!

Top: Bed bug taking a blood meal (feeding), Second: Bed bug eggs, Third: Adult bed bug, and Bottom: Progression of the bed bug from the egg to the adult. Photo Credit: Bart Drees, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension

Additionally, here is a link to a website where Dr. Mike Merchant of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension has posted more helpful information about bed bugs.

http://citybugs.tamu.edu/factsheets/biting-stinging/others/ent-3012/

  

Stay safe, TM

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ZIKA

As mosquitoes venture out of their geographical habitat, so do the viruses they carry

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  Below is some helpful information about the Zika virus from Christina Sumners, communications coordinator with the Texas A&M University Health Science Center. This information can also be found at https://vitalrecord.tamhsc.edu/fast-facts-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-zika-virus/.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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As the Zika virus captures headlines as a global health emergency, with its possible link to birth defects and a rare autoimmune disorder, it’s an opportune time to review the facts. Texas A&M experts explain the virus, track its spread and put fears in context.

Q: What is the Zika virus?

A: A member of the Flavivirus family, the Zika virus is an emerging mosquito-borne virus that was first identified in the Zika forest of Uganda in 1947. Until very recently, it was confined to Africa with occasional small outbreaks in Asia. It slowly spread east, with cases on Easter Island off the coast of South America confirmed in 2014 and the first cases in Brazil in May 2015, and it has spread further throughout South and Central America since then. Although usually a mild illness, the virus can be dangerous to pregnant women and their unborn children.

Q: How do you get Zika?

A: Like a number of other diseases such as dengue and chikungunya, which are also spread by mosquitoes, the Zika virus is spread through the bite of the Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus species of mosquitoes. Mosquitoes become infected when they bite a human who has the virus, and are then capable of spreading the virus to other susceptible humans. These mosquito vectors are abundant in many urban environments of Texas and elsewhere and are active during the day and night, increasing the period that humans are at risk of exposure. Between 20 and 25 percent of those persons who become infected will develop symptoms. It’s recently been shown that the virus can be spread through sexual transmission from human to human, but that mode of transmission remains rare. 

Q: What are the symptoms?

A: Common symptoms of Zika include fever, skin rash, red eyes and joint pain. Some patients report muscle pain, general malaise, headache and vomiting. Symptoms typically last between two and seven days. Complications are rare, but some cases require hospitalization for supportive care.   

Q: Who is at risk?

A: Everyone who hasn’t had the virus is potentially at risk. For pregnant women, contracting the virus represents a risk to her unborn baby. Though a definitive link has yet to be proven, Zika virus appears to be associated with miscarriages and microcephaly, a birth defect in which the infant has an unusually small head and abnormal brain development. For everyone else, the biggest potential complication is Guillain-Barré syndrome, in which the immune system attacks the body’s own nerve cells, causing problems with muscle coordination and breathing. It can be fatal in rare cases, especially in situations without high-quality intensive care.   

Q: Is there a treatment?

A: No, other than making the patient more comfortable with symptomatic treatment, there is no specific cure or treatment for Zika. There is also no cure for Guillain-Barré syndrome, although supportive measures in the intensive care unit can typically keep patients alive long enough to recover.

Q: How can the virus be prevented? How can I protect myself?

A: There is no vaccine for the virus yet, so all preventive measures should be focused on preventing mosquito bites. This means eliminating standing water and other mosquito breeding sites, as well as using mosquito screens in windows and using appropriate insect repellents when outdoors. Men who might be infected should use condoms to avoid infecting their sexual partners.

Q: How is Zika diagnosed? Are there tests available?

A: There are no commercially available tests for Zika, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and some state and local health departments are able to perform tests for Zika. A commercially available test that would make diagnosis faster and easier might be only weeks away, though.

Q: What do pregnant women need to know about the virus?

A: The Ministry of Health of Brazil discovered an association between being infected with Zika virus and an increase in cases of microcephaly in newborns in that county, with the risk greatest when the mother was infected during her first trimester. Microcephaly is a medical condition that results in a small head because the brain has stopped growing or is not developing properly. Because of the potential association between Zika virus infection and microcephaly, pregnant women should be especially careful to avoid mosquito bites, particularly during their first trimester. The CDC has advised pregnant women to avoid travel to endemic countries if possible. Because many women do not know they’re pregnant until near the end of the first semester, women who could be pregnant should also consider taking precautions.

Q: Where is Zika?

A: A number of countries in the Americas from Mexico to Brazil have active Zika transmission. In addition, Cape Verde and three Pacific Islands (American Samoa, Samoa and Tonga) have reported transmission of the virus. We have also seen the Zika virus in travelers returning to the U.S. from places where Zika is spreading—but to date, no one is known to have been infected locally in the continental U.S. through the bite of a mosquito.  

Q: Will we see Zika in the United States?

A: For Zika to spread widely, two things are necessary: The Aedes mosquito and appropriate conditions in communities. Crowded tropical areas without air conditioning or window screens are prime opportunities for spread of the virus, while screened-in spaces and air conditioning common in the United States helps to block virus transmission by reducing contact between mosquitos and humans. We are already seeing transmission of Zika within U.S. territories like Puerto Rico and American Samoa, and health officials say it is very likely to spread further, but widespread transmission like we are seeing in tropical countries is unlikely in the continental United States.   

Q: What is the government doing?

A: Although the disease is not yet spreading within the continental United States, President Barack Obama asked Congress for $1.8 billion in emergency funds to combat Zika. The money would go to mosquito control programs, vaccine research, public education programs and foreign aid to countries in South America, Central America and the Caribbean where Zika is endemic. In addition, the CDC has developed the diagnostic test for Zika virus, and government researchers are studying better methods of detection and prevention. They are also working with at-risk areas to improve mosquito control efforts in advance of warmer weather.

Q: What if I’m planning to travel to a place with an established Zika outbreak?

A: Pregnant women are being advised to avoid areas with active Zika transmission if possible. For everyone else, it is still okay to travel to Central and South America and the Caribbean, but the CDC recommends usual anti-mosquito measures. Men returning from these areas should use condoms to protect their partners from possible infection, especially if his partner is or could be pregnant. Officials are also urging travelers to avoid mosquito bites both while abroad in a Zika-affected country and for at least a week after a returning (in order to avoid spreading the virus, should they be infected and not know it.)

Q: What should I do if I think I might be infected with Zika virus?

A: To prevent others from getting sick, it is especially important to keep any mosquitos from biting you and transmitting the virus to other people. Get plenty of rest and drink fluids to prevent dehydration. Pregnant women potentially exposed to Zika virus (through either travel to or contact with a partner who has travelled to a Zika-endemic region) should notify their obstetrician so that maternal and fetal screening tests can be initiated.

For additional information, visit the CDC website.

— Christina Sumners

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