How to beat the bedbug

Oct 20, 2010 6:18:56 PM

Robert Reid
Lonely Planet Author

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Halloween’s nearly here – and everyone’s going on and on with the (boring) undead – but the real blood-suckers of the year haven’t waited for October 31 to attack. And after 50 years of virtual absence in the USA, they’re back and they’re biting. With a vengeance.

Bedbugs!

The States are so panicked by the outbreak of bedbugs these days that Chicago recently hosted a bedbug summit with demos on how to freeze or fry the bugs. It’s reached hysterical heights in New York City, where the little guys are being found in dorms, offices, penthouses. Editors in the New York Times are so worked up, they ran 14 bedbug pieces last month – up from the usual one or two in the past year.

One recent victim is pop singer Lauren Hildebrandt who awoke in a swank Manhattan hotel recently with bites on her back and shoulders. Unable to sleep in the days after, she spent her spare time spoofing her own song ‘Boyshirts’ as ‘Bedbugs’ with the overly revealing lyric ‘I was covered from my head to my crack.’

(Yes, the new version is just as unlistenable as the original.)

Then she released a chilling statement: ‘People should be aware of the DANGER in NYC hotels right now.’

Let’s take a deep breath and relax on this. Bedbugs are a problem, but there are a couple things to do to help minimize risk of getting bites, or taking them home with you from a trip.

1. Check for recent complaints of hotels at BedBugRegistry.com or Bedbugger.com.

2. After checking into your room, search mattress seams and bedside tables for signs of bugs (blood or fecal stains, or actual bugs). Note one infested room doesn’t mean all rooms in the hotel have them.

3. Prevent taking them home by storing your suitcase on the stand, and well away from the bed.

4. Pack your dirty clothes in sealable bags.

5. When you get home wash everything – even if you didn’t wear it – and dry on ‘hot’ if possible.

Bedbugs aren’t fun, but at least they don’t transmit any diseases. And one entomologist noted in the Times that ‘we probably have no greater admirers in the insect world.’

So there’s that. Unlike the undead, it’d seem, bedbugs really really like us.