Biting Bedbugs Spread Across the Country
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) -- Bedbugs have bitten in 35 states, including Iowa, and continue to spread across the country, pest control experts say.
Bedbugs are tiny bloodsucking insects that smell like soda pop syrup and are shaped like apple seeds. They live in bedding or furniture, or hide behind baseboards and wallpaper.
They don't carry diseases, but they bite while you sleep, turning brownish-red after feeding on your blood.
Infestations are on the rise across the country in metropolitan cities with high travel populations, according to Orkin Exterminating Co.
Reports show a 300 percent increase in calls about bedbug infestation in homes and commercial buildings from 2000 to 2001 and 70 percent increases in both 2002 and 2003.
In Iowa, they have been sighted in Sioux City and Waterloo.
There are two major reasons for why bedbug sightings are increasing, Orkin spokeswoman Martha Craft said. One is that the ease of international travel has helped spread bedbugs from other countries to the United States. The other is that pest control methods have changed, she said.
In the past, Orkin would spray a chemical along the baseboards of homes, apartments or commercial businesses, said Orkin entomologist Frank Meek. That changed when the company started using heat and steam, which uses fewer chemicals, he said.
Meek encountered a bedbug firsthand in 1999 when he stayed in an Orlando, Fla., hotel.
"Preventing bedbugs is to know what to look for," Craft said. "People haven't seen bedbugs in a long time."
Bite marks usually show up as little red spots with a lighter red area around them. Unlike chigger bites that tend to be grouped in one area or pattern, bedbug bites can be all over.
Laura Jesse, an extension entomologist at Iowa State University, said it's tough to stop bedbugs from spreading.
"It's hard to find out whether infestation has been there or treated. But I'm sure they've been in and out of every town," Jesse said.
---
On the Net:
Orkin Exterminating Co.:
http://www.orkin.com/ Maine Extension fact sheet on bedbugs:
http://pmo.umext.maine.edu/factsht/bedbugs.htm
