Pest Control companies in the lower mainland are doing a brisk business these days due to an explosion in the bedbug population.
Teddy Romana is a pest control expert in North Vancouver. He says he noticed an increase in bedbug calls three or four years ago.
“In the last two years, it’s just exploded,” he says.
“Why is the problem growing?” Romana asks rhetorically. “It’s difficult to eradicate them. We haven’t got enough tools. The chemicals, which are environmentally friendly, are not working.”
In a study done by Insight Pharmaceuticals*, Vancouver ranked 8th worst city in North America for bed bug infestation. Vancouver’s bedbug map (bedbugregistry.com) is heavily spotted with reports in the West End, the Downtown Eastside and Mount Pleasant, and totals nearly 2000 incidents.
Sean Rollo, an entomologist with Orkin PCO Services in Vancouver has witnessed a 500 per cent increase in bedbug calls over the last five years. He says the recent resurgence of bedbugs is caused by their resistance to chemical treatments, an increase in global travel, and more people living in multi-unit buildings.
“The key is early detection, so it doesn’t get to the point it’s out of control,” said Rollo. For an initial inspection, he recommends Orkin's canine service: their dog will find the little critters quickly if they're present.
Once bed bugs establish themselves, they are very hard to get rid of. “Bed bugs are very stubborn pests,” said Rollo. “It can take one and a half to two months to manage the treatment.”
Some people, frustrated with bedbug problems, might use an over the counter chemical product to deal with the creepy crawlies. Rollo strongly advises against this. “Spraying a chemical product yourself, you’re spreading it and making it worse,” he said. “This is one pest you should leave to the pros.”
Rollo says treatments for bedbugs are not product based anymore. Pest control specialists tend to use green practices like steam cleaning the seams of infected mattresses, encasing the mattress with a special fabric which protects the mattress and prevents the bugs from escaping, and treating affected areas with diatomaceous earth, a crushed powder substance of fossilized crustaceans. When the bedbugs come into contact with diatomaceous earth, they cut themselves and die.
Other stronger treatments are available, if necessary. “Pest control today is very environmentally friendly. The products we use are very very safe,” said Rollo.
Although bedbugs don't carry disease, they are a nuisance, and a public health concern. People with bedbug bites can develop allergic reactions, and the distress and anxiety of living with bedbugs can become a mental health issue, according to the Centre for Disease Control.
Romana says the severity of the bedbug problems in New York and Toronto have lead to new laws, and conferences on the topic. Toronto is holding a bedbug summit September 29th, and the Environmental Protection Agency in the U.S. held its first ever Bedbug Summit last year.
“In New York and Toronto, they take it very seriously,” said Romana. “This is a really big problem and we are going to see the same problem here.”
“Vancouver is slowly becoming one of the worst places for bed bugs.”
*Note that Insight Pharmaceuticals has developed a product called Pronto to deal with bedbugs.
