“Holiday travelers warned: Don't let bedbugs bite”

Holiday travelers warned: Don't let bedbugs bite

Posted: 07 Dec 2010 07:42 PM PST

LONG BEACH - While the national news media have been infested recently with stories about the proliferation of bedbugs, particularly on the East Coast, things in the Long Beach area are relatively quiet.

Health officials hope that pattern holds, yet caution about holiday travel.

Nelson Kerr, the Bureau Manager for Environmental Health at the Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services, says although there has been an uptick in the reports, it has only risen from one a month a year ago to a couple a week.

During holiday travel, however, the creepy crawlers could catch rides to the warmer climes.

"Unfortunately, they're very good hitchhikers," said Ken Murray of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, which represents areas of the county not covered by a city health department.

Los Angeles has seen the number of reported cases increase from 25 to 30 a month in the spring to about 50 to 60 a month recently, Murray said.

Of those, about half are in hotels and motels and the rest in private residences. He adds that there don't seem to be any particular areas of concentration of the reports.

The blood-sucking insects, once thought to be almost extinct, have rallied in recent years and have risen sharply on the East Coast. A preschool in Richmond, Va., was closed Monday after the pests were found there, and in New York there have been reports that the bedbugs have reached epidemic proportions.

In Long Beach, officials have been keeping an eye on the trend.

"Bedbugs have made a return nationally, and we're not sure why," said Michael Johnson, manager of support services at the Long Beach Department of Health and Human services. "In general, they occur in more congregated living homes."

Experts says the economy has played a role, as many residents have imported the creatures into their homes by buying used clothes or picking up discarded beds without checking.

Once the bugs move in, it can require professional exterminators to get rid of them completely.

But bedbugs are branching out into more high-class and tourist digs.

At the Long Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau, Bob Maguglin, director of public relations, said he was unaware of any problems at area hotels.

"I have not heard anything," Maguglin said. "We haven't had any complaints. I haven't even heard anyone in Long Beach mention it."

Reports on various websites such as bedbugreports.com and tripadvisor.com claim bedbugs in several local hotels, although they cannot be confirmed.

Craig Wong, supervisor of Environmental Health Housing in Long Beach, said he has received only two or three reports of bedbugs in local motels in the past six months.

Lamar Rush, the city's coordinator of vector control, said most hotels and motels locally do a good job with pest control.

Generally, health officials say travelers should be vigilant and look for tell-tale signs of infestation when they check into lodgings.

That can be done by carefully checking bedding and clothing during a trip.

Angelo Bellomo, director of environmental health in Los Angeles, says the good news is that bedbugs are not known to transmit diseases, although those affected can get secondary infections from scratching and other activities.

"It's more of a nuisance issue than a disease transmission issue," Johnson said.

But it can certainly take a bite out of otherwise happy holidays.

greg.mellen@presstelegram.com, 562-499-1291

Dealing with bed bugs

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has released information and guidelines for residents and tourists:

Travelers should check luggage and clothing before they leave home.

If you are going to multiple motels, check clothing and launder, when possible, between sites.

Turn down motel room bedding and look for signs of infestation. Bugs can be found along the edge of ribbing or beneath buttons of a mattresses, between the mattress and box spring or in the folds of the dust ruffle, along the support frame or behind the headboard of the bed, in upholstery and frames of furniture, beneath decorator pillows or behind wall hangings.

A flashlight can be helpful in finding where the bugs hide. Aiming a hot hair dryer at a suspected site can drive the insects out of hiding.

When unpacking in a hotel, it is best not to unpack on the beds.

Hanging clothes should not touch floor.

Packing clothes in plastic bags can help prevent bugs from infiltrating clothes.

After returning home, unpack away from the bedroom. Immediately launder clothes and check luggage.

Signs of an infestation

The insects often congregate and deposit clumps of small, yellowish eggs and black excrement may collect.

Empty egg shells and cast-off skins are frequently observed in the immediate area.

Speckles and streaks of blood are often left on linens by those bitten.

Bites on humans are itchy welts that usually occur in clumps, unlike spider bites which are often singular.

- Compiled by Greg Mellen

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Bedbugs Bite

Wednesday, December 8, 2010