Don't sleep tight: The bedbugs will bite!

Ask the horrified resident who recently found her Park Ave. duplex teeming with the blood sucking insects,or the tenants of a co-op on Riverside Dr. who spent $200,000 to purge their building of the pesky little creatures. The problem is real, and is effecting all walks of life.The Helmsley Park Lane for instance, was sued by a welt covered guest who blamed the hotel for harboring the critters. The suit was quietly settled two years ago. The bedbug, a fast moving nocturnal creature was all but eradicated by DDT after world war II, but have made a huge comeback to the dismay of its victims. They can infest all types of buildings that offer shelter and a blood meal provided by a host victim-usually a sleeping human being. No one is immune, from flop houses, to Park Ave. residences, to four star hotels. Infestations have been recorded across the U.S. over the past few years, with N.Y.C. having the distinction of being the bedbug capital of the country. It's becoming an epidemic. In 2004 the city logged 377 bedbug violations, up from just two in 2002, and 16 in 2003. We anticipate over 1,500 violations in 2007 Entomologists and pest control specialists agree that a large part of the problem can be attributed to increased travel and immigration by people of developing countries around the world. Another factor is the banning of many effective pesticides by N.Y. state creating a void in our arsenal. To compensate, we have adjusted our method of treatment and formulated other classes of pesticides that have proven to be very effective and are approved by the N.Y. state department of conservation. Other causes of bedbug infestations include recycled mattress sales as well as recycled furnishings such as sofas and upholstered furniture rescued from the street. New mattress deliveries even from reputable department stores can also present problems, especially if they spent all day wedged against an old mattress collected from a customer with a bed bug problem. Once introduced into the home they can crawl to adjoining apartments and in a relatively short amount of time the possibility of a building wide infestation could become reality. Early detection and treatment are critical to avoid a costly full blown infestation. Unlike mice and roaches that thrive in unsanitary conditions where food and water are plentiful, bedbugs on the other hand are only interested in the shelter their nest provides. Their entire diet consists of blood, preferably the human variety. They will not eat any other food, period!! Bedbugs don't just dwell in mattresses and box springs. They will also nest in narrow cracks and crevices and come out at night in search of a meal They will bite their host/victim and feed until they are engorged, usually the process takes about 5-10 minutes. The modern bedbug is immune to hardware store roach bombs, they will scatter the bed bug population, creating a larger more difficult problem to control. Prior to treating the home must be prepared, all clothing must be washed or dry cleaned, all surfaces including furniture, rugs, sofas, drapes and floors must be thoroughly vacuumed, the vacuum bag should be disposed of, outside in a sealed trash bag. For best results a follow-up treatment should be done 2-3 weeks after the initial treatment. For some victims, the stigma of having bed bugs in their house is a big source of embarrassment. That can stay with you for a while even after service has been provided. The good news is bedbug infestations can be corrected and prevented from reoccurring by utilizing sound treatment methods and the proper pesticides. Ben Weisel is the president of Metro Pest Control, New York, N.Y.