Ashley Morgan, Staff Writer
Reports of bedbugs in the residence halls this year have come in at a rate of one case per week according to Director of Housing Administration Patricia Francisco.
“I don’t know if we can prevent it, but all we can do at this time is be proactive,” Francisco said. “Students just really need to be aware that every time they are in a public place and there is something upholstered, bedbugs can catch a ride with them.”
The administration is encouraging students to come forward immediately about even slight suspicions they have bedbugs so technicians can identify and treat the residence within 48 hours.
“What we’re finding is what we call ‘rogue bedbugs,’ because we’re not finding full-blown infestation,” Manager of Custodial and Maintenance Services for campus housing Benita Mann said. “Bedbugs are pesky, they’re not nasty. It gives people the creeps and makes them say ‘yuck’ but they need to realize if they have a problem, we will take care of it.”
If a problem is suspected, technicians and specially trained bedbug-sniffing dogs are brought in to identify visible evidence, and treatments costing $1500 are used to heat a student’s room to 180 degrees to kill the insects. These treatments are not charged to students, but rather come out of the Housing Administration’s operating costs.
Last year, the bugs were reported and treated in other high-traffic areas on campus including the library, Mann said.
If suspicious bites occur, looking through sheet folds and under mattress tags are good ways to spot the bugs, Jason Thompson, the commercial sales manager from Clark Pest Control San Diego, said. He also recommends inspecting and laundering sheets at high temperatures once a week.
“A lot of problems with bedbugs and why they’re starting to get worse is peoples’ education,” Thompson said. “From the last 10 to 15 years bedbugs have gotten worse because we don’t use the chemical DDT anymore, we have increased international travel and public transportation isn’t regulated (for pest control).”
Francisco assures students not to be embarrassed about reporting the pests. The infestations have not been uncommon since the United States ban of the cancer-causing pesticide DDT in 1972.
“Your body throws off two things, a heat signature and pheromones of the food you eat, medications you take and just your body chemistry alone so they are attracted to all of those different things,” Thompson said.
The parasites feed on the blood of warm-blooded animals and can go unnoticed if one is not allergic to their bites, otherwise they can cause severe itching.
Without effective and safe pesticides, the only preemptive approach that can be taken at this point is educating students about bedbugs, Francisco said.
