Bed bugs can infest any house

Posted on January 28, 2012 by admin

Any London household can become infested with bedbugs. Increased travel abroad has opened the doors of many houses to bed bugs.

Infestations of bedbugs found in London premises usually occur in the bedrooms. Both adult and juveniles live together hiding in cracks and crevices most of the time. They normally come out at night usually just before dawn to feed on the blood of their sleeping hosts. Bedbugs will normally hide close to where the host sleeps e.g. in the frame of the bed or mattress, in furniture, behind the skirting board or wallpaper or anywhere that provides a dark harbourage during the daylight hours.

In the London bedbugs reach peak numbers towards early autumn when all stages in their life cycle will be present. Activities decrease with the onset of cold weather, egg laying ceases and the development of the juveniles slow down. Bedbugs survive over winter mainly as adults unless in adequately heated premises.

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Travellers To Be Aware Of Bedbugs

Posted on January 23, 2012 by admin

Checking luggage for bed bugs when coming home from holiday could save  people a lot of hassle once they return to their property, one organisation has said.

It  is therefore worth taking a few minutes to see whether there are any  creatures, which are about the size of an apple seed and have flat, rusty-coloured oval bodies, the Restoration Industry Association explained.

The  group pointed out, however, that the bugs are not harmful to human  health, but their bites can prove especially annoying and frustrating.

Bugs can easily crawl into the tiniest spaces, meaning they can hide everywhere from inside the tufts of mattresses to in and around bedside tables.

A recent study found that mattress pads are one of  the main places where bugs hide, as they contain two million potential  bacteria colonies.

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Heat treament to get rid of bed bugs

Posted on January 14, 2012 by admin

Well aware of the environmental impact of chemical treatments, Merlin Environmental now use heat treatment to treat bed bug infestations.

Over the years we have used a number of environmental manipulation techniques to resolve pest problems. By far the use of heat to control insect activity has been the most efficient. We use heat to eradicate insects in food production machinery, empty bins and silos, vehicles, Hotel rooms, furniture, and laundry equipment and is much more effective than the lone use of chemical sprays and fogging treatments in killing adult insects, eggs, larvae and pupae.

Heat Treatment is the environmentally friendly way of treating insect infestations. In its simplest form infested items are encased in a are enclosed in heat resistant tarpaulins and clean, dry, hot air pumped into the heat treatment area. The temperature is monitored constantly using multiple temperature sensors. At the end of the treatment, a graphical record is produced to confirm the temperature of each sensor throughout the treatment. Heat treatment has proven successful in an increasing number of applications, either as a stand-alone treatment, or in conjunction with small-scale use of conventional insecticides. To date we have treated Food machinery, Laundry units, aircraft seating and galleys, hotel rooms, cruise ship cabins and a variety of grain storage and processing machinery with excellent results.

…read more

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Resistant bed-bugs ‘from tropics’

Posted on December 30, 2011 by admin

Bed BugAccording to the BBC, new results suggest that insecticide use in the tropics is to blame for the re-emergence of bed-bug infestations.

Exposure to treated bed nets and linens meant that populations of bed-bugs had become resistant to the chemicals used to kill them, researchers said.

The findings could help convince pest controllers to find alternative remedies to deal with the problem.

The results were presented at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene’s 60th annual meeting.

Since almost vanishing from homes in industrialised countries in the 1950s, populations of the common bed-bug have become re-established in these regions over the past decade or so.

These mostly nocturnal feeders are difficult to control, not only because they are adept at avoiding detection by crawling into creases of soft furnishing but also because they have developed a resistance to many of the chemicals that have been used to kill them.

Findings presented at the gathering in Philadelphia showed that 90% of 66 populations sampled from 21 US states were resistant to a group of insecticides, known as pyrethroids, commonly used to kill unwanted bugs and flies.

…read full article

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Hairy limbs keep bed bugs away

Posted on December 17, 2011 by admin

Bed Bug BitingHairier skin may be the key to avoiding being bitten by bed bugs, claim Sheffield academics.

Hungry bugs placed on shaved arms were more likely to try to feed compared with those on unshaved arms, the journal Biology Letters reported.

Researchers say the hair slows down the bed bugs and warns the victim.

Pest controllers say the UK is currently experiencing a steep rise in the number of bed bug infestations.

Prof Michael Siva-Jothy, from Sheffield University’s Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, recruited 29 brave volunteers to test the theory further, watching the bedbugs as they found a place to feed and removing them only as they were about to bite.

He found that more layers of both longer visible hairs and finer, “vellus” hairs near the surface appeared to work as a deterrent to the insects, with the finer hairs also acting as an early warning system.

Prof Siva-Jothy said: “Our findings show that more body hairs mean better detection of parasites – the hairs have nerves attached to them and provide us with the ability to detect displacement.”

He said they also slowed down the insect as it searched for a tasty spot to bite.

“The results have implications for understanding why we look the way we do, what selective forces might have driven us to look the way we do, and may even provide insight for better understanding of how to reduce biting insects’ impact on humans.”

However, even though men are naturally hairier than women, they do not appear to be bitten less often.

Professor Siva-Jothy suggested this pointed to an evolutionary battle between bed bugs and their prey, with the insects adapting to automatically head for relatively hairless bits of the body, such as wrists and ankles.

He added that extreme hairiness might also be more of a disadvantage than an advantage.

“If you have a heavy coat of long thick hairs it is easier for parasites to hide, even if you can detect them.

“Our proposal is that we retain the fine covering because it aids detection and if we lost all hair, even the relatively invisible fine hair, our detection ability goes right down.”

…read full article

Article courtesy of www.bbc.co.uk

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Bed Bugs Case Study

Posted on August 22, 2011 by admin

Bed bugs in hotels are a horrible experience for guests and can cause a dramatic loss of revenue for the business owner. Please click here for a recent case study on how we helped a large hotel get rid of bed bugs.

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Bed bug detection taken to a new level

Posted on August 1, 2011 by admin

A remarkable new, insect remote, bedbug detection service has been developed by Merlin Environmental and is now beig used for the benefit of clients.

A report in the July/August edition of Pest Magazine can be read here.

For more information about how Merlin use dogs to detect bed bugs, please visit our dedicated website.

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How To Spot Bed Bugs

Posted on June 6, 2011 by admin

Any household can become infested with bedbugs. Increased travel abroad has opened the doors of many houses to bed bugs.

Infestations of bedbugs found in domestic premises usually occur in the bedrooms. Both adult and juveniles live together hiding in cracks and crevices most of the time. They normally come out at night usually just before dawn to feed on the blood of their sleeping hosts. Bedbugs will normally hide close to where the host sleeps e.g. in the frame of the bed or mattress, in furniture, behind the skirting board or wallpaper or anywhere that provides a dark harbourage during the daylight hours.

In the UK bedbugs reach peak numbers towards early autumn when all stages in their life cycle will be present. Activities decrease with the onset of cold weather, egg laying ceases and the development of the juveniles slow down. Bedbugs overwinter mainly as adults unless in adequately heated premises.

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Bed Bugs Are Back

Posted on May 23, 2011 by admin

After a half-century of relative inactivity, bedbugs returned in the late 1990s.  It is estimated that 95% of pest-control companies have treated an infestation in the past year. 10 years ago, it was just 22%.

Decades ago, liberal use of insecticides all but wiped bedbugs out.  But with females laying up to five eggs a day, and 500 during a lifetime, studies show the pests are passing along pesticide-resistant traits.  Millions of bedbug generations later, scientists are finally zeroing in on how bedbugs have made their comeback.

Thicker Skin
Bedbugs have probably developed thicker, denser, waxlike exoskeletons that repel chemicals in pesticides.

Chemical Blocking
Pyrethroids, a common insecticide ingredient, bind to and block sodium channels, paralyzing bugs.  Studies show that 88% of bedbugs have mutated to block pyrethroids.  The future is to target something other than the sodium channel although eventually bedbugs will adapt again. It’s always a game of catch-up.

Search and Destroy
When pesticides won’t work, physical removal is the only option.  Find the bedbugs’ hiding spots with the help of a professional exterminator or trained dog.

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Bed Bugs – Why Are They a Big Issue Right Now?

Posted on November 15, 2010 by admin

Bed bugs, tiny little rust-colored insects of the Cimicidae family, live by feeding on the blood of humans and other warm-blooded hosts. They get their name from their favorite habitat: mattresses (they like sofas and other cushy furniture, too)…

…Modern insecticides are proving to be somewhat ineffective against bed bugs,” he reports, adding that insects can also develop some level of resistance to insecticides in general.

…read more

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Bed bug cases on the rise

Posted on November 15, 2010 by admin

Most tourists visiting New York bring something back with them. Usually it’s a plastic Statue of Liberty or an ‘I heart NYC’ T-shirt. For Rebecca Riis it was bedbugs, picked up in a notoriously grotty Manhattan hotel.

“I woke up in the middle of the night and was really itchy and thought, ‘Oh no, what is this?’ I realised I had basically been bitten all over,” said Rebecca.

The London-based lawyer believes the bugs were then carried back to the UK on her flatmate’s clothes.

…read more

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Bed Bugs Comeback

Posted on November 15, 2010 by admin

The US government is hosting its first-ever bed bug conference amid a comeback by the blood-sucking insects.

Thought to have been virtually eliminated decades ago, bed bugs have re-emerged in dormitories, hospitals, shelters and hotels in several cities.

Bed bugs live in the seams of mattresses, sofas and sheets, emerging to feed on their victims at night.

…read more

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A website that drives landlords buggy

Posted on November 15, 2010 by admin

According to the Toronto newspaper the Star a website that allows people to report bed bug encounters is driving landlords crazy.

The website, Bedbugregistry.com was created by Romanian Maciej Ceglowski after he had his first encounter with a bedbug in a San Francisco motel in 2006.

According to Ceglowski, most tips come from tenants pointing out infestations in downtown apartment buildings. Some buildings have multiple complaints on the site.

The tips range from simple descriptions of when and where the bugs were found, to stories of people’s struggles to get the bugs out of their homes.

Ceglowski said he requires people to leave a valid email address when they post. But some property managers have complained. “A lot of people want to sue me,” he admitted.

“I’m trying to be fair to both sides,” he said. “I don’t let people make defamatory statements unless they post identifiable information.”

Ceglowski said landlords who feel they’ve been wronged by a tenant, or who have fixed their bedbug problem since the posting, can contact him and he will “flag” the post.

This means the bedbug complaint won’t be found by simple Google or Yahoo searches, but it will remain in Ceglowski’s records in case tenants report the pests have returned.

“There are some crazy tenants, there are some evil landlords,” Ceglowski said. “But the whole purpose of the site is to bring attention to the bedbug problem.”

Read the Star article in full

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You get to choose the diagnosis

Posted on November 15, 2010 by admin

An article from www.edmontonsun.com

This week, how about letting me relax, and you play doctor? I’ll just pass along pertinent facts about a patient. Then you can see how smart you are in making a diagnosis.

First, a couple of clues. The final diagnosis was made by common sense, not by fancy hospital tests. And it’s also possible that any of us could arrive home from vacation with this distressful problem.

Doctors Jane Pritchard and Stephen Hwang report in The Canadian Medical Association Journal the interesting case of a 62-year-old man who complained of generalized fatigue.

It was apparent from looking at this man’s medical history that you didn’t have to be a graduate of the Harvard Medical School to know there were many reasons for his lethargy.

For years he had been treated for Type 2 diabetes due to obesity. His blood cholesterol was high and he suffered from reflux esophagitis (inflammation of the lower end of the food pipe). He was also depressed, and on a number of medications that can cause fatigue. And to add insult to injury he had abused alcohol in the past, used crack cocaine and admitted he skipped meals while using cocaine. Four months earlier he had not been anemic.

Now, blood studies showed he had lost a considerable amount of blood. Physical examination revealed reddened papules and welts on his scalp and arms. So how had be become so anemic?

…read full article and find out why he had become anemic

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Bed Bugs on Islands

Posted on November 15, 2010 by admin

A few years after Island hotels started to notice increasing problems with bed bugs, people are starting to take the problem home as well.

Some pest control companies on P.E.I. are reporting their bed bug business is bigger than ever.

The owner of Atlantic Graduate Pest Control Services in Charlottetown, told CBC News on Friday that business has almost doubled over last year, mostly because people are travelling more and carrying the bugs back with their luggage. He’s also getting more calls from people who drag home an old mattress off the sidewalk.

Getting rid of bed bugs, said Gallant, calls for drastic measures.

“We have these huge plastic bags, that we will literally seal the piece of furniture and take it right to the proper disposal place and have it burnt,” he said.

Gallant said it can sometimes take a while for people to notice they have a problem.

“With those that may be elderly and alone, who don’t see the best,” he said. “You walk into literally thousands if not tens of thousands of bed bugs throughout their bedroom.”

Other pest control companies report calls have doubled and even tripled.

Read the article in full

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Dogs sniff out our bedroom blood suckers

Posted on November 1, 2010 by admin

The Merlin Group’s sniffer dog, Boss, was featured on the front page of Business Matters. To find out more about the ability of Boss to sniff out bed bugs in hotels rooms, aircraft and many other commercial premises, saving clients thousands of pounds, call Adam on 0800 037 7332.

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