Bedbugs a ‘tough foe’ according pest control expert

HALIFAX – After eight beds were closed at the Victoria General Hospital because of bedbugs earlier this week, one may wonder, how hard is it hard to get rid of the pests?

According to a local pest control expert, they are a tough foe.

Dave Holland, Operations Manager at Braemar Pesticide, said once an assessment is done to a home or building to gauge the severity of the problem, crews go to work with a variety of options.

“We’ll use vacuums to remove them, heat using steam, just non-chemical ways to control them,” Holland said, but if the situation is serious enough, “there’s the insecticidal sprays and dust we use as well.”

He said fumigation isn’t the proper term to use for the bugs being removed from a home, as typically gas is only used in industrial and commercial settings.

Holland said the bugs are drawn to people in general, particularly their skin and blood, and if you have a lot of clutter and aren’t vacuuming on a regular-basis, the numbers tend to build very quickly.

He suggest a once-a-week inspection of your bed-area including bed rails and boxspring is a good way to make sure you haven’t been infested. Warning signs for bugs include feces, as well as shed skin, as ‘nits’ shed their skin several times during development.

Another problem, according to Holland, is that bites from bedbugs don’t normally effect the general population, leaving them harder to catch.

He said typically, the bugs aren’t wiped out after their first, “treatment,” and more rounds of follow-up are needed to ensure they’re gone.