Bedbugs in Wisconsin

There was the summer of shark attacks.

Then the Swine Flu pandemic, the H1N1 virus, was threatening the global population. The world was at risk.

Now we're in the age of bedbug hysteria.



We've been hearing about the insects terrorizing New Yorkers for months. They've taken up at the Waldorf Astoria, the Wall Street Journal offices, theaters, schools, and countless apartment buildings.

You can run, but you can't hide. The bedbugs are coming.

The infestation knows no borders. The attack of the bedbugs has reached New Zealand.

We seem to be on the verge of a full-blown emergency.

Oh, the humanity!

Personally, I find bedbugs more disturbing than sharks, given that I spend more time where bedbugs hang out than swimming in the ocean.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Bedbugs - two words that together prompt nightmares - are stalking more sleepers in hotels, apartments and homes in Wisconsin, reflecting a national uptick over the past year, according to local officials and exterminators.

A year ago, Milwaukee's Department of Neighborhood Services received about one call a month reporting bedbugs. Now, the office gets three calls a day, mostly from apartment dwellers, said Todd Weiler, the department's communications coordinator.

"Bedbugs are quickly surpassing cockroaches as the public health pest control issue du jour," said Paul Biedrzycki, director of disease control and environmental health for the Milwaukee Health Department.

A decade ago, bedbugs were associated with dilapidated housing, but now they're showing up in high-end hotels and upscale neighborhoods after hitching a ride on travelers' luggage, he said.

Bedbugs don't transmit human diseases, and there's no requirement that infestations be reported to health officials. But health departments still get calls because infestations are perceived to be unsanitary, Biedrzycki said. Bedbug bites can prompt secondary infections from scratching an itch, and some people who are highly sensitive to a bite may develop a rash, he said.

"There's a perception bedbugs are out of control," Biedrzycki said. "The more we're looking for them, the more we're finding them. . . . They're a nuisance. No one wants to get bit while sleeping."

The nocturnal, wingless blood suckers take up residence in apartment buildings and houses when infested luggage comes home from hotels. The bugs can travel between units through ceilings, walls and underneath doors.

Infested mattresses, sofas and other furniture also get left curbside, only to be hauled into other homes by unsuspecting treasure hunters.

"With harder economic times, people are scavenging more," Weiler said.

Oh, I see. It's the hard economic times (probably can be blamed on Bush) that are fueling the explosion of the pests. People are scavenging and bringing discarded infested furniture left at curbside into their homes.

(Will Obama and Feingold suggest that foreign money might be involved in the infestation? Maybe blame the Chamber of Commerce? There's no evidence of such a conspiracy, but who needs evidence?)

...If they follow the nationwide pattern, the next frontier for local bedbugs will be movie theaters, retail stores and hospitals.

Are hospitals bringing infested mattresses left curbside into their facilities?

Under ObamaCare, it may come to that. ObamaCare: Bedbugs and death panels.

The flat, reddish brown pests hide in mattress creases, cracks in furniture, behind baseboards and virtually anywhere else they can squeeze their tiny bodies. They especially like bed frames, headboards and nightstands, but also sneak into closets and dressers, and behind pictures and mirrors.

A mature bedbug is dark brown and about a quarter-inch long. It can survive months without food, which means it can linger in living spaces.

Bedbugs are notoriously difficult to kill.

As of Tuesday, Wisconsin had 84 bedbug reports at www.bedbugregistry.com, an unofficial site that lists hotels and apartment complexes nationwide where travelers and apartment residents report that they've been bitten.

The good news is that Milwaukee isn't among the top 15 bedbug infested cities, according to Terminix, an exterminator that recently ranked cities after compiling and analyzing market-specific call volume about bedbugs to the 350 service centers throughout the country. Chicago ranked fifth, and Minneapolis ranked 15th.

The bad news is that bedbug-sniffing dogs brought in by area exterminators have plenty of work in Wisconsin to keep them busy.

"We are doing bedbug work all over the state now - every day," said Randy Allen, southeast Wisconsin regional manager for Wil-Kil Pest Control.

He estimated 20 to 30 calls a day requesting help with bedbugs from southeastern Wisconsin alone.

On the bright side, Milwaukee doesn't make the top 15 infested U.S. cities.

That's good.

Tom Barrett can claim success at keeping Milwaukee out of the top 15 bedbug-infested cities. He can promise to do the same for the state if elected governor.

Of course, there's still that teen pregnancy matter, the Third World level of infant mortality, pervasive poverty, and embarrassing high school drop-out rate in Milwaukee.

Oh, well.

Check out the Bed Bug Registry.



Expect to see TMJ4 introduce a new segment to complement its "Dirty Dining" and "Speedbusters" features - "Bedbug Busters," or maybe "Dirty Sleeping."