<p>Today's City Weekly section of the Boston Globe has a long article today informing us "a battalion of bedbugs is marching through Boston". A bedbug summit will be held In Boston next month. Particularly hard hit is the Allston/Brighton area where many students live. I wish I could include the link, but can't figure out how to.
My building has been part of this epidemic, it is so disruptive I can't bear to write about it. Plastic has become my best friend. I posted several weeks ago on a what to bring to college thread my son is going off to Cleveland with a twin XL plastic mattress protector. Please, please purchase one for your child if they are coming to BU, BC, Northeastern or anywhere near here. Even if not, have them use one wherever they are going. These bugs thrive where there are transient populations, once they get enbedded it is a down hill battle, they live in the walls and can go a full year without a bloodmeal.
Instruct your child to never, ever pick up furniture they find on the street no matter how comfy a chair or bed may look. These bugs are hard to see and can be hidden even in the joints of a bedframe. Trust me, your child does not want to deal with this while at school.</p>
<p>The mattresses at BU are already encased in a plastic cover. We brought a can of lysol with us to wipe down the plastic. How many plastic covers does a mattress need??? At BU, ALL of the dorm mattresses and apartment mattresses are covered in plastic. Now...if you live off campus, that's another story.</p>
<p>Thumper, I didn't know the BU mattresses have a plastic cover. Thank you for posting that.</p>
<p>Good post, thanks. Lysol is always a good idea anyway since not all (if any) dorms are really cleaned during the summer.</p>
<p>I have a mental picture though of a "Bedbug Summit" and tiny little headphones for translating!!</p>
<p>Here's the link:</p>
<p>Coming soon to a bed near you?
For more and more Bostonians, bedbugs are no longer bedtime myths, but sleep-robbing realities. Next month, in response: a bedbug summit.</p>
<p>Note that plastic mattress covers will not do any good if sheets and fabric mattress covers (needed to mitigate feel of plastic) go unwashed.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>Note that plastic mattress covers will not do any good if sheets and fabric mattress covers (needed to mitigate feel of plastic) go unwashed.>></p> </blockquote>
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<p>Ah...a good reason for college students to wash their bed linens once a week!! I knew there was some good out of this article.</p>
<p>The same problem cropped up in NYC several months ago, even in 4 star hotels. It seems that frequent travelers are the culprit. During any hotel stay, I now thoroughly check the bedding an mattress for the little critters.</p>
<p>There were several incidences of bedbugs in a dorm at Columbia and they too have plastic covered mattresses. As Thumper said, they can live in your sheets and mattress pads.</p>
<p>Eeeewwwww!</p>
<p>And they live in the drapes and walls and cracks in the molding.... a plastic cover will not prevent anything. That being said, I wonder if putting each leg of the bed in a large tub of water (with a little bleach?) would keep the bugs at bay. The problem is that at night they crawl up the bed and bite - if they can't swim (can they swim?) you would be safe, and after a year, they would hopefully starve to death. (This being posted by a women who put the king-size mattress inside a mesh backpacking tent and slept inside for over a year until the scorpion population died down....)</p>
<p>I have a friend whose H. travels weekly for business. Their home became infested with bedbugs. The exterminator told them never, ever put your suitcase on a bed in a hotel to unpack. The bedbugs can live in crevices, carpets, etc. but are most prevalent in bedding as that is where they find their food source. The exterminator said he has seen many people unknowingly carry home begbugs in/on their suitcases from hotels.</p>
<p>Scorpions!! I'll stick with bedbugs thank you very much. I'll pass on some info from the exterminator. Our building is on a monthly bedbug interupt the breeding cycle plan, so I'm seeing more of him than I would like.
Bedbugs laugh at cleansers, boric acid, raid and the usual layperson remedies. They can live and travel thru walls, so do not have your bed touching one.(Try that in a dorm.) Get rid of all clutter. (Hah!) anxiousmom-it's best to get rid of bedframes altogether, but if you have one, slather the legs with vaseline, the suckers can't crawl up then. Make sure bedding doesn't touch the floor. Washing will not help much, the water won't get hot enough. Put the dryer on as high as possible and put in all bedding including pillows.Plastic covered mattresses just prevent the bugs from living in there, but won't work if there is any ripping, these bugs are tiny. Now here's were duct tape really comes in handy, plug up those tears. Lastly, bedbugs are a misnomer. A family in my building sleep on mats not beds. Darn bugs got in their bedding too.
ADREW5449-love your image of the bedbug summit, one of the few laughs I've had with these bugs.</p>
<p>Here is a website with what looks like useful information:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/bedbugs/%5B/url%5D">http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/bedbugs/</a></p>
<p>my son just returned from a trip where he stayed in a youth hostel. His arms and legs have small, red, raised spots. They don't itch -- so he doesn't think they are fleas. Could they be bedbugs?</p>
<p>If they are possibly bedbugs -- what do we do to make sure they don't infest the house? He has luggage, clothing and the hostel sheet he used. the websites seem to give more info on what to do for an infestation and not how to prevent it from traveling back home with you.</p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>marite-thanks for the link, very helpful info.<br>
hsmomstef-I can only tell you what I have experienced, not official info. Often the first clue we've had as the infestation spread in my building has been raised bites that tend to itch. Let's hope your son has some other minor, non insect related skin condition!
What I would suggest if you are concerned about bedbugs is to wash and machine dry absolutely everything in that suitcase ASAP. If you can't wash it toss it out, or put it in sealed plastic bags. Same goes for the suitcase, bag it. Books, toiletries, everything toss or bag. The bugs themselves are tiny and very hard to see, they can hide in the seams of the suitcase so don't be assured if you don't find them. Take a look at your son's sheet. Telltale signs are pinpoint size blood stains or sometimes little trails. Good luck!</p>
<p>Ewwww, now I'm paranoid!</p>
<p>Yuck! I had been considering switching hotels when I was in LA but read a review about the hotel we were thinking of switching to about a guest who ended up with bedbugs & lice after staying at our intended hotel. I cancelled the reservations in a hurry--better the hotel hell we knew than a new one with crawling critters.
So far, my son has not mentioned any bites when he sleeps. I'll let him know about this & the importance of frequently washing his bedding in HOT water.
Wow, does this add another layer of fear or what? I have also heard that many hotels are having these problems & count our blessings that so far we have been spared. <sigh> Must be a real headache for those offering lodging.</sigh></p>
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<blockquote> <p>HOT water>></p> </blockquote>
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<p>Well good luck on that one. The dorm washers where DS goes have lukewarm water at the hotest...so do the washers at the laundromat he now uses.</p>
<p>I have also heard that putting something in a freezer for 2 weeks kills off the bedbugs.</p>
<p>These little buggers (literally) can be killed only by not eating for more than a year, by being frozen for 2 weeks, or being heated to extreme temperatures. The wonder is they haven't taken over the world !! If only our guppies were so hardy . . .</p>
<p>oh dear. As I turn into my plastic encased bed now, I have mental images of thawing bedbugs. Why oh why did I only freeze them for 10 days? They are winning. My life is turning into a grade B movie...</p>