Though bedbugs have been considered an old pest, recent reports have revealed they are growing at drastic rates, according to Paul Wenning, Central Ohio Bed Bug Task Force chair of the Franklin County Board of Health.
It is believed that this year alone there will be approximately 1,000 complaints to the Ohio Department of Health, almost 10 times the 150 complaints from 2008, Wenning said.
The bedbug, its name coming from its preferred habitat of mattresses, sofas and furniture, is a microscopic reddish-brown wingless insect that feeds on the blood of humans and other warm-blooded hosts. Adults grow to four to five millimeters and can be compared to the size of an apple seed. Bedbugs can bite, but the bites cannot be felt until minutes or possibly even hours later, causing an itching sensation.
Since 2007, Ohio has seen a severe increase of bedbugs inhabiting homes because they spread easily.
"Problems that lead to this increase include foreign travel, the importation of goods from foreign countries as well as immigration," Wenning said. "Though progressively they are becoming a bigger problem across the U.S. due to these problems, the greater Cincinnati region is experiencing possibly the worst of it with a 500 to 600 percent increase just this past year."
Approximately four to five years ago, Cincinnati saw a serious infestation, but it was not until 2007 that this issue was serious enough to be appropriately dealt with, Wenning said.
To rid homes of these insects, officials are seeking a special pesticide to treat specific infected areas.
The pesticide, Proporex, has only been previously used in stores and warehouses, said Kaleigh Frazier, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Agriculture.
"Though Proporex has never before been used in a home, we believe it will be a great opportunity to fight these bedbugs," Frazier said.
The pesticide that will be used has not been banned specifically from homes, but it has not been previously considered as an agent to use, Wenning said.
Wenning said a number of drawbacks that have arisen regarding this substance.
"For a typical apartment, it will cost anywhere from $700 to $1,000 (to kill the bedbugs) because these insects must be treated at least three - possibly four - times in one month, many lower-income families will not be able to afford this," Wenning said. "Other possible issues include the fact that this pesticide is very limited … bedbugs are becoming resistant to this substance and therefore the tools we have to fight them are becoming less and less successful."
Various Miami University students have been experiencing trouble with these insects as well.
"I was changing my sheets one afternoon and found dead bedbugs in the crease of my mattress at the beginning of the school year," junior Magdalena Wikar said. "The bugs were small and dark brown in color. Fortunately it was a one-time ordeal. Though I did have a few bites around my ankles, I have not had a problem since."
