S.F. bedbug plague -why not to name who is responsible???

[hub999]

When she and her husband moved into an upscale apartment in an "emerging" neighborhood near Civic Center, Katie Beckheyer may have had some concerns about crime, gritty streets and panhandlers. But she never expected what would be the real nightmare.

"I am covered in itchy red welts," she said in an e-mail, "and drained to the core from six months of insomnia, paranoia (I wake up every morning at 3 a.m., searching my sheets for signs of them feeding on me) and incessant itching."

Beckheyer had their apartment sprayed six times. But they were still getting bitten, so they finally paid for one last treatment to make sure their belongings were clean, and then moved out.

Before you extend sympathetic wishes to the poor folks who are infested with bedbugs, here's a piece of advice - better check your mattress.

Like the rest of the country, San Francisco is experiencing a bedbug boom. Dr. Johnson Ojo of the Department of Public Health said bedbugs are popping up everywhere, from "low-income housing to high-priced hotels."

It's an all-out war on the tiny, creepy, blood-sucking predators. And the bugs are winning.

Ojo has put together a citywide policy that covers all the basic steps: Hotel managers who learn of an infestation must immediately set up a pest-control spraying, and residents are encouraged to follow specific instruction on washing clothing and showering with hot water.

Yet many who deal with the problem regularly think that current methods are no more than stopgap measures. Faced with a growing epidemic, the city needs to start thinking beyond the idea of squirting insect spray and hoping for the best.

"I feel like there has not been enough research on alternative methods," said Jeff Buckley, director of the Central City Single Room Occupancy Collaborative, which works with 5,000 to 7,000 people each year who live in supportive housing. "I know for a fact that one hotel (in the Tenderloin) has had 14 sprays in the last two months."

That's not necessarily because the hotel is doing a poor job of attacking the pests. Bedbugs are everywhere, particularly in supportive housing. But it is an example of the scale of the problem and how hard it is to solve. Consider, each of those 14 treatments is actually three consecutive sprayings per room, two weeks apart.

And the bedbugs keep coming back.

"In terms of nonroutine maintenance, bedbugs are at the top of our list," said Richard Heasley, executive director of Conard House, which provides supportive housing in 525 units for clients with chronic mental illness. "It is the single most frustrating problem we have to deal with."

If you thought bedbugs were eradicated long ago, you are not alone. Arthur Slater, an entomologist who directed UC Berkeley's pest management program from 1973 to 2001, said he hardly gave bedbugs a thought.

"When I started in '73, bedbugs were something your father might know about," he said.

Slater said there are two major factors in the bedbug upsurge over the past 10 to 15 years. The first is cheaper air fares, which allow regular travel from countries where bedbugs had never been controlled. The second factor is complacency.

"We are not prepared to put out the resources to do it well," he said.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...TL&type=health

[drjarhead]

San Fransicko progressive = tolerance

Tolerance of perverts
Tolerance of deadbeat, loser, drug-ridden scumbags
Tolerance of a mexican invasion destroying our way of life, most of all

I say you reap what you sow.


Beyond that:
I try to stay out of hotels.

[Etek]

DDT works everytime.

[Toten Kopf]

Originally Posted by drjarhead

San Fransicko progressive = tolerance

Tolerance of perverts
Tolerance of deadbeat, loser, drug-ridden scumbags
Tolerance of a mexican invasion destroying our way of life, most of all

I say you reap what you sow.


Beyond that:
I try to stay out of hotels.

Damn, I was going to say the exact same thing!!!

[panzertruppe]

Sux when the 800 lb gorrila is finally noticed,

But it's to late and it's sucking your ass dry.... This is going to start popping up all over the place, the 800 lb gorilla sitings... The germ blisters from the south are going to make "him" a bit more obvious to... The media is keeping it on the down low, but it's there... Nothing like living in a real life "Simpsons" cartoon, the ultimate real life euphimism of the America's society/popn today...

I've heard the bedbug is a unique critter too.. It is not simply extrminated like all the other vermin.. Well, we have Texas A&M university here in TX and I promise they will exterminate them if they show up...

panzertruppe