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Archive for July, 2010

Early morning classes, difficult professors, interminable lectures, endless reading lists, yucky dorm food – college students may moan and groan, but somehow they manage to cope with most of the aggravations of college life. But bed bugs? Sharing a dorm room with these tiny nocturnal vampires can push even the most laid-back college student to his limits.

Bed bugs are making a comeback in America and college campuses are not immune from attack. In the past year outbreaks have occurred at university and college campuses in Ohio, Vermont, New Jersey, New York, California, Michigan and Tennessee. And those are just the schools that have made the national news. Many schools try to keep news of a bed bug infestation hush hush. It’s not exactly a good selling point for incoming students.

Bed bug infestations have increased dramatically over the past five years so it’s not unusual for college campuses with their highly mobile populations to be affected. Bed bug reports by pest control companies increased by 71% between 2000 and 2005, according to the National Pest Management Association (NPMA). In a national survey of pest control companies, University of Kentucky entomologist Michael Potter, a noted bed bug expert, found, “A whopping 91% of respondents reported their organizations had encountered bed bug infestations in the past two years. Only 37% said they encountered bed bugs more than five years ago.”

Bed bugs have been reported in all 50 states, primarily in homes, apartments, hotels and motels. However, 2% of the infestations reported in the past year have been in college dormitories. “The last 12 months have been particularly active,” Cindy Mannes, NPMA director of public affairs, noted last spring. “They are showing up like never before in hotels, hospitals, college dormitories, and multi-family housing units, as well as single-family homes.”

An age-old scourge, bed bugs, like lice and fleas, were common bedfellows before World War II. The development of DDT-based pesticides after the war allowed America to stamp out these nuisance pests; however, bed bugs are still common in many parts of the world. The banning of DDT in the early 1970s, coupled with increased worldwide travel and the rise of pesticide-resistant bugs, has caused a resurgence of bed bugs worldwide.

While they don’t transmit disease, bed bugs can traumatize their victims. About the size of an apple seed, bed bugs have flattened oval, wingless bodies that are light to reddish-brown in color. Feeding on human blood for three to 10 minutes at a time, the nocturnal pests carry a psychological punch out of proportion to their size. “They come in the dark; they feed on you; they scurry away when you turn the light on,” said Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology at the University of California-Davis. Not all victims react to bed bugs, but their bites can leave itchy, red welts. Victims can become nervous and jumpy, constantly feeling phantom bites and crawling skin. “I have people who call me in tears,” said entomologist Richard Pollack of Harvard University. “They’re in hysterics.”

Bed bugs are especially difficult to control in multi-unit buildings like dormitories. The tiny insects multiply rapidly; females typically laying 500 eggs during their six- to 12-month lifespan. A few bed bugs can lead to a major infestation in just a short time. Not attracted to filth or food, bed bugs hitch a ride into a building on luggage, clothing, bedding, boxes or used or rental furniture. They spread easily on students’ clothing and belongings, in reconditioned mattresses purchased by some colleges, and through building air ducts, electrical and plumbing conduits, elevator shafts and wall voids. If a bed bug infestation is found in a room, it is likely that adjacent rooms and rooms on the floors above and below will also be infected.

Atlanta filmmaker Kyle Tekiela was shocked by the response when he posted a bed bug film noir on YouTube. “Students from all over the country sent me videos of their dorm rooms,” Tekiela said. “This one guy did a 360 where the ceiling meets the walls and there was a three-inch band of bed bugs all the way around.”

Tough to kill, bed bugs have a hard cuticle for protection and can live for more than a year without feeding. They hide in tiny cracks and crevices near their victims’ beds. Household insecticides won’t kill bed bugs and can actually cause them to spread. An increasing number of bed bugs have been found to be resistant to commonly used professional insecticides. Experts are turning to new methods of extermination including Cryonite which kills bed bugs and their eggs by quick freezing. Bed bug-proof encasements that keep bed bugs from infesting mattresses are also in demand.

Bed bug signs to look for when you move into your dorm room:
Check the mattress, particularly seams and welts, for live bugs and dark fecal or blood stains.

Look for fecal smears or pea-sized pearly egg deposits on walls behind furniture, along baseboards, around electrical plates and vents, and in plaster cracks.

Look for whitish nymph molts and old exoskeletons along baseboards.

If you get bed bugs, what to do when you go home:
Don’t unpack in the bedroom. Take clothing and linens directly from the suitcase to the washer.

Jump in the shower and put clothing in the washer.

Wash clothes in hot water and dry at hottest setting.

Seal unwashable items in plastic bags and heat to 120 degrees for 2 hours or freeze at 20 to 30 degrees for 2 weeks.

Vacuum suitcases and backpacks and store away from bedroom. Double bag the vacuum bag in plastic and immediately dispose of in an outdoor trash receptacle.

Check sheets daily for signs of bed bugs and call in a pest control expert if you see any.

Douglas Stern is the managing partner of Stern Environmental Group and a bed bug extermination expert. His firm serves commercial and residential clients in New Jersey, New York City, New York, and Connecticut. His firm is located at 100 Plaza Drive in Secaucus, New Jersey. You can reach him toll free at 1-888-887-8376. Please visit us on the Web at www.SternEnvironmental.com.
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When bed bugs invade an apartment, who calls the exterminator and who pays? The conundrum in the emerging field of bed bug law is pitting landlords against tenants and filling court dockets.

Legislation recently introduced in the New Jersey Legislature as Assembly Bill 3203 would force landlords to shoulder the entire financial burden of combating bed bugs by making them solely responsible for conducting annual inspections, distributing and displaying educational material created by the state, immediately treating reported bed bug infestations, and maintaining a bed bug-free environment throughout the apartment building or complex. Similar bills are under consideration in other states.

Citing the nationwide 500% increase in bed bug infestations and calling the common bed bug “a public nuisance,” Bill 3203 states, “it is a matter of public welfare to protect New Jersey citizens’ health from this pest.” Noting that owners of multiple dwellings are “in the best position to coordinate the extermination bedbug infestations in that multiple dwelling,” the bill directs, “Every owner of a multiple dwelling shall be responsible, at his own expense, for maintaining the multiple dwelling free of an infestation of bedbugs.” Landlords who fail to act would be fined $300 per infested apartment and $1,000 per infested common area. Local health boards would have the power to act for and bill unresponsive landlords. (You can read the complete text of New Jersey Bill 3203 on the Stern Environmental website.)

Given the exponential increase in bed bug infestations nationwide, landlords are leery of the possible financial repercussions of such legislation. In New York City, bed bug complaints jumped from 1,839 in 2005 to 8,830 in 2008. Violations issued by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development rose from 366 to 2,757 over the same period. New York and New Jersey apartment owners are legally tasked with providing pest control for tenants. It’s the apartment owner’s responsibility to provide tenants with a pest-free living environment. That wasn’t always true. Since the 1908 case of Jacobs v. Morand, tenants had been legally obligated to pay their rent even if bed bugs had made their apartment inhabitable. That changed in 2004 with Ludlow Properties, LLC v. Young when Judge Cyril Bedford ruled in favor of a frustrated tenant who had refused to pay rent for six months because of a persistent bed bug problem, writing:

“Although bed bugs are classified as vermin, they are unlike … mice and roaches, which, although offensive, do not have the effect on one’s life as bed bugs do, feeding upon one’s blood in hoards nightly turning what is supposed to be bed rest or sleep into a hellish experience.”

Today, tenants seem to be winning the litigation war against landlords, but it’s a tough fight. When bed bug infestations are discovered, tenants and landlords point the finger of blame at each other. “It gets back to the issue of responsibility,” said attorney Ronald Languedoc. “In law, the party that asserts a claim usually has a burden of proof. I think it is probably hard to track down where, precisely, they came from and how they got in there.”

Under current New York and New Jersey law, apartment owners bear the responsibility and financial expense of providing housing that is rat-free, roach-free and now bed bug-free. For cash-strapped apartment owners, there’s the rub. Rats, roaches and other vermin are attracted by garbage and unclean conditions. The connection to proper maintenance, efficient trash collection and regular pest control is obvious. The cost of such regular maintenance is an expected part of managing an apartment building. Just like electric, water and other utility costs, these expenses are figured into monthly rent payments and recouped.

Bed bugs are an entirely different problem. Bed bugs are not attracted by filth. They are insects of convenience like lice and fleas. These tiny insects crawl from one infected individual to another. They set up house near beds and in bedrooms, hiding in cracks and crevices during the day and creeping out at night to feed on the blood of their unsuspecting prey – humans. The size of an apple seed, bed bugs multiply quickly and are adept hitchhikers. You can get them from contact with an infected individual, visiting his home, brushing his clothing, standing next to him or borrowing his belongings. You can get bed bugs by sitting in a seat just vacated by an infected person on a subway, park bench, taxi or airplane. Since not all people react to bed bug bites, people often spread bed bugs without even knowing they have them.

Bed bugs can come into an apartment on someone’s clothing, in suitcases and backpacks, in the creases of storage boxes, in the cracks and crevices of used furniture, in the upholstery of a rental sofa and in refurbished mattresses. Apartment owners have no control over what attracts bed bugs or how the annoying little buggers get into the building. You can understand their reluctance to take responsibility for a problem they didn’t create and have no control over. Yet that is exactly what housing legislation requires them to do. Particularly exasperating are the strictures in New York City and under consideration in Jersey City and the New Jersey state legislature that prevent apartment owners from passing along the often hefty costs of eliminating bed bug infestations to their tenants.

The life cycle and living habits of bed bugs only confound the problem. A single female bed bug can produce up to 500 eggs during her one-year lifespan, laying about five eggs per day. Moving through five nymphal stages, bed bugs reach maturity in just five to eight weeks. They nibble on their human prey at night, feeding for up to 10 minutes every three to five days. The tiny bugs are often mistaken for other pests and their bites for mosquito or spider bites. Not all people react to their bites which look like raised, red welts and many don’t react (itching is typical) for several days after being bitten. Some people are so embarrassed, they fail to report an infestation or uselessly try to treat it with Raid. By the time the problem is noticed or reported, a considerable infestation can have developed.

Often by the time they’re identified, bed bugs have spread to other units in a building and the original culprit can be hard to identify. Because bed bugs spread easily through wall voids, elevator shafts, plumbing and wiring conduits, and heating and cooling ducts, next door units and those on the floors above and below an infested unit are also likely to be infested. Treatment of one unit can simply send bed bugs scurrying to find new living quarters. Even vacant apartments are not safe as bed bugs can live for one to seven months without a blood meal.

Eliminating bed bugs in a multi-unit apartment building can be a nightmare for everyone and an unexpected financial burden for the owner. Because of the many variables involved – the need for tenant cooperation, the bugs’ minute and numerous hiding places and their tendency to spread quickly and easily — multiple pest control treatments over a spaced period of time are necessary to completely eradicate bed bugs from an apartment building. Apartment owners are being asked to shoulder the financial burden without remuneration, sometimes without essential tenant cooperation, and with no guarantee that the whole mess won’t happen again. It’s not hard to understand why apartment owners feel new bed bug laws are unfair.

Douglas Stern is the managing partner of Stern Environmental Group and a bed bug extermination expert. His firm serves commercial and residential clients in New Jersey, New York City, New York, and Connecticut. His firm is located at 100 Plaza Drive in Secaucus, New Jersey. You can reach him toll free at 1-888-887-8376. Please visit us on the Web at www.SternEnvironmental.com.
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Stings and bites from insects are common. They often result in redness and swelling in the injured area. Sometimes a sting can cause a life-threatening allergic reaction.

Arthropods are insects that live primarily on land and have 6 legs. They dominate the present-day land fauna. They represent about three-fourths of known animal life. In fact, the actual number of living species could range from 5-10 million.

The orders that contain the greatest numbers of species are Coleoptera (beetles), Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), Hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps), and Diptera (true flies).

Insects do not usually attack unless they are provoked. Most bites and stings are defensive. The insects sting to protect their hives or nests.

A sting or bite injects venom composed of proteins and other substances that may trigger an allergic reaction in the victim. The sting also causes redness and swelling at the site of the sting.

Bees, wasps, hornets, yellow jackets, and fire ants are members of the Hymenoptera family. Bites or stings from these species may cause serious reactions in people who are allergic to them. Death from bee stings is 3-4 times more common than death from snake bites (for more information, see stings of bees and wasps).

Bees, wasps, and fire ants differ in how they inflict injury. When a bee stings, it loses the entire injection apparatus (stinger) and actually dies in the process. A wasp can inflict multiple stings because it does not lose its injection apparatus after it stings.

Fire ants inject their venom by using their mandibles (the biting parts of their jaw) and rotating their bodies. They may inject venom many times.

In contrast, bites from mosquitoes typically do not cause significant illnesses, unless they convey “vectors,” or microorganisms that actually live within these mosquitoes. For instance, malaria is caused by an organism that spends part of its life cycle in a particular species of mosquitoes. West Nile virus is another disease spread by a mosquito.

Moreover, lice can transmit epidemic relapsing fever, caused by spirochetes. Also, leishmaniasis, caused by the protozoan Leishmania, is carried by a sand fly.

Sleeping sickness in humans and a group of cattle diseases that are widespread in Africa, and known as nagana, are caused by protozoan trypanosomes transmitted by the bites of tsetse flies.

In unsanitary conditions, the common housefly can play an incidental role in the spread of human intestinal infections (such as typhoid and bacillary and amebic dysentery) by contamination of human food.

Tularemia can be spread by deer fly bites, the bubonic plague by fleas, and the epidemic typhus rickettsia by lice.

Various mosquitoes spread viral diseases (such as equine encephalitis; dengue and yellow fever in humans and other animals).

Ticks can transmit Lyme disease and other illnesses through their bites or stings.

Other insects such as chiggers and mites typically cause self-limited localized itchiness and swelling. Additionally, serious bites from spiders, which are not insects, can be from the black widow or brown recluse.

The response to a sting or bite from insects is variable and depends on a variety of factors. Most bites and stings result in pain, swelling, redness, and itching to the affected area. The skin may be broken and become infected if the bite area is scratched. If not treated properly, these local infections may become severe and cause a condition known as cellulitis.

You may experience a severe reaction beyond the immediate area of the sting if you are allergic to the bite or sting. This is known as anaphylaxis. Symptoms of a severe reaction include hives, wheezing, shortness of breath, unconsciousness, and even death within 30 minutes.

A sting on the tongue may cause throat swelling and death because of airway obstruction.

Stings from large hornets or multiple (hundreds or thousands) bee stings have been rarely reported to cause muscle breakdown and kidney failure.

Bites from a fire ant typically produce a pustule, or a pimple-like sore, that is extremely itchy and painful.

If you start to experience symptoms that are not just at the site of the bite or sting (and you don’t have a history of severe reactions), seek medical attention. These symptoms (systemic symptoms affect the whole body) may progress to fatal anaphylactic shock.

Hives are the most common systemic symptom. They appear as irregular, raised, red blotchy areas on the skin and are very itchy. If hives are the only systemic symptom present, they are often treated at home with an antihistamine.

If the bite appears infected (redness with or without pus, warmth, fever, or a red streak that spreads toward the body), see a doctor.

If you don’t know what bit you, it is important to keep watching the area closely to be sure it does not become infected. Call your doctor if there is an open wound, which may suggest a poisonous spider bite.

People who have a history of severe reactions should go to the nearest hospital’s emergency department after a bite or sting if they experience any symptoms. Those who have no history of severe reactions should also go to the emergency department if they have symptoms like wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness or pain, sensation of the throat closing or difficulty speaking or swallowing, faintness, or weakness.

Treatment depends on the type of reaction. If there is only redness and pain at the site of the bite, application of ice is adequate treatment. Clean the area with soap and water to remove contaminated particles left behind by some insects (such as mosquitoes). These particles may further contaminate the wound if not removed. Refrain from scratching because this may cause the skin to break down and an infection to form.

You may treat itching at the site of the bite with an over-the-counter antihistamine such as diphenhydramine (Benadryl) in cream or pill form. Calamine lotion also helps relieve the itching.

People who have a history of severe reactions to bites or stings may have been prescribed an anaphylaxis kit. The kit contains an epinephrine injector (you give yourself an injection), tourniquet, and an antihistamine. The kit should be used according to the doctor’s instructions.

Finally, severe reactions are treated with injections of epinephrine and an antihistamine such as diphenhydramine (Benadryl). Steroids (drugs in the cortisone family) are also usually given. Oral antibiotics may be given for infected bite wounds. For seriously ill people, an IV will be started, oxygen given, and the heart monitor is used until the symptoms have improved.

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Are you aware of the fact that there are 90% chances for a popular hotel – a suite room or a presidential in a posh hotel to have bed bugs? Even you’re favorite hotel can have bed bugs without your knowledge.

Now you may wonder whether your hotel has got bed bugs or not. What are the symptoms and signs of bed bug infestation? Assuming that your hotel has got bed bugs, what can be done so that your house does not get infested when you return home?

The common symptoms and signs of bed bug infestation are as follows

1. Bed Bug Rash

Itching is the first sign. The rash begins with an itching sensation. The rash will not be visible but you’ll be able to feel the itch.

When a bed bug bites, it can be itchier than mosquito bites. When a mosquito bites, you can sense its sting and feel the sucking of blood. But when bed bugs bite, the itch can be felt only after a time period of minimum one hour. This is caused by the anesthetics in the bed bug’s saliva. They inject anticoagulant and anesthetics, to prevent blood from clotting, before it sucks your blood.

Bed bug rash can be sensed one hour after the bite. But in some cases, the rash appears only a few days or weeks later. This is determined by the body’s response to the chemicals secreted by the bugs.

How can you identify a rash caused by a bed bug? It begins with a, red, small and round (from being inflamed), bump which looks more swollen than a mosquito rash. Initially, only a swollen bump can be seen. In due course of time, the rash spreads all over. This indicates that many bed bugs have started biting you. But in some cases, the rash may look similar to a bite mark in sequence. This is seen in people who constantly move when they’re sleeping. Once the bed bugs notice movement around them, they quickly run back to their hiding places.

When you suspect a bed bug rash, examine it for a few days. The rash causes prolonged itching for days together .Also, a bed bug rash doesn’t heal as quickly as mosquito bites. It remains swollen for weeks together.

2. Bed Bug Odor

Next thing to look for is bed bug odor. What kind of an odor does it have?

A Hotel where there’s plenty of bed bug infestation had this obnoxious, musty, sweet-smelling, odor that bed bugs release. You may find this smell under the headboard and mattresses. If you find a sofa with cracks or a wooden chair in your hotel, check whether they’ve got bed bug odor.

Bed bug odor isn’t easily detectable in hotels with negligible or minimal amount of infestation,

How do you avoid the hotel bed bugs from attacking your house?

Take out all the things from your suitcase the previous night. Bed bugs are efficient hitchhikers. Bed bugs can survive without food for days together. If there are bed bugs in your suitcase, they can attack the entire household.

Check your wooden things for bed bugs. They are attracted to wooden items, paper and cloth. These are the substances that support their survival.

Use water-based insect destroyer and spray it around your suitcase, and that the bed bugs can be thrown away. put your clothes and other things in a clean, dry bath tub. Bed bugs can’t stay in tub crevices as the tub is made up of ceramic or marble and it gets wet quite often.

Wash the used clothes before going back home. Remember, this isn’t a trivial issue. Once your bedroom gets infested with bed bugs, it quickly spreads to neighboring rooms. Destroying bed bugs is really difficult. You may even have to even condemn your sofa and bed to get rid of bed bugs.

Abhishek has got some great Bed Bugs Elimination Secrets up his sleeve! Download his FREE 69 Pages Ebook, “How To Win Your War Against Bed Bugs!” from his website http://www.Wonder-Homes.com/113/index.htm . Only limited Free Copies available.
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King Solomon and the Ants in the Quran:

The story of King Solomon and the ant is mentioned in chapter 27:18-19.

These two verses illustrate that: 1) The hearing power of King Solomon was unique, 2) The ants are rational creatures, 3) The ants have speech and communicate with each other, 4) The ants are very caring creatures, 5) The ants live in dwelling places and they have homes, 6) The ants live in a society, 7) The workers in the ants society are females! And King Solomon had mercy and he always was observing his Lord!

Surah (Chapter) 27:18-19

18] Till, when they came (King Solomon and his unique Hosts) to the valley of the ants, one of the ants said: ‘ o ye ants, go into your dwellings lest Solomon and hosts crush you (under foot) while they do not know. ‘

19] He (King Solomon) smiled, and laughed at its words, and said: ‘ o my lord! Grant me that I should be grateful for your blessing with which you have blessed me and my parents, and that I may work the righteousness that will please you: and admit me, by your grace, to the ranks of your righteous servants.”

When King Solomon and his hosts came to the Valley of the Ants, an ant, who had seen Solomon’s hosts, said, ‘O ants, enter your dwellings, lest Solomon and his hosts crush you while they are unaware!’

The verse indicates that the ants are likened to rational beings in their use of the latter’s speech. Modern sciences support this fact; However, Scientists up to the moment do not discover and analyze the Ants’ speech!

Whereat he, Solomon, smiled at the ant’s words, which he had heard from about three miles away and which was carried to him as sound’s waves by the winds.

The sight is that King Solomon and his hosts were going to a certain place, and then he heard the speech of the ant! The verse then indicates that the hearing power of King Solomon was unique and ultra-sharp. And remember that He heard the speech of the ant while there was a great noise of the movement of his huge and unique hosts.

This great noise of his hosts which consisted of cavalry and infantry does not prevent him from hearing the speech of an ant that was about three miles away.

When he was on the verge of [entering] the Valley of the Ants, he [King Solomon] made his hosts halt until they [the ants] had entered their dwellings. And he said, ‘My Lord, inspire me to be thankful for Your grace wherewith You have favored me and my parents, and to do good that will please You, and include me, by Your mercy, among Your righteous servants’, the prophets and saints.

It is very amazing that the Quran declares that:

1) The ants are rational creatures, 2) the ants have speech and communicate with each other, 3) the ants are very caring creatures, 4) the ants live in dwelling places and they have homes, 5) the ants live in a society, 6) the ants live in a society, 7) the workers in the ants society are females and King Solomon had mercy and he always was observing his Lord!

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King Solomon and the Ants in the Bible:

It is King Solomon in the Bible who said in Proverbs 30 that: “The ants are a people not strong”. However, modern sciences say that the Ants are very strong. In comparison to a man (in respect to his size, weight, height etc.), one ant is as powerful as 30 men! There are many verses like that in the Bible that contradict with modern sciences and make the reader suspicious about who wrote the Bible. Indeed, the Lord, the Creator of the ants would not say that the ants are not strong!

Proverbs 30 (King James Version)

24) There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise:

25) The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer;

26) The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks;

27) The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands;

28) The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings’ palaces.

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It is amazing that the Quran declares this unusual information about King Solomon and the Ants that are not mentioned in the Bible. Meanwhile, the Bible says that:” The ants are a people not strong”. A statement that contradicts with the modern sciences!

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Back to the main issue of my series of articles; this is my question to you smart readers: “Is the Quran quoted from the Bible?”

By the way, the disbelieved ignorant Arabs stated that the Quran quoted from the Bible more than 1400 years ago! (Read my article about chapter 25).

Professor Dr. Ibrahim Khalil
Prof. of Clinical and Chemical Pathology,
Head of Clinical Microbiology and Infection Control Unit,
Ain-Shams University. Cairo, Egypt.
And,
President of the Egyptian Society of Inventors.
Member of the Egyptian union of Writers
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