Keeping Bedbugs Out of the University Dormkeeping Bedbugs Out of the University Dormkeeping Bedbugs Out of the University Dorm

Parents helping their college- and university-bound kids shop for dorm furnishings this summer might feel pressured to buy sprays, mattress covers and other items promoted as protection against bedbugs, whose presence has been on the rise in recent years. As Chris Brundige, regional manager for Terminix, a pest-control company, knows firsthand, bedbugs have increasingly popped up on college campuses. My daughter had a big issue with bedbugs last year, he says.

They battled them for three or four months. Bedbugs are tiny hitchhikers that can stick to anything they come in contact with. (Their eggs are even stickier.

) So if you, say, sit on the couch in a house thats infested, youll probably bring some home on your clothing. Bedbugs arent known to transmit disease, but their bites (they feast on your blood while you sleep) are irksome, unattractive and so itchy they can keep you up at night. Here, for your son or daughters summer reading, is a crash course in battling bedbugs.

Be careful what you bring in the room. That sofa sitting on the curb might seem like a bargain, but it could have been put there because its teeming with bedbugs. Bedbugs love cracks, crevices and other hiding places; they can even hang out in picture frames and bedside stands.

They stay close to the mattress because they know thats where their next meal comes from. Keep your floor and furniture clear of clothes and clutter. Hang your backpack, purse and jacket on racks, hooks or hangers.

Dont pile clothing or coats on the back of a couch or on your bed. Though they can travel along any surface, bedbugs especially love cloth. Buy a zippered mattress encasement.

If the mattress is infested, they cant get out and will die, Brundige says. Skip the sprays. The U.

S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention point out that the resurgence in bedbugs is due in large part to the insects developing resistance to chemicals used to treat for them. People using over-the-counter sprays probably contribute to that problem.

(Pest-control companies generally use nonchemical approaches such as heating or freezing the insects.) Learn to spot them. Bedbugs are tiny, apple-seed-shaped, reddish-brown bugs that are flat like ticks, only smaller.

You might not notice them until you get bitten; their bites cause minor swelling and itching, much like mosquito bites. You might notice small red spots on your mattress (your blood, from when you get bitten). Closer examination may reveal red or brown, sticky pepper (the bugs waste) around the edges of the mattress or in the rounded corners where mattress surfaces meet.

If you see signs of infestation, report the problem to whoever is in charge of dorm living. And keep reporting it until you get the response you need. Washington Post Parents helping their college- and university-bound kids shop for dorm furnishings this summer might feel pressured to buy sprays, mattress covers and other items promoted as protection against bedbugs, whose presence has been on the rise in recent years.

As Chris Brundige, regional manager for Terminix, a pest-control company, knows firsthand, bedbugs have increasingly popped up on college campuses. My daughter had a big issue with bedbugs last year, he says. They battled them for three or four months.

Bedbugs are tiny hitchhikers that can stick to anything they come in contact with. (Their eggs are even stickier.) So if you, say, sit on the couch in a house thats infested, youll probably bring some home on your clothing.

Bedbugs arent known to transmit disease, but their bites (they feast on your blood while you sleep) are irksome, unattractive and so itchy they can keep you up at night. Here, for your son or daughters summer reading, is a crash course in battling bedbugs. Be careful what you bring in the room.

That sofa sitting on the curb might seem like a bargain, but it could have been put there because its teeming with bedbugs. Bedbugs love cracks, crevices and other hiding places; they can even hang out in picture frames and bedside stands. They stay close to the mattress because they know thats where their next meal comes from.

Keep your floor and furniture clear of clothes and clutter. Hang your backpack, purse and jacket on racks, hooks or hangers. Dont pile clothing or coats on the back of a couch or on your bed.

Though they can travel along any surface, bedbugs especially love cloth. Buy a zippered mattress encasement. If the mattress is infested, they cant get out and will die, Brundige says.

Skip the sprays. The U.S.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention point out that the resurgence in bedbugs is due in large part to the insects developing resistance to chemicals used to treat for them. People using over-the-counter sprays probably contribute to that problem. (Pest-control companies generally use nonchemical approaches such as heating or freezing the insects.

) Learn to spot them. Bedbugs are tiny, apple-seed-shaped, reddish-brown bugs that are flat like ticks, only smaller. You might not notice them until you get bitten; their bites cause minor swelling and itching, much like mosquito bites.

You might notice small red spots on your mattress (your blood, from when you get bitten). Closer examination may reveal red or brown, sticky pepper (the bugs waste) around the edges of the mattress or in the rounded corners where mattress surfaces meet. If you see signs of infestation, report the problem to whoever is in charge of dorm living.

And keep reporting it until you get the response you need. Washington Post Parents helping their college- and university-bound kids shop for dorm furnishings this summer might feel pressured to buy sprays, mattress covers and other items promoted as protection against bedbugs, whose presence has been on the rise in recent years. As Chris Brundige, regional manager for Terminix, a pest-control company, knows firsthand, bedbugs have increasingly popped up on college campuses.

My daughter had a big issue with bedbugs last year, he says. They battled them for three or four months. Bedbugs are tiny hitchhikers that can stick to anything they come in contact with.

(Their eggs are even stickier.) So if you, say, sit on the couch in a house thats infested, youll probably bring some home on your clothing. Bedbugs arent known to transmit disease, but their bites (they feast on your blood while you sleep) are irksome, unattractive and so itchy they can keep you up at night.

Here, for your son or daughters summer reading, is a crash course in battling bedbugs. Be careful what you bring in the room. That sofa sitting on the curb might seem like a bargain, but it could have been put there because its teeming with bedbugs.

Bedbugs love cracks, crevices and other hiding places; they can even hang out in picture frames and bedside stands. They stay close to the mattress because they know thats where their next meal comes from. Keep your floor and furniture clear of clothes and clutter.

Hang your backpack, purse and jacket on racks, hooks or hangers. Dont pile clothing or coats on the back of a couch or on your bed. Though they can travel along any surface, bedbugs especially love cloth.

Buy a zippered mattress encasement. If the mattress is infested, they cant get out and will die, Brundige says. Skip the sprays.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention point out that the resurgence in bedbugs is due in large part to the insects developing resistance to chemicals used to treat for them.

People using over-the-counter sprays probably contribute to that problem. (Pest-control companies generally use nonchemical approaches such as heating or freezing the insects.) Learn to spot them.

Bedbugs are tiny, apple-seed-shaped, reddish-brown bugs that are flat like ticks, only smaller. You might not notice them until you get bitten; their bites cause minor swelling and itching, much like mosquito bites. You might notice small red spots on your mattress (your blood, from when you get bitten).

Closer examination may reveal red or brown, sticky pepper (the bugs waste) around the edges of the mattress or in the rounded corners where mattress surfaces meet. If you see signs of infestation, report the problem to whoever is in charge of dorm living. And keep reporting it until you get the response you need.

Washington Post