Do your hospitals have bed bug problems?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

The environmental services associate came out to my desk area and began to spray something on the floor. I looked at her and asked if I thought she was spraying for what I think she was and she replied, "Oh honey, you don't want to be taking these things home with you!" :eek::uhoh3::no::banghead:

There are bed bug problems all over here (as in the region).

What about your hospitals/clinicals/etc....?

What is your management doing to help protect everything and prevent the spread? I think everyone is working really hard to try and keep it from spreading, its just really hard to control.

Specializes in ICU + Infection Prevention.

^as above said, they are peristent little $##@s. They'll hide inbetween pages of books, and denied food, be dormant for a year!

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Specializes in M/S, ICU, ICP.
ddt does it.

ddt was banned though for use in the us. :o

i think it is still used in other world countries. i just finished an environmental course at university and so it was fresh in my mind.

so if we can't "dip" the patients, and we can't send them home with little surprise boxes with holes punched in them to open, can we o-n-l-y admit them after the have been through the hazmat showers with all their belongings??

environmental defense fund

retrieved august 20, 2010 at http://www.edf.org/article.cfm?contentid=4407

posted: 04-apr-2005; updated: 28-dec-2006

"why was ddt banned originally in the u.s.?

the pesticide ddt was banned in the united states in 1972 because it contributed to the near extinction of birds, including the bald eagle and the peregrine falcon. ddt is a persistent chemical that becomes concentrated in animal tissues, rising in concentration in animals that are higher in the food chain. it is particularly toxic to fish, aquatic invertebrates and insects (including some that are beneficial)..."

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Specializes in Ante-Intra-Postpartum, Post Gyne.

Bed bugs? Our linen is changed daily and our beds are covered in plastic. How are you getting bed bugs?

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Specializes in ICU + Infection Prevention.
ddt was banned though for use in the us. :o

i think it is still used in other world countries. i just finished an environmental course at university and so it was fresh in my mind.

"why was ddt banned originally in the u.s.?

the pesticide ddt was banned in the united states in 1972 because it contributed to the near extinction of birds, including the bald eagle and the peregrine falcon. ddt is a persistent chemical that becomes concentrated in animal tissues, rising in concentration in animals that are higher in the food chain. it is particularly toxic to fish, aquatic invertebrates and insects (including some that are beneficial)..."

yep. that's why the special said that nothing quite does it. we should relegalize ddt for interior use. bioaccumulation in the food chain leading to critical levels in apex predators was directly due to mass outdoor spraying of swamps and fields. minor use indoors, particularly the two favorite foreign uses are unlikely to cause environmental problems: 1. spraying inside wall spaces and crawl spaces 2. placing each of the four bedposts in a small cup of it such that insects (bedbugs) must crawl into it before ascending the bed leg.

there is a small black market to smuggle ddt into the us to treat bed bug infested areas. by some reports, the biggest vectors seem to be migrant workers coming to and from mexico. a single apartment in a complex will get them, then the entire building will become almost permanently infested as these little opportunists are very good at spreading. it has nothing to do with how clean tenants are.

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Southwestern Ohio has them in the hospitals. Patients bring them in with them. It is not an epidemic yet and we usually know which room/patient has them. Nursing homes are spraying for them quite a lot now too. They come in with the new residents when they bring in clothes, pillows, furniture, from home. UHG!!!!

Yes, this is Southwestern Ohio, and yes, they are invading many, many places.

People bring them in. It's in an isolated area and quite controlled so I don't see it spreading to larger areas of the hospital, at least for a while.

They are in nursing homes also. When I did my STNA clinicals they told us to check ourselves before we left. And the facility we went to was VERY nice.

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Spraying what? omg. around already compromised patients? have we all lost our minds? correct answer is yes.

if you are going to pit one bug infestation against another, bed bug bites are fairly benign.

I swear if I ever get sick I do not want to be a patient in a hospital! if the insects, medication or surgery and stress does not do you in

the toxic spray will certainly.

They don't spray anything next to patients. They move the patients first. It's a wet spray, not an aerosol type of spray.

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Bed bugs? Our linen is changed daily and our beds are covered in plastic. How are you getting bed bugs?

Our linens our changed after every use, so many, many times a day. People are carrying them on themselves and bringing them into the ED.

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Some of you guys are hilarious. I swear, you had me cracking up.

The bugs are everywhere. They are in libraries, dorms, million dollar homes, and they are even checking the city buses for them.

The city was just named the bedbug capital of the US. YUCK!

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Specializes in Pediatrics.
Bed bugs? Our linen is changed daily and our beds are covered in plastic. How are you getting bed bugs?

It has nothing to do with cleanliness or changing linens. Even though they are changed after every patient in a place like an ER, like happy2learn says, or daily on inpatient units; they can come in on a visitor or on the next patient- they can hide in your purse or your pocket or even your shoes- anywhere. Once they are there, they manage to find places to live, and while hospital beds are not necessarily friendly environments for them, they can hide there; and there are also other areas in a hospital room that are more friendly. For example, someone mentioned those cloth privacy curtains; any books that are there; cabinets; any kind of cushioned chair or couch.

I know it's gross to think about, but this is something that is a growing problem and believe me, you want to know what to look for and how to minimize taking them home with you BEFORE that happens. You don't want to deal with these in your home. Awareness is a good part of the solution, because the smaller the number of bugs, it is usually much easier to get rid of them. It is important to know the early signs, like small black spots on sheets or in clusters on walls, which are most often the first sign before you ever see a bug; unfortunately, like roaches, once you see one or two, there are probably many more you don't see.

Happy2learn, I hope your facility has good luck getting rid of them; Be careful each day as you go home!!!

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A few years ago I bought some linens at Ross and ended up with bed bugs in my house...I was completely FREAKED OUT! They came in and sprayed the place down and I had to wash every piece of linen in my house with scalding hot water and bleach and that seemed to take care of it.

But the guy told me they can hibernate in the baseboards and in cracks in the floor and walls for however long until something warm-blooded comes their way. And of course, they lay eggs as well, which you can't see or eradicate completely.

I was so upset that I single-handedly, without any assistance, carried/pushed/shoved my large couch down the stairs and out to the trash -- talk about an adrenaline rush. In the end I just decided to move.

There is a huge problem with them in my area. And I am sure it's just a matter of time before they show up in facilities, just so many people coming and going.

And I really wish that the media would stop publishing those gigantic pictures of bed bugs with every article. I get it. They're gross. I don't want to see it!!!!

There's an article on MSN about a new scourge called "kissing bugs" that crawl into your bed and bite your face but I have decided from now on to live in denial.

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And I really wish that the media would stop publishing those gigantic pictures of bed bugs with every article. I get it. They're gross. I don't want to see it!!!!

There's an article on MSN about a new scourge called "kissing bugs" that crawl into your bed and bite your face but I have decided from now on to live in denial.

Oh yeah, love those pictures! I went and bought a mattress encasement when I saw a nice blown up picture of a dust mite. Yuck. My mattress encasement and pillow encasements suffocate everything inside and won't allow anything in that are the size of a microbe or larger.

I'm not going to look up the kissing bug. :eek:Just don't want to even know...lol

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Specializes in ortho, hospice volunteer, psych,.

542348_com_pgeniculatus2.jpg kissing bug - panstrogylus geniculatus - fernando otálora luna - wikimedia commons

all kissing bugs feed on blood, and those that prefer human blood can carry a serious disease. charles darwin's debilitating illness was probably caused by one.

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triatoma infestans is one of the kissing bugs. like the ticks - (see how to remove them safely) - these bugs can carry human diseases. t.infestans is the most important carrier of chaga's disease in south america.

what happens is that the bug gets infected with the parasite (trypanosoma cruzi) when he sucks blood from an infected person, and then passes it on when he bites a new victim. the parasite is actually passed out with the bug's faeces, and then it creeps into the wound which is usually on the lips. soon after infection there is a chronic reaction, typically with swelling around the lips, and then the disease lays dormant for several years. the later, chronic, stage of the disease is very serious. there is often severe heart damage, and while the disease can be treated just after infection, the chronic disease remains incurable. even heart transplants don't seem to work because the parasite just takes advantage of the lowered immune system, reproduces like mad, and then starts doing damage all over again!

read more at suite101: kissing bugs: nasty little insects that bite your lips. http://fishinsects.suite101.com/article.cfm/kissing_bugs#ixzz0xc2vbukx

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