I recently came across a Richmond, VA, Times-Dispatch
article that chronicled the frustration a local family experienced
a couple years ago at the "hands" of the lowly bed bug. At first, the frustration was from watching their 10-year-old daughter
suffer from massive quantities of unidentifiable bites. The girl was already
allergic to fleas, the family reasoned, but their pets were monitored
carefully for that pest. And their high-rise apartment was on a regular
pest control contract. No one else in the complex had reported similar
problems, either. "They were puffy, round sores (on her feet). At first I thought
she had chickenpox because the center was kind of indented," the
mother told the newspaper. Doctors theorized everything "from spider
bites to a staph infection." The girl got a biopsy at the University
of Virginia, and was prescribed yet another ineffective ointment.
They saw several specialists in Lynchburg. A blood test was done. Everyone
was stumped. Duke University's pediatric dermatology specialist, Dr.
Neil Prose, did another biopsy. By now, six months had passed, outbreaks
were getting worse and the girl's mother had an infected bite on her arm. On the Web
The family began researching their symptoms on the Internet, and wound
their way to bed bugs. When they saw that bed bugs were nocturnal, well,
the Times-Dispatch article tells the tale: "So, that night around 12:30, armed with a flashlight, she went
into her daughter's room and found several of the insects on her daughter's
bed coverlet. 'I got the kid up out of the bed, out of the room, threw her into the
shower.' She and her husband captured the insects they could find and put them
in a jar. Some were sent to Virginia Tech for identification, she said. The next morning, she called the exterminator they had previously worked
with. The exterminator sprayed, and Suwala cleaned with bleach. At 3 the next morning, Suwala went back into the room and found bugs
were still there. She and her husband dismantled the bed and took it
outside. She called the exterminator again. He recommended she try buying bug
bombs from a local store. Irked, Suwala called another exterminator
who dealt with the bedbugs to her satisfaction."
WOW. To me, this speaks volumes about the need for keeping up to date
on training. It would seem the family's previous pest management provider
didn't understand how to treat for bed bugs, and didn't care to learn.
And the second one, Virginia Exterminating, did. Virginia Exterminating's Louis Gallaher told the newspaper he had not
done a bed bug job since the mid-1960s, although he had heard they were
making a comeback in the area. By the way, at that point the article ceases
to call him "exterminator" and starts calling him "pest
control specialist." Semantics? Sure. Subliminally elevating the
profession? Absolutely. For the record, the article states the family believes the bed bugs got
into the girl's room via a stuffed animal she won at a fair during a vacation
in Florida. And Dr. Prose has since co-authored a medical article about
the resurgence of bed bugs, because of his involvement with this case.
I realize I'm only hearing one side of the story here -- the first pest
management firm might have considered this one of those "headache"
accounts everyone has that eventually you have to walk away from. Lucky
for Virginia Exterminating, Gallaher was able to pick up the pieces, so
to speak. And if the original company is out there and wants to tell their
side of the story, e-mail me (hgooch@advanstar.com)
and I'll share it. The problem is, the end result was an unsatisfied customer. Bed bugs
are on the rise, but because of their nocturnal tendencies and their crack-and
crevice hideouts, infestations aren't always obvious. We're hearing more
about them every day in the mainstream media. Readers, if you haven't
trained your technicians on bed bug biology and treatment yet, it's probably
time to do so. It's going to separate the wheat from the chaff in the
court of public opinion. | 
