Bedbugs

A Southeast Baltimore boy developed a severe leg infection from an untreated allergic reaction to a bite. A Hampden man threw out his possessions and fled his apartment with only a bag of clothes and a handful of papers. A Mount Vernon woman who struggled for months to rid her home of the pests finally sought therapy to deal with the trauma. Bedbugs were once a distantly remembered nuisance, the stuff of children's rhymes and Depression-era tales of woe. But increasingly, the tiny pests have become nightmarish bedfellows for homeowners, apartment dwellers and travelers in the Baltimore area and across the country.

Bedbugs were discovered in an outpatient treatment room at Sinai Hospital late last week, according to a spokeswoman for Lifebridge Health, which operates the hospital. The bugs were determined to have come from one man who'd received treatment in the multi-patient room in the Alvin and Lois Lapidus Cancer Institute, said Betsy Haley, the spokeswoman. Following their discovery, "efforts were made to get rid of the bugs entirely and then to make sure that no other areas were affected," Haley said.

Bedbugs were discovered in an outpatient treatment room at Sinai Hospital late last week, according to a spokeswoman for Lifebridge Health, which operates the hospital. The bugs were determined to have come from one man who'd received treatment in the multi-patient room in the Alvin and Lois Lapidus Cancer Institute, said Betsy Haley, the spokeswoman. Following their discovery, "efforts were made to get rid of the bugs entirely and then to make sure that no other areas were affected," Haley said.

In July 2010, Adarien Jackson's 6-year-old son, Kaden, began complaining of itchy bumps on his ankles. They soon turned into a rash and spread to his back, behind his ear, and on his eyelid. The child's pediatrician and dermatologists tried allergy drugs, diet changes, oils and oatmeal baths. But it wasn't until months later that Jackson discovered the cause of the problem. Kaden's twin brother, Kyler, began waking in the middle of the night, crying out, "Bugs are crawling on me!"

I've heard that bedbugs are being reintroduced in the United States by travelers returning from other countries. When I travel, I always drop a few mothballs in my luggage and use them in closets or drawers. Does this help? Probably not, said Greg Baumann, senior scientist at the National Pest Management Association, a trade group. Although he said he couldn't rule out mothballs' effectiveness, he's not aware of any studies that have been done. Bedbugs are making a comeback internationally and domestically.

Today we will explore the condition known as "News Scalp," a severe form of itching on the dome region of the skull brought on by reading disturbing insect stories in the daily paper. Apparently, bedbugs are on the rise in Baltimore. Scratch, scratch. Maybe you are like me, and when you finish reading a story like this, you go immediately to the Web to do some research. There you will find truly disgusting visuals that amplify the common bedbug to the point where it has a King-Kong-esque quality.

An isolated group of bedbugs was found at Hashawha Environmental Center in Carroll County, officials said yesterday. The bugs were discovered in a cabin at the county-owned facility outside Westminster on Monday, when counselors who had spent the night there spotted them on a sheet, according to a news release. There were no reports of bites, according to the release, and no children have slept in the cabin since the bugs were found. An exterminator treated the area Wednesday and said the bugs appeared to be contained to a section of a single bunk room, the release stated.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Outside of the old bedtime rhyme, most people have probably never heard of bedbugs. But the little bloodsuckers are real. And they're making a comeback. After decades of virtually no reports, pest-control companies nationally have begun noticing a huge upswing in the number of bedbug calls. Orkin, the nation's second-largest pest-control company, reported a 300 percent increase in bedbug cases between 2000 and 2001, a company spokeswoman said. The numbers have gone up 70 percent each year since.

Bedbugs are blood-consuming insects that were nearly wiped out in the United States in the mid-20th century. But they've made a dramatic comeback in the past decade. Size:: Practically microscopic at first, they can grow to the size of ladybugs, or about half the diameter of a dime. Lifespan:: Up to a year, with females laying up to 500 eggs. Gross factor:: About once a week, they seek a blood meal, preferably from humans. They gorge on blood for three to five minutes and then defecate most of the blood and shed their skins.

NEW YORK -- They're the scourge of hobo encampments and hot-sheet motels. To impressionable children everywhere, they're a snippet of nursery rhyme, an abstract foe lurking beneath the covers that emerges when mommy shuts the door at night. But bedbugs on Park Avenue? Bedbugs are back and spreading through New York City like a swarm of locusts on a lush field of wheat. Infestations have been reported sporadically across the United States over the past few years. But in New York, bedbugs have gained a foothold across the city.

A Severn couple filed a lawsuit Thursday against a Cockeysville apartment complex for $2 million, contending that the owners and management did not eradicate a previously known bedbug infestation. The former tenants, Michael Silverman and Amanda Weaver, moved into their two-bedroom Steeplechase Apartment on Stag Horn Court in March. They noticed "several small bugs" the day they moved in but did not think anything of it, the complaint says. But after three days in the apartment, the couple began to experience small, itchy bumps and later realized that the apartment was infested with bedbugs.

Bedbugs have turned up in hotels, offices and movie theaters recently. And while they aren't a severe health threat, they are creepy and crawly, and everyone wants to know why they have become so common — and how to avoid or get rid of them. Writing a book on household pests is environmental historian Dawn Biehler, assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Systems at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She's concluded that communities need to work together to eliminate bedbugs in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way. Question: How long have bedbugs been around and where do they come from?

Are landlords required to hire exterminators for bedbugs? Do bedbugs attack pets? How can you avoid them in movie theaters? With bedbug infestations on the rise, Baltimore health officials launched a series of meetings Wednesday to answer such questions from residents, property managers and others — and to tell everyone not to panic. "I'm here to assure you we will all be fine," Dr. Madeleine Shea, a deputy health commissioner, said at a meeting at the War Memorial Building.

A Howard County couple are suing the owners of their apartment complex for half a million dollars, claiming bedbugs infiltrated their apartment, covering them and their toddler daughter with dozens of itchy welts and causing "significant emotional distress. " Orville Brown Jr. and Rebecca Brown were forced to move out of their Ellicott City apartment and discard most of their furniture and all their daughter's toys because of the severity of the infestation, according to a suit filed Friday in Howard County Circuit Court.

A former tenant is suing a Cockeysville apartment complex for $100,000 over a bedbug infestation, claiming that the property owners did not properly warn her about and exterminate the blood-sucking insects and that she suffered "scarring and disfigurement" from the bites. The tenant, Amber Croshaw, contends that she suffered "embarrassment, mental and emotional distress, and fear about the presence of bedbugs that affects [her] to this day" as a result of the infestation in the apartment in the Briarcliff Apartments East complex in Cockeysville, according to the lawsuit filed this month in Baltimore County Circuit Court.

A Southeast Baltimore boy developed a severe leg infection from an untreated allergic reaction to a bite. A Hampden man threw out his possessions and fled his apartment with only a bag of clothes and a handful of papers. A Mount Vernon woman who struggled for months to rid her home of the pests finally sought therapy to deal with the trauma. Bedbugs were once a distantly remembered nuisance, the stuff of children's rhymes and Depression-era tales of woe. But increasingly, the tiny pests have become nightmarish bedfellows for homeowners, apartment dwellers and travelers in the Baltimore area and across the country.

When the bedbugs moved in, Goucher College decided it was time to move out. This week, dozens of students are leaving their temporary housing in an off-campus apartment complex because of the tiny critters that parents warn their children about each night. The three confirmed incidents of bedbugs at Towson's Dulaney Valley Apartments - one in mid-July, the other two in September - led Goucher to seek alternative housing, said Kristen Keener, the college's director of media relations. "The thought that you could have bedbugs is frightening," said junior Marissa Kluger.

Bedbugs are blood-consuming insects that were nearly wiped out in the United States in the mid-20th century. But they've made a dramatic comeback in the past decade. Size:: Practically microscopic at first, they can grow to the size of ladybugs, or about half the diameter of a dime. Lifespan:: Up to a year, with females laying up to 500 eggs. Gross factor:: About once a week, they seek a blood meal, preferably from humans. They gorge on blood for three to five minutes and then defecate most of the blood and shed their skins.