Bed Bug Case Studies
Case 1
Pests not just for beds anymore: Outbreak of
bedbugs at John Jay College shuts school's building
BY EDGAR SANDOVAL AND
CHRISTINA BOYLE
DAILY NEWS
STAFF WRITERS
Thursday, September 24th
2009, 9:58 PM
 John Jay College has a case of the creepy
crawlies.
An outbreak of bedbugs forced officials to seal
off a campus building and cancel some classes on
Thursday.
The doors to one of the midtown campus' five
buildings will be closed over the weekend while pest
control teams and sniffer dogs get to work
exterminating the pests.
"Why are they here?" a baffled 28-year-old
student, Damon Marrow, asked during an information
session with college chiefs.
"Aren't they called bedbugs?"
College officials first became aware of a problem
in mid-August, when a number of staff members at
North Hall Campus on W. 59th St., mostly in the
financial aid and registrar's office, broke out in
rashes.
One bedbug was found on Sept. 14 during a deep
cleaning of some of the rooms, and a second was
discovered soon afterward, prompting the college to
bring in a pest control company.
The first and second floors of the building were
searched Wednesday evening using scent-trained
beagles, who found evidence of bedbugs in about 30
rooms.
John Jay's senior vice president, Robert
Pignatello, played down talk of an infestation,
claiming the closure of the building - one of four
at the midtown campus - was "just a preventative
measure."
Yet news of the creepy crawlies sent some
students into a mild panic, and many feared they had
accidentally taken the bugs home.
"Has this room been inspected?" asked first-year
criminal justice student Cecilia Sarno, 20.
"I'm going to miss out on at least four classes
between now and Monday.
"On top of that, I don't want to bring home those
bugs.
"I want them to kill them here," Sarno added.
The affected rooms will be treated during the
weekend and the rest of the building will be checked
before it reopens for staffers Monday. Classes will
resume Tuesday.
Pest control expert Tim Hendricks, from Assured
Environmental, addressed the students and told them
to inspect their personal belongings before heading
home as bedbugs can be "great, opportunistic
hitchhikers."
"But they are mainly a nuisance since they are
not known to carry any diseases," he added.
John Jay President Jeremy Travis said there were
concerns about the bedbugs spreading elsewhere on
campus, but he said the situation was being
monitored closely.
Bedbugs have become so pervasive in New York that
an advisory board was created in March.
Despite their name, they can survive in various
locations, including trains, buses and movie
theaters.
cboyle@nydailynews.com
» Read more
Case 2
Bed Bugs Hitch Ride On Books, Prompt Library
Fumigation
Rare Book Lover Banned From Library
POSTED: 9:37 pm MDT September 23, 2009
UPDATED:
11:29 am MDT September 24, 2009
DENVER -- Who knew bed bugs could be book worms?
The Denver Public Library had to quarantine and
fumigate four areas at the main branch in just the
past three weeks because of bed bugs. The tiny
insect is being spread by a customer trying to
preserve rare books, but ironically it's because of
his actions that the books now have to be destroyed.
"Some of the bed bugs fell out of those materials
that had been returned," said Denver Public Library
spokeswoman Celeste Jackson.
The infected books came from 69-year-old Denver
resident Roger Goffeney. He checks out historic
books, some 200 years old, and helps archive them
online in an effort called the Gutenberg Project.
When he brought a few of the rare books back, bed
bugs from his downtown apartment hitched a ride.
Goffeney said the landlord is to blame. Goffney
lives at Cathedral Plaza, which is owned by the
Catholic Archdiocese of Denver.
"We've always had some kind of insect
infestation, but it's never been to this degree,"
Goffeney said of the building where he lives. Still,
Goffeney said he didn't think it was a big deal.
"I thought that they could easily be cleaned if
they had discovered that to be the problem,"
Goffeney said.
The library said the items with bedbugs were
immediately quarantined and were not released into
circulation, so it didn't affect the public.
The library banned Goffeney three weeks ago and
asked him to return the rest of the books to a
secure drop. Instead, the library said Goffeney
returned the books a week later to the main book
drop and reinfected the library.
The library said it had to destroy 31 books that
Goffeney checked out. Now it wants him to pay as
much as $12,000 for the rare books and $6,000 for
fumigation costs.
"I have no intention of paying a dime," the
retired minister said.
"It's disappointing that he would do that to his
neighbors. It's disappointing that he would do this
to the community," Jackson said.
Librarians said it could cost as much as $12,000
to replace the rare books they've had to destroy.
Goffeney said he's considering filing a lawsuit
to get his library privileges back.
Copyright 2009 by TheDenverChannel.com. All
rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Case 3
Case Study Finds Severe Anemia Caused by Bed Bugs
Thursday September 17 2009 @ 09:55 AM
Source:
CMAJ and New York vs. Bed Bugs
 A recent article published in the Canadian
Medical Association Journal found that prolonged
exposure to a bed bug infestation caused severe
anemia (i.e., low red blood count) in a hospitalized
patient.
New York vs. Bed Bugs, a bed bug policy advocacy
group, interviewed lead-author of the study Dr.
Stephen W. Hwang. Dr. Hwang's findings in the study
highlight the health effects of bed bugs on
vulnerable populations. To read the interview,
click here.
View the technical findings of the case study by
clicking here
Severe Anemia From Bed Bugs, by Dr. Stephen W.
Hwang, MD MPH and co-author M. Jane Pritchard, MD.
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