Thriving business won’t let the bed bugs bite

EXTERMINATORS have been ‘inundated’ with calls from businesses concerned about bed bug infestations.

In light of the latest reports from New York, where businesses and tourism have been hit as a result of a mass infestation of the insects, it seems Ireland is not immune to the blood -sucking insect.

Bedbugs are flat, oval- shaped insects which can grow to the size of an apple pip. They come out at night and feed on blood for up to five minutes while people sleep.

They then hide in beds, carpets, under floorboard cracks and in clothing. Bed bugs can survive for up to a year without feeding, which makes them very difficult to eradicate.

According to key business co-ordinator with Rentokil Ireland, Brian Walsh, the bed bug problem in Ireland has been growing steadily for the past decade, mainly due to people bringing back the insects from abroad.

“We have been inundated with calls about problems with bed bugs. There has been a big increase in the problem certainly over the last 10 years,” he said.

“The finger mainly points to the fact that people are travelling more over that period and they are bringing them back with them.

“Travel has become easier and cheaper. In the 1980s and 1990s people might have gone as far as Spain and England but now people think nothing of going as far as Australia. In Irish terms, there are also so many other nationalities coming to Ireland over the past decade or so. However, against that, the US has always had that yet there were large periods in the 1980s and 1990s where they had no bed bugs,” he said.

Mr Walsh also pointed out that strong chemicals which were previously used to treat the problem are no longer on the market and that bed bugs can cause real problems for businesses

“Bed bugs can do huge damage to businesses. Take, for example, a hotel room. If a room was found to have bed bugs, that room could be closed for several days in order to treat the problem, although the Entotherm process can do it much quicker,” he said.

According to Mr Walsh, demand is so high from business for its Entotherm heat treatment that there is a three-week waiting list.

The treatment eliminates all lifecycle stages of an insect, including eggs, larvae and adults. A chemical-free process, it also allows treated areas to be re-used immediately with no residual side effects.

The process works by heating an infested area to a predetermined temperature using strategically placed heat exchangers. Heat probes and thermal imaging technology are then used to confirm all targeted insect pests have been eradicated.