Say good riddance, to bed bugs

Over the last half-decade, many homes have been plagued by uninvited and unwelcome guests. Much to the chagrin of renters and homeowners alike, bed bugs have come back with a vengeance in many locales. The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development noted that, in the fiscal year 2010, city residents filed nearly 13,000 bed bug complaints. That's a significant increase from 2004, when the city received less than 600 complaints.

But the escalating bed bug problem is not exclusive to the Big Apple. According to a 2010 Montreal Public Health presentation, the city's infestation problem increased dramatically between 2007 and 2008. In 2007, 20 of the 700 buildings managed by the city's municipal housing corporation were infested. By 2008, that figured had ballooned to 120 buildings.

Though renters in most cities have rights with regards to bed bug infestations, most renters and homeowners would prefer to prevent such infestations rather than deal with the effects of these unwanted critters. Prevention techniques aren't foolproof but can help keep bed bugs at bay.

• Don't bring anything found on the street into your home. Bed frames, box springs, mattresses, and upholstered furniture should never be picked up off the street and brought into the home.
• Seal the cracks and crevices. Renters should ask their landlord to seal any cracks and crevices throughout their homes and apartments, and homeowners should do it themselves. Pests, including bed bugs, can enter through such cracks and crevices.
  
• Wash clothing in hot water. If a bed bug infestation is suspected, immediately wash your clothes in hot water or place the clothes in a sealed plastic bag until you can wash them.

For those who already have a bed bug infestation, it's often best to trust bed bug removal to the professionals. An experienced pest control company will be able to find and eliminate all of the bed bugs' hiding places, even treating the home with special pesticides if necessary.

Those who cannot afford a pest control company can get rid of bed bugs themselves. Just make sure the effort is thorough and always be safe, particularly if using pesticides. To remove bed bugs effectively, consider the following tips, courtesy of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

• Find the bed bugs and where they are hiding. Bed bugs tend to hide in certain areas, including behind a bed's headboard, in the seams and tufts of a mattress, inside the box spring, along bedroom baseboard cracks, and in and around nightstands. When looking for bed bugs, use a bright flashlight. Sometimes, the bed bugs' dark droppings or small bloodstains from crushed critters might be visible to an especially watchful eye.
• Clean areas where bed bugs might be hiding. When washing bedding, linens, curtains, rugs, carpets, or clothes that might be harboring bed bugs, wash them in hot water and dry on the hottest dryer setting to kill the critters. Soak delicate items in warm water with lots of laundry soap for several hours before rinsing. Wool items, plush toys and shoes can be placed in a hot dryer for 30 minutes to kill bed bugs.

When cleaning the mattress, scrub its seams with a stiff brush to dislodge both the bed bugs as well as any eggs that might be attached. Mattresses can also be vacuumed, as can bed frames, nearby furniture, floors, and carpets. Should bed bugs be found on the mattress, after it has been cleaned cover the mattress with a waterproof, zippered mattress cover that is allergen rated or labeled "for dust mites." Keep this cover on for at least one year. Similarly, if the box spring is infested, seal it inside a vinyl box spring cover for at least one year.

If any items cannot be cleaned, seal them in a plastic bag and discard them.