Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
(Sheele et al. , 2012), although there is clearly
more work to be done on this technique.
management process was introduced that
focused more on comprehensive eradication
of the bugs that were present. The process
was based around:
• training of hotel staff, to minimize inad-
vertent movement of bugs by laundry or
cleaning work;
• regular surveys of all rooms;
• careful room preparation before treat-
ment; and
• a sequence of insecticide treatments,
chosen to overcome insecticide resist-
ance.
Case History - Bed Bug Elimination
from a Busy Urban Hotel
This case study demonstrates how a range
of bed bug prevention, management and
eradication techniques may be integrated to
deal with challenging bed bug infestations.
Although organophosphate insecticides are
not now available for bed bug control in
most Western countries, and visual in-
spections are increasingly being replaced or
supplemented by use of dogs or detectors,
the overall approach used in this study
is still considered to demonstrate good
practice.
Survey and room preparation
Although there was a case for carrying out a
full treatment of all guest rooms, regardless
of infestation history, it was decided instead
to conduct an initial survey of every room,
and then plan the treatment programme
accordingly. The advantages of this
approach were seen as:
• Explicitly establishing the infestation
status in each room allowed the effec-
tiveness of the programme to be sub-
sequently measured against this baseline.
• Areas of the hotel that were not infested
could be left in operation, so maintain-
ing revenue.
• Insecticide use was minimized.
Former bed bug control regime
A 400-room hotel in the UK had not
previously had a bed bug problem. In 2005,
however, bed bugs were found in a few
rooms. Despite insecticide treatment of
rooms from which complaints were
received, the bed bugs gradually spread
through much of the hotel during the
following 2 years. Numerous complaints
were received from guests, and employee
morale was adversely affected. The lost
revenue, replacement costs for infested
furniture, and refunds to guests reached a
point where the hotel's profi tability was
threatened. The infestation was explained
by the pest control contractor as arising
from a high rate of bed bug introduction by
guests, as a result of rising bed bug infest-
ation levels nationally and internationally.
At the time, effective bed bug monitors
were not available, so all initial inspections
were done visually. Each day, a block of
rooms was taken off line, and the hotel's
facilities management contractors prepared
each room for inspection and possible
treatment, to a standard specifi cation. This
involved lifting the mattresses from the
beds, removing headboards from the walls,
lifting the edges of the fi tted carpets, etc.
Pest control staff then systematically
checked each room for signs of infestation.
Where signs of infestation were found in
a particular room, a treatment zone was set
up, consisting of three rooms either side
and fi ve rooms opposite the infested room.
A total of 109 rooms were found to be
infested and 309 rooms required treatment.
New regime
Clearly, the current reactive treatment
regime was not effective. Despite the views
about re-invasion, it was decided that the
problems were more related to failure to
control the bed bugs effectively than to
frequent re-introductions. A new bed bug
 
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