Pest control assistance

Routine

Complaints of roaches, mice, ants, flies, bees (outside), and most other pests, especially if outside, can generally be considered routine and can be called in to the EH&S voice mail for service.

Priority

Pests that enter occupied areas, especially patient care areas, or outside animals acting very strangely, or residential housing bed bugs are all considered priority pest problems. These should be called into EH&S at 275-3241 and will given priority over routine issues. Calls after hours or on weekends for priority pests are responded to during normal working hours.

Emergency

If a pest poses an imminent threat to health, safety, or property, this is considered an emergency. In general, wild animals or bats in occupied areas are considered an emergency. A bird in a patient room is an emergency. For an emergency pest situation on non-holiday weekdays between 8:30am – 4:30pm, please call EH&S at 275-3241. If an emergency pest situation arises after hours or on weekends or a holiday, please call Public Safety at 273-3333.

Other examples of emergencies include:

1. A confirmed opossum, skunk, raccoon, squirrel or similar wildlife inside a habitable space.
2. An uncaptured bat indoors.
3. An uncaptured bird in a patient room that is occupied or needs to be occupied.
4. A confirmed rat (not a mouse) in an occupied space.
5. Severe roach infestation in a patient care area (ie: new patient arrives with many roaches crawling all over personal belongings)
6. A swarm of bees inside an occupied room where the occupant cannot leave.
7. Bed bugs seen in hospital patient care areas (In this case, please call Environmental Services FIRST – not Pest Control during off-hours.)

In emergency cases #1 and #2, and #3, if the animal is near an exterior window or door that can be opened, do so, as our response time from the call to arrival at the scene with the correct equipment or pesticides will generally take 60 minutes or possibly longer. Give the animal some time to leave and stay away from the exit way.

HOWEVER, if a bat was discovered in a room with a sleeping individual or otherwise was known to have been in direct physical contact with an individual, Public Safety MUST be called and Pest Control dispatched to capture the bat for testing due to the risk of rabies.

Bed bugs have recently made a resurgence in the United States to the point where they have become an epidemic in many large cities. They are now a problem throughout the country and have become the number #1 structural pest concern for any industry that provides residential or sleeping accommodations, especially where the population is transient. This makes Universities and Health Care Facilities high risk operations for bed bug infestations.

Bed bugs can be a very difficult pest to eradicate, taking a significant amount of time and money and even then, there are no guarantees a treatment will be 100% successful. We are somewhat fortunate at the University, as we have learned how to achieve control and eradication through a variety of procedures and processes. However, it takes knowledge of this pest, hard work, and strong cooperation from all parties involved.

Four very important points to remember regarding bed bugs are:

1. Bed bugs have not been known to spread any human diseases.
   However, a very small percentage of the population may have more severe, allergic type reactions to bed bugs, leading to excessive scratching and secondary infections. In this case, you may want to see your doctor.
2. Bed bugs are not a result of filth and show no favoritism to any socio-economic class.
   Cleanliness and affluence are not a guarantee against bed bugs. However, our experience shows that apartment complexes may have more of a problem with bed bugs than private residences, due to the number of people that live in them and the ability of bed bugs to easily spread from one dwelling to another in this kind of setting. Also, a cluttered (not dirty) dwelling makes it more difficult to eradicate bed bugs, since they have more places to hide.
3. Bed bugs generally do not live on people, they just feed on people.
   In other words, bed bugs are not like lice, which live and breed on people. They feed on people for their blood like a mosquito and then leave the body within 8-10 minutes to hide – generally near their feeding locations, such as on or under a mattress/box spring or headboard of a bed. Bed bugs can go approximately 10 days before their next meal but can also live many months without a meal if they have to. This means they can live in a vacant dwelling for a long time.
4. Bed bugs are proficient hitchhikers.
   Although they rarely stay on a person, they can be easily transferred to other locations through personal belongings such as radios, suitcases, unworn clothing, etc. This puts hotels, hospital rooms and other transient sleeping locations at higher risk of having bed bug problems. The most viable way that bed bugs infest dwellings is through the purchase of used beds, mattresses and box springs.

For very detailed information on bed bugs, including how to prevent your residence from acquiring them and the steps to take if you do, please visit the Cornell or EPA websites. These include pictures of the various life stages of bed bugs and what their bites may look like.

EH&S bed bug protocol summary

1) Complaint is verified by Environmental Health & Safety
2) For verified complaints, resident(s) CANNOT RELOCATE
3) Steam is used to eradicate the issue. Pesticides are generally not desireable or necessary.
4) Bed bug problems are not considered emergencies unless they are in patient care areas

If you have additional questions, please contact Tristan Kasper at 275-3241.