The invasion of bedbugs has migrated to Russia: already on the outskirts of Moscow

The discovery of these uninvited guests always shocks the homeowners: everyone understands – just like that, it’s almost impossible to get them out at once, even for specially trained people. It is no wonder that the discovery of bedbugs in the hospital was a serious shock, and meanwhile patients in Chekhov complained of bedbugs “walking in crowds.”

“Patients are forced to sleep in daylight at night, or not sleep at all.” Two days ago, “some kind of inspection madam came to the hospital, moved her finger behind the battery, found dust, made a remark to the nurse, and when the patients reported that bedbugs were walking in crowds throughout the hospital, the inspector did not answer anything,” complained a local resident on the social network, accompanying her words with a video of a bug running somewhere about its business.

Judging by the number of comments, this problem is painful for a very large number of Chekhov residents. Someone wrote that bedbugs were in the hospital a year ago and, apparently, multiplied during this time.

“I asked what could be done here, but they answered that the hospital cannot leave patients without a cardiology department, and in order to get rid of all the insects, it is necessary to close and demolish all the ceilings, since they are made of plasterboard, and this rubbish lives in it. That is, they admitted their powerlessness!” shares a local resident. Another thing is even worse: doctors and patients bring these insects from the hospital to their homes, and this is how they spread throughout the city.

MK correspondents contacted the disinfectant technologist, head of the facility sanitary treatment service, Alexei Menshikov. The situation with bedbugs in the Chekhov medical institution did not surprise him. As he explained to MK, this hospital is old, and people of very different backgrounds and incomes were and are being treated there. For example, a patient could be brought there with a bedbug larva hiding on his clothes, after which it got into the mattress, etc.

“Somewhere they overlooked it, somewhere the epidemiologist relaxed and did not focus attention on this,” the expert expressed his opinion. – Some work was carried out there, but they did not give the desired effect due to the fact that the foundation is old, the room is not airtight, and the walls, which are finished with plasterboard, like in this hospital, may have air-cavity areas behind them, where times and convenient for bed bugs to nest.

What can you do here? The disinfector advises, first of all, to use high-tech equipment – for example, a hot steam generator; if you have the budget, purchase expensive insecticides (according to experts, such long-acting chemicals now cost a lot of money). Perhaps the company that worked there had the most primitive means that directly killed the bug, but the nesting zone means that were hidden from direct influence had no effect on the larva. There are now new lines of drugs on the market to which bed bugs have not yet developed “immunity.”

“Secondly, it is imperative to treat hard-to-reach areas, which will probably require opening the walls, cutting “windows” in the drywall in order to pour chemicals into the walls,” continues the specialist. – The ceilings are being opened… And thirdly – ​​carrying out cosmetic repairs and replacing soft household items. For hospitals, there are now synthetic mattresses, blankets and pillows that do not have seams (they are taped), so there are no places where insects could hide.

Bed bugs drink human blood and quickly replenish their genus, laying larvae in various hard-to-reach places, starting with torn mattresses, pillows, blankets, and if the beds are wooden, then in technical joints. At the same time, if one of the contractors in this hospital ever tried to poison them with dichlorvos, then they could begin to crawl and settle in sockets, in ventilation, window frames, cornices, possibly in defects in unglued wallpaper, etc.

Commenting on a video from a Chekhov hospital with a bug running rather briskly, the expert added that in a minute these creatures can run 60 cm, that is, in other words, in two to three weeks they will scatter over a large area.

Another expert, disinsection master Alexey Balaban, added in a conversation with an MK correspondent that you need to pay special attention to your upholstered furniture and belongings if your neighbors are undergoing repairs or sanitary treatment. Over the past month, this service alone has recorded several dozen cases of such “introduced” bedbugs. It turns out that these insects, like cockroaches, can move “to new apartments” on their own through ventilation ducts if there is a threat to them in their old place.

“It makes sense to treat the premises preventively if the neighbors are undergoing repairs or treatment,” emphasized Alexey Balaban. – Well, if there are still no such risk factors, it will be enough to take care of yourself and your clothes after public places. Especially after hotels, restaurants, hospitals, school locker rooms.

Bed bugs are able to remain in suspended animation (that is, hibernation, but at the same time ready to become active again) for several years, the interlocutor of MK emphasized. This means that if the bedbugs nesting in the house are destroyed by treatment, the population can still recover from the “saved” individuals.

“If everything is done correctly, this very invasion of bedbugs is entertainment for an average of three years, all this time you need to invest in treating the premises and furniture,” Balaban predicts.

Standard treatment of rooms and upholstered furniture against bedbugs consists of steaming all secluded cavities and surfaces at high temperatures, the pest control service explained. In this case, a special non-contact steam generator is used. Almost all wallpaper fabrics, excluding antique furniture upholstery over 100 years old, can withstand such treatment, exterminators assured.

– Antique sofas with bolsters, some chairs will need to be disassembled for a 100% result (this is the client’s concern), or simply laid out as much as possible, but without disassembly the master will not be able to guarantee the result, the company emphasized.

In addition to furniture, bedbugs can hide under layers of wallpaper (especially if we are talking about old wooden or shingled walls). Steam treatment of such walls does not give reliable results, the pest control service admitted. To ensure a guaranteed result, cosmetic repairs may be required in the form of tearing off old wallpaper and gluing new wallpaper.