Bedbugs don’t spare city

Like other cities all over North America, Saskatoon is being invaded by bedbugs.

“We’ve been having an increase for the last 10 years,” said Steve Gilroy, who has been working for Poulin’s Pest Control Services in Saskatoon for 20 years.

“Ten years ago we got one to two calls a week,” said Gilroy.  “Now we get five or six a day.”

Gilroy blames the increase on more people travelling and the insects developing a tolerance for the chemicals that have traditional been used to kill them. He expects the increase to continue.

“We haven’t peaked yet,” he said.

Heather Leggett knows all about the resilience of the tiny critters. Exterminators will be coming to her apartment today for the third time in recent weeks. She and her two-year-old daughter Grace have both received numerous bites since she first saw a bedbug two months ago.

“Many times I have woken up with blood on my sheets,” said Leggett. She has taken to wearing what she describes as armor to bed, with long socks pulled up over pant legs and long sleeves covering her arms, leaving only her face and hands exposed.

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Although bedbug bites have not been determined to be life threatening, they are not exactly harmless.

“People with asthma can have reactions,” said Dr. Ross Findlater of Saskatoon Public Health. He added while the bites do not transmit disease, the sores they leave can be irritating and unsightly and the general unpleasantness of an infestation can have psychological effects on those who are afflicted.

“People incorrectly think it’s about their cleanliness,” said David McIlveen of Boardwalk Rental Communities. Boardwalk, which operates the building Leggett lives in, has found that in some cases, tenants don’t want to report the bugs for fear it will reflect poorly on them.

“Our biggest issue right now is the education process,” said McIlveen. Infestation can spread quickly if proper containment measures are not taken quickly.

The Bedbug Registry (www.bedbugregistry.com) is a free website devoted to documenting reports of bedbugs all over North America. Anyone travelling or moving to a new city can view a map of the area with red dots showing all cases reported to the site. Saskatoon has more than 30 cases visible on the site.