METRO VANCOUVER – About a month after bedbugs were discovered at the library at Metrotown, the pests were found lurking in another branch of the Burnaby Public Library.
Library staff at Cameron Street branch found the bedbugs while combing each of the library’s four locations, following the Metrotown discovery, said Edel Toner-Rogala, Burnaby’s chief librarian.
Cameron was shut down Monday for treatment after a specially-trained dog confirmed the infestation of appleseed-sized bugs. The branch is back up and running today, Toner-Rogala said.
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“People will see some empty shelves,” Toner-Rogala said, explaining that for two days, a pest control company sprayed shelving and furniture, and are continuing to heat-treat the infested books to get rid of the bugs.
Toner-Rogala said no bugs turned up at Burnaby’s other two branches, located at 4595 Albert Street and 7311 Kingsway.
The books on loan from Cameron prior to the discovery will be inspected upon return, she said, noting that library staff will pay extra attention to books as they come and go.
In September, a reader found a dead bedbug in a library book at Metrotown.
Other bugs were found, and infested sections were the sprayed, while books were removed for heat treatment.
The Vancouver Coastal Health Authority says there is no link between bedbugs and the transmission of human disease, though some people can have an allergic reaction to their bites.
Adult bedbugs, which consume blood, can live for more than a year without feeding and can crawl more than 30 metres for a meal.
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