Australia facing bedbug invasion
Cassie White
Updated Fri Feb 11, 2011 10:25am AEDT
Australians are being warned there is no escape from the bedbugs which are currently staging a jet-setting comeback in hotels on both sides of the Atlantic.
After being all but wiped out by banned pesticide DDT years ago, the little brown bugs are reportedly increasing in numbers, generating some bad PR for tourist hotspots New York and London.
Bedbug cases in both cities are on the rise as the parasites hitch a lift in luggage, aircraft seats and clothes to wherever people sleep or rest.
Infestations are common in backpacker-friendly suburbs like Bondi and Coogee, but it is not just overseas travellers who are being attacked.
A bedbug infestation almost ruined Brisbane resident Cori's life after her flatmate brought them home from a three-star hotel in Cairns.
Three rounds of intense fumigation and thousands of dollars later, she says the bedbugs came back for a fourth time. The incident happened almost two years ago, but Cori says to this day they cannot bring themselves to talk about it.
"We fumigated the whole house and threw out anything we weren't attached to, plus fumigated our cars. At this point we were also getting changed in the garage downstairs before going inside," she said.
"It was a really expensive exercise that costs thousands of dollars each time. We were up to the $10,000 mark the third time around and they came back again.
"In the end they won. We put the remains of our stuff in storage for a year-and-a-half. That was everything; furniture, clothes, books - we just started again from scratch."
The ordeal lasted more than four months and almost sent Cori and her flatmate over the edge.
"Basically we thought we were going insane. We always thought we were itching, we couldn't hang out with people because no-one wanted us in their home, so we found ourselves homeless quite quickly," she said.
"It escalated into this really horrendous psychological nightmare.
"Everything we own that went through that process still smells horrendous today; our clothes and cars still smell like the fumigation."
Eventually the girls had to move out of their unit completely because there was just no escape from the critters.
But the horrific ordeal did not end there.
"I stayed at my boyfriend's place and ... I was stripping off at the door every day, putting on a towel and going straight to the shower," she said.
"I'd put the clothes I was wearing outside in a bag so the next time I left - often in his clothes - I'd take them to the laundromat and put them in 140 degree temperature water.
"I wasn't even able to work because I had no clothes or books, so I basically gave my teaching load to someone else.
"I'd often lie there at night and if I felt any itch at all I'd think 'Oh my god'. So I became a real hypochondriac thinking I'd brought them in and we'd have to do the same thing with my boyfriend's stuff."
These days bedbugs are found everywhere from backpacker hostels to five-star hotels, on public transport, and increasingly in homes.
Brisbane pest controller Roger Goode says bedbugs are extremely common in Australia and suspects they will become even more of a problem.
"We get an enquiry about them every two days. The main way they get around is in planes and other public transport in luggage and other cracks and crevices," he said.
"With the rate of the dollar and also the number of people coming in, I think there's a great opportunity for us to get an infestation on the same level [as other countries].
"They can live up to three months without a host. They like cracks and crevices in rooms, behind powerpoints, mattresses and mattress buttons are a good place to hide.
"They like to be in the dark, in the warmth and don't mind being claustrophobic at all."
Sydney pest controller Rita Kokontis agrees travellers are the main culprits responsible for bringing bedbugs to Australia, after they come from countries with a high infestation.
"In Sydney we'd probably do five bedbug jobs a week minimum and they're very difficult to shift. [They are mainly concentrated] in areas like Bondi and Coogee where there's a lot of travellers," she said.
"Usually one treatment won't be enough. A lot of the time the mattresses will need to be discarded and you still need more treatments.
"A lot of people are under the misconception that if you get rid of the mattress you get rid of the problem, but you can actually find the bedbugs on the frame and under the skirting boards, behind picture frames and in bedside tables."
But Ms Kokontis warns people not to think they out of harm's way if they do not do a lot of travelling.
"[They also infest] homes after people have had guests staying from overseas," she said.
"It's not necessarily unhygienic, it's just the exposure to them.
"When there's a lot of people sharing beds, like in a hotel, people are packing their bags and taking them with them. They then might put that bag on your floor and then they can infest your home."
