Bed bug business booming

Afew years after Island hotels started to notice increasing problems with bed bugs, people are starting to take the problem home as well.

'You walk into literally thousands if not tens of thousands of bed bugs.' Robert Gallant, Atlantic Graduate Pest Control Services

Some pest control companies on P.E.I. are reporting their bed bug business is bigger than ever.

Robert Gallant, owner of Atlantic Graduate Pest Control Services in Charlottetown, told CBC News onFriday that business has almost doubled over last year, mostly because people are travelling more and carrying the bugs backwith their luggage. He's also getting more calls from people who drag home an old mattress off the sidewalk.

Getting rid of bed bugs, said Gallant, calls for drastic measures.

"We have these huge plastic bags, that we will literally seal the piece of furniture and take it right to the proper disposal place and have it burnt," he said.

Bed bugs are small, flat, brownish insects, about the size of an apple seed. They hide in crevices in bedding and furniture and come out at night, attracted to carbon dioxide from your breath. Heavy use of pesticides virtually eliminated the insects in North America in the 1950s, but more cautious use of chemicals has led to a resurgence.

Gallant said it can sometimes take a while for people to notice they have a problem.

"With those that may be elderly and alone, who don't see the best," he said. "You walk into literally thousands if not tens of thousands of bed bugs throughout their bedroom."

Other pest control companies report calls have doubled and even tripled.

You can check for bedbugs by turning the light on and quickly flipping back the sheets, or by looking for blood spots in the bedding, where the blood-filled bugs can get squashed like mosquitoes. The presence of brownish stains from bed bug feces can also be an indication.