Bedbugs found in Sask. hospital

Officials in a northern Saskatchewan hospital are monitoring after bedbugswere found in two different areas of the hospital.

The blood-sucking insectsbelieved to have come in on patients turned up in two rooms of Prince Albert's Victoria Hospital earlier this week.

Dr. Khami Chokani, the medical health officer for the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region, said the bugs have been exterminated.

"What we are doing is in seven days we are going back into the same rooms again to clean them again and do the necessary remediation with the pest control," he said.

"This is so that just in case there have been eggs that have been laid to get rid of any new ones who might have decided to reside there."

Both areas where the bugs were found have been cleaned, Chokani said, but the rest of the hospital must be inspected.

He said bedbugs are "experts" at hiding and the monitoring could go on for as long as two weeks.

Chokani said the hospital sees at least 100 patients a day, but it's not clear which patients may have brought in the bugs.

"We are a hospital. People come in with different types of bugs. Some of them we see, some we don't see. Our job as a hospital is to be able to help people get better."

Chokani emphasized thatbedbugspresent no dangerto patients, saying there is no indication they are disease vectors.

Experts say an increase in global travel and the banning of certain pesticides may be partly responsible for the spread of bedbugs in recent years.