With Ohio being declared the bed bug capitol in the U.S. in recent reports by Time magazine and CBS “ Early Show”, it is no surprise that some students at Sinclair Community College are concerned about finding them here.
The estimated half dozen reports at the college have turned up no signs of the pests so far though, according to Robert Woodruff, director of Facilities Management.
“We have a professional exterminating company, Extermital, and they treat for all sorts of different pests we may have. We have had them in here on every single case where we get a report and someone says ‘I think we got them here’ or ‘I’ve heard we’ve got them there,’” he said. “We pay the money and we go out there and investigate and we’ve turned up nothing. So the good news at Sinclair is that we have not found anything on our campus to date.”
Bed bugs are small, flat, reddish-brown insects that feed on the blood of sleeping people and animals, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website, www.cdc.gov. Experts at hiding these pesky creatures can be found in the places such as seams of mattresses, box springs, dressers, wallpaper and under any clutter or objects around a bed.
Their small bodies let allow them to fit into the smallest of spaces and they can live several months without a blood meal. The good news is that they don’t carry disease but rather are an inconvenience and can be harmful to mental health.
Mia Hubbard, communication student is worried about the abundance of students and accidentally taking one of these pests home from the college to her five children.
“I am very concerned because at any given time no matter where you are someone could drop a bug and you become the bug’s new home. It sounds funny but it is a very serious thing,” Hubbard said. “Sinclair has record enrollment and that means more people and the more people you have the more precautions you need to take.”
While the college does a weekly extermination year around, Woodruff also wants the students and staff to be aware of what they are doing and to take precautions at home and in the college.
“There’s not a lot you can do with a public institution like this. I will predicate that with this, anyone that goes into a public place, a bus, a theater, anything like that, there’s other potential carriers of these types of things and they can hop on and hitch hike and go with them. It’s just a different world that we live in now,” Woodruff said.
To report any problems or suspicions of bed bugs or any other pests, students can call Facilities Management service control at 937-512-3090. Any problems will be handled immediately and with the upmost importance, according to Woodruff.
For more information on bed bugs and how to prevent and treat them go to www.centralohiobedbugs.org, www.bedbug.com or www.cdc.gov.