Research and Outreach in Integrated Pest Management for Bed Bugs in New York and Beyond

Bed bugs are a serious burgeoning problem in homes, hotels, dormitories, schools, and other living facilities throughout the United States and worldwide. The IPM Program has addressed the problem locally, regionally, and nationally in several ways in 2006. A fact sheet was written in 2003 and posted on the NYS IPM Program website. It is continuously one of the most popular pages on the site garnering just over 56,000 hits in 2006. A 2005 survey of the pest control industry was conducted with funding from the NE IPM Center. This survey characterized the bed bug problem nationally from the perspective of the pest control industry, including details about how bed bug problems are typically handled. Several articles were written and published in 2006 that describe the results of this work. A new bed bug project proposal was submitted for funding to the NEIPMC to develop management protocols and NYS IPM will be involved with yet another project involving pheromone identification and use. A professional list serve was set up in late 2006 for discussion of bed bug issues. In addition, many hours were spent in direct phone consultation with individuals faced with the daunting task of controlling bed bugs and the legal issues arising from infestations