The New York City Traveler

The New York Post headline “Subways’ Blood-Bug Invasion” screamed at me from the newsstand.  As if New York doesn’t have enough unsavory critters crawling around the subway, we couldn’t possibly have more!  But this time, the Post, known for its sometimes sensational journalism, wasn’t overstating the fact:  bedbugs have show up in the New York City subways and the problem is getting worse. 

At a recent Department of Housing Preservation and Development meeting in Brooklyn, HPD’s Edward Brownbear stated that five New York City subway stations have come up positive as being infested with bedbugs.  Among them are Union Square, Manhattan;  Fordham Road, Bronx; and Hoyt-Schermerhorn, Brooklyn. 

Bedbugs are not new visitors to the the United States.  Thought to be have brought to the New World by the early colonists, they were fully eradicated in the U.S. in the 1960s.  Since then, bedbugs have made a comeback, in part due to the increase in international travel.  

Here are some myths and facts associated with bedbugs:

• Myth: Bedbugs are only found in low-rent hostel and hotel beds.
• Fact:  Bedbugs thrive in any high-occupancy location, like hotels and cruise ships beds, train seats, and even subway benches.  Bedbugs don’t discriminate between a $19 hostel room, a $900 luxury hotel room, or apparently a subway bench.   
• Myth: Changing the sheets and vacuuming will get rid of bedbugs.
• Fact:  Bedbugs generally live inside crevices, be it a bed or not.  Changing the sheets or sitting on a mat will not keep bedbugs at bay.
• Myth:  Bug spray will kill bedbugs.
• Fact:  Bedbugs require commercial pest removal, your mosquito spray.  The mosquito spray that you used at Finger Lakes last summer will not help. 

Bed bugs are small, generally the size of an apple seed and can live up to a year without a meal (read: blood).  It has been reported that while bedbugs may carry disease, they do not transmit disease and the bites, though they may itch and look unsightly, are virtually harmless.

Here is what to do if a bedbug hitches a ride on you: keep them out of your house!  Inspect your belongings before bringing them into your house and if you find that a bedbug is hitching a ride on you, wash all items immediately.  An ounce of prevention will keep those bedbugs from biting.       

For notes from the HPD meeting and more information on bedbugs, visit the Greenpoint, Brooklyn-centric blog, New York Sh***y.

Photo credit: Wikimedia 

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