They bite when you sleep

2011-10-28 13:42 The Spy - News (spionen in english)

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Bedbugs invade student housings in Gothenburg

Hundreds of apartments owned by SGS student hostel are at the moment infected by bedbugs, the numbers are increasing drastically, which may be caused by increase in numbers of students or travellers and second hand shopping.

How to avoid the bugs

Be careful when buying second hand furniture.
Contact SGS (or any other landlord) immediately if you suspect that you have bedbugs at home.
Be generally observant, if there are bedbugs in your apartment, you will have red bites similar to that of mosquitoes and you will often find blood on the sheet of the bed.
Do not unpack your clothes into the hotel wardrobe, leave them in the suitcase and place it on a table.
Place the suitcase in the cold before unpacking it and wash the clothes in 60 degrees Celsius.

Bedbugs have become a growing problem in the entire country. Every year there is money put away for control of the pest.
- We would like to keep the costs low for the sake of the students, but keeping the costs low is hard when a lot of money has to be used for pest control, says Magnus Bonander, the estate chief of SGS student hostel.

Itchy bite

In order to reduce or at least stop the spreading of bedbugs, SGS is taking extra precautions by handing out information to their tenants. Travellers are advised to check their bags when they return from other country and shake all clothes and wash them in warm water. A bedbug bite is similar to a mosquito bite, the bite is usually itchy and sometimes small drops of blood on the bedspread are signs of bedbugs.
- It is important for everyone to understand that there is nothing to be ashamed of in bedbugs infestation, anyone can be affected by the pest, says Magnus Bonander.

The faster the better

A full grown bedbug is 4-5 mm long with a wide oval flattened body. It light yellow or brown in colour and becomes red brown after sucking blood. If you suspect that your apartment is infested by bedbugs, you should contact SGS as soon as possible. The faster the sanitation of the apartment begins, the faster the pest will disappear.

The first thing pest control agency, Anticimex does is to remove all furniture to a cold chamber, where it will remains until the cold kill the bedbugs, thereafter the furniture will be treated with pesticide. The pest control takes at least two weeks, during that time the tenant has to keep living in the apartment acting as bait because the Carbon dioxide we exhale make bedbugs active and increase their activities at night.
- It is hard to have to tell someone that they have to continue living with the pest throughout the entire period of de-infestation, but that is what is needed, if we are to achieve a full effect, says Magnus Bonander. SGS helps their tenants during the entire period of the sanitation by lending them a bed and safety net.

No cost for students

Once it all done, bedbugs gone and all furniture in its right position the whole cost usually rounds down to 5000 kronor.
- Of course this is a cost that we at SGS take care of, although there are many exchange students that have not really understood this and thereby chose not to contact us. It is very important that if anyone suspects an infestation they should call us so that we can at least try to stop it from spreading, says Magnus Bonander.

Translated by: Kenneth Fagbe
Original text: emma lundgren
illustration: hallimash

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