They were discovered Monday, Sept. 18. A dorm room on the Wartburg campus was infested with bed bugs. Subsequently, two more dorm rooms were discovered housing the tiny bugs.
Upon learning of the first room’s possible infestation, residence life officials began preparations to temporarilymove students out while the room was cleaned.
Students took the clothes they needed for several days and were provided free laundry services to clean them, according to Pete Armstrong, director of residential life.
The students were then asked to go to the Health and Wellness Center to have their bites checked and were asked to recall any other rooms they had visited or other students who had spent time in their rooms.
Then, two other rooms were found to be infested, although to a lesser degree.
The students were then moved to temporary rooms while their room were cleaned. All of their clothes were bagged and later cleaned. Mattresses were taken and destroyed, as well as the students’ furniture.
All the college’s furniture has been removed and cleaned or destroyed.
An outside contractor then fumigated the room, and the carpet was steam cleaned, also by an outside contractor.
The students were permitted to move back in by Friday, Sept. 22.
The procedures that were used on the first room will probably be used on other rooms identified as potentially housing the bugs, residence life officials said.
One student who lives in the first room said he was happy with the response of the college and residential life. He said he believes the school has done everything it can to get rid of the infestation and that students will be reimbursed for new furniture.
Campus officials think that the infestation initially may have occurred last summer when the rooms were occupied during summer activities.
“We did have a report in the summer in that room and we sprayed,” he said. “We believe a summer conference resident brought them with them,” Armstrong said.
Summer conference residents regularly stay in dorm rooms, and Armstrong believes some of the bed bugs must have survived the initial fumigation and infested the room again.
According to the Harvard School of Public Health, an apparently empty room or apartment can harbor the bugs because the critters can survive several months without feeding.
Bed bugs thrive on the blood of humans and animals, much like mosquitoes. They are not known to transmit diseases and live all over the world. Bed bug populations have been making a resurgence in recent years.
Armstrong agrees.
“Hotels and colleges are seeing more of this generally, and we’re no different, unfortunately,” he said.
Although these have been the first and only cases confirmed at Wartburg so far, residence life plans to closely monitor the situation.
“There will be some ongoing spraying done at regular intervals to be sure that we are staying on top of it,” Armstrong said. “We’re always concerned about any kind of problem that arises in a room...but these rooms have been identified and we’ll be monitoring them.”
Having a cluttered living space can provide more hiding places for the bugs, making extermination harder, but it doesn’t cause the initial infestation. A carrier, such as a suitcase or second hand furniture that is already infested, usually harbors the bugs.
“You can take 24 showers a day and still have them,” Armstrong said. “It has nothing to do with that.”
Bed bugs are most active at night and hide in crevices and folds of fabric during the day. Their bites can cause irritation, but are different than mosquito bites. Anyone who thinks he or she might have bed bugs in their room should contact the residential life office.