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September 20th, 2010
09:30 AM ET
Pesky Bedbugs close down NYC Niketown
Add sporting goods retailer Niketown to the list of Manhattan businesses that have been bitten by bedbugs.
Nike tells CNN it has closed its East 57th Street store due to the presence of bedbugs.
It's not clear when the store will reopen.
To find out about government efforts to combat the pesky creatures click here.
We want to hear from you. Have you encountered bedbugs anywhere? What did you experience? What did you to get get rid of them? Leave your comments here and we'll feature some of them on CNN NewsRoom with Tony Harris in our noon eastern hour.
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This summer my wife and I (both Grad students living on campus in MI at a state university) discovered bedbugs in our apartment. Apparently the units below us had become infected. As soon as we found the bugs we, and our eight-month old son went to a hotel. We were unable to move back into the apartment. We moved in with my brother and his family while we moved everything out of the campus apartment. Everything had to be washed and sealed. We suffered substantial property loss and went through a major life disruption. We, fortunately,were able to recover some damages. All in all, it was an experience I wish to never repeat.
After hearing on the news about a month ago that someone was caught leaving a bag of bed bugs in the Impire state building in New York, I strongly feel this is what is going on here in America. Someone is going around leaving bedbugs in businesses. It cost a fortune to get rid of them and someone (exterminator companies) are doing this make money. It might sound crazy, but if you think about it how can businesses that don't have beds get bed bugs?
I live in Chicago in the northside and have dealt with bedbugs firsthand. I noticed a series of small bites around my sock line on my legs. After examining my bed, I noticed several small, tick like bugs running around in my bed and under my pillow. Turns out, at that point-my apartment was fully infested. I had an exterminator come in, but he suggested that I remove and dispose of all of my furniture. I ended up moving and abandoning all the furniture. Before I moved, I took all my clothes, shoes and anything else I wanted to keep and ran it through the hot clothes dryer for at least 20 mins. Since moving, I've had no problems whatsoever, but I remain vigilant in keeping an eye out for the little devils. Heat is the only cure for them. They are horrible.
My boyfriend and I dealt with bed bugs almost 2 years ago now at his old apartment. We're not entirely sure where they came from, but apparently it's something you have to deal with occasionally when living in apartments. Once we finally realized what the little spots on us were and saw the back of the mattress, I immediately researched what to do and bought a steam cleaner. Steam is probably the best possible way to kill the bugs and make sure they don't come back. I steamed his place twice, but not before he had begun the transference to my house. Luckily we already had the steamer and I went at it before they had a chance to truly infest. Steam is non-toxic and the only guaranteed way to actually kill them. If you find the signs- little red bumps on you and red spots on the seams of your mattress- rent or buy a steam cleaner immediately. Steam the mattress all around as well as the carpet, along the walls and baseboards and pretty much the entire room if you want to be safe. They're hardy little suckers, but steam will take care of them if done thoroughly.
Bedbugs and the recession is over. I could not care less about the bedbugs. I'm out of work for over 2 yrs and my house has apparently sold at foreclosure even though Wells Fargo told me on the day of the sale it had been postponed. I have been a statistic long enough.
I don't know who picks the stories to air but the one about bedbugs is a waste of time. You guys are clueless as to what millions of us are going through right now. And I hesitate to dare you to run my story because I have seen how you make innocent, honest people look like fools in on-camera interviews. Manipulation is your motto and the truth, well, I doubt you'd even know it if it stared you in the face. Have a nice day. Glad you are doing so well.
My company had asked me to spend a month in DC (foggy bottom area)for training and they put me up in a corporate apartment. Once I returned home, I was itching like crazy at work and noticed a rash. It turned out to be scabies and my company refused to acknowledge that it was the bed in the apartment. They ended up taking out the mattress though and I suffered through months of pesticide creams and lotions....horrible experience, BUT I discovered a spray and I now take that everywhere when I travel. You can buy it at any drug store OTC in the lice section. It you can stand the embarassment in the lice section, it's well worth it...
When I was in Niagara Falls in May 2009, I stayed at the Days Inns by the Falls and we carried bedbugs home in are luggage. We had been bitten by them but didn't realize what the bites were before we left. It took about about 4 to 6 months to finally irradicate them completely. I ordered a spray and dust powder from bed-bug.net that was effect. It is non-toxic.
I wasn't really shocked when I saw on CNN the Bed Bugs Resurgence because Amtrak has been having increasing problems with them years now on their trains, primarily in the sleeper cars. I work for Amtrak in the Claims Department and we have claims for bed bug bites almost on a weekly basis, with both employees and passengers.
There isn't a real solution to this problem, so it's comforting to know the government is getting involved in getting rid of these unwanted intruders! Other than changing the mattresses on a monthly basis, which is very costly, there doesn't seem to be a solution at the moment; fumigating doesn't seem to be a lasting solution. I often wonder if the passengers/employees aren't also bringing them on board our trains via their luggage. Amtrak will be relieved if someone can come up with an effective pesticide for these irritating pest!
I'm an EMT with a prominent Las Vegas strip hotel and often guests wake up with bumps or rashes and the first thing they assume is that they've been bitten by bed bugs. They never see them, they never catch one for me to see and upon inspection, i've never found any myself. A contact dermatitis or allergic reaction can be caused by many things, even if you have no known allergies. If you stay at a hotel and get a rash, ask for hypoallergenic sheets. Most hotels will provide them and don't jump to the conclusion that you've been attacked by bed bugs. If there's a question, seek a physician or a dermatologist and don't blame the hotel.
Hi Tony,
When I was a child growing up in North Carolina in the 1940s and 50s, my granmother treated bed bugs with sulfur. This treatment was very effective in killing bed bugs furrowed down in the crevices of
mattresses. She rubbed sulfur in the affected areas.
I hope this information is helpful!
I live in Brooklyn NY and I have to say that the majority of the people I encounter are clueless as to what is going on. Sure they may have caught a news clip, or read a blurb in the paper – but the media really needs to give this situation the attention it deserves. This is an epidemic... why is it not getting full time media coverage? We all new about the harmless hurricane earl. The EPA neds to release the propoxur... the government needs to do something ASAP – it is not fair for us to pay the big city taxes and have to live like we are in a third world country. They say they do not cause disease – what about depression, anxiety, stress disorder? Are these not diseases? I guess they only consider these diseases when they are trying to plump big pharma's pockets and sell the latest anti-depressant.
We need government action NOW. We are at war with the bed bugs and we are not standing united.
Just how hard is it for illegal immigrant maintenance and housekeeping workers to spread a few bedbugs around while they're doing their jobs? If this is an intentional spread then it is "zoological warfare". Why would Mexican drug cartels want the entire US to be infested with bedbugs? Are they flexing their muscle to show the US just how much control they have over all the Mexicans living in the US? Is this how they take over the US: THREAT OF BEDBUGS?
If Niketown closed down because of bed bugs, that means the employees have them at home, the customers that came in probably took a few in the shoe boxes or attached to their clothing from just being there.
Niketown won't eradicate the problem, because in a few months, who's to say an employee or customer or neighboring business, tenant has a bed bug problem.
I hope that the news media will continue to cover this problem so that the public can take it more seriously.
And to those really ignorant people that blame this on illegal immigrants, this problem is a world wide problem that originated and probably will be discovered to be an infestation re-introduced by people traveling to Europe.
If it were really a problem from your fellow American's south of the border, you'd have a worse kind of bed bug like bug that flies. Count yourselves lucky and get informed instead of making a bug a basis for racist, xenophobic misinformation.
FINALLY!!!!! For the first time in 2 years America has found and is dealing with a problem without blaming President Obama for it. I am so proud of you. Way to go Tony, you are the man.
About a year ago, my children and I noticed bits all over us. We didn't think much of it at first because we noticed an abundant amount of red ants in our drive way....we treated that but noticed the bits were getting worse.......One day my son came to me complaining of his arm hurting.....there were so many bumps it looked as though he had chicken pox....It turned out their bed was covered in bedbugs...their were hundreds of them....I immediately threw the bed out but it was to late! It seemed to be ok for awhile until about a month later my sister came to visit and was eaten alive the first night....turns out the house was now infested.....Our family has lost everything and still have not been able to recover from it....We have moved but had to throw out all our beds, furniture and many of our clothes....I would not wish this on my worse enemy!