Cost to kill local bedbugs could be an issue
Posted May 15, 2011 1:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – This week’s story about bedbugs found with antibiotic-resistant bacteria at Vancouver’s St. Paul’s Hospital made international headlines, but it also highlighted the bedbug problem on the Downtown Eastside.
It’s not just a problem in Vancouver’s poorest postal code. Mark Townsend with the Portland Hotel Society says he recently stayed at a fancy Seattle hotel and found a bedbug on his mattress.
“Our solution is to spray regularly, have mattresses with covers on and try to be as vigilant as we can.”
He says it can be quite costly to get rid of the resilient, nasty pests. “If you’re running an SRO in the Downtown Eastside and you’re just getting $375 in rent and paying staff, I think people cut the corners and don’t do pest control.”
The bedbugs tested at St Paul’s were carrying a bacteria that can lead to flesh-eating disease.
