Bed bugs bite back

Bed bugs have been with us humans since we lived in caves, and they have fantastic survival skills. They lurk unseen in cracks and crevices for most of the day.

Dini Miller, Ph.D. entomologist: Between about three and five a.m. something turns on in their little brain and they become attracted to heat. 

So heat, to them, means food.  They’re looking for human body heat. And part of the mouth part feels around underneath the skin looking for a blood vessel.  And then, they hit that blood vessel and it pumps them up full of blood.

And then, once they’re full, they pop the mouth parts out.  And they crawl back into a little crack or crevice and then they’ll stay there for a couple days digesting that blood meal.

Dennis Murphy, Dateline correspondent: I can hear people saying, “Ew.”

Miller: It sounds kind of disgusting.  I have to admit.  (Laughter)

Bed bugs can go for over a year without a meal. That makes it nearly impossible to know if you have any.  Bed bug eggs are so very small and translucent — they’re virtually invisible against a white sheet.  And a female can lay twelve eggs in one day.  Hotels are ideal hang outs for bed bugs because the guests get bitten and leave — a few days later, there’s a new unsuspecting host— dinner— right in the very same bed.

FREE VIDEO Hotel spot check March 19: Bedbug invasions have been reported now in 47 states -- from bedrooms to dorm rooms to hotel rooms. Is there something your hotel isn't telling you? To find out, we've packed our bags and our hidden cameras. (Part 2 of 2 videos) Dateline NBC

So could we find any?  Armed with an experienced bed bug searcher, entomologist Dini Miller, we rented rooms in several New York city hotels. 

Each hotel we went to had had reports of bed bugs, information we gleaned from Web sites, newspaper articles and lawsuits. The search began.

What Dini knows, and most of the rest of us don’t, is that in many hotels, the headboard pops right off.  And behind the headboard is a common hide-out for bed bugs. 

Murphy: Why the headboard as opposed to say, I don’t know, the bathroom or the drapes on the window?

Miller:  If you think about it, the maid comes in every morning, she’s changing the sheets, she’s manipulating the mattress and that sort of thing.  But, the headboard doesn’t move.  And so, the bed bugs can get behind there and they’re not disturbed. 

Dini checks screw holes, cracks, even staples.  She says  the most obvious sign of bedbugs is small blackish spots — “fecal spots” to the experts — that look like either pepper or dried blood, signs that bed bugs have “digested” a blood meal and excreted it right out.

We check the mattress seams, the nightstand, the chair and everything passes muster.

After visting 22 hotel rooms, in 7 different hotels: no bed bugs.

Murphy: We didn’t seem to find the infestation.  What do you think went on?

Miller: Let’s say we go into a hotel that’s got 100 rooms, and we’ve heard there’s been a complaint about bed bugs in there.  It may be only one room or two rooms that are affected.  If you don’t find the one that was initially infested, you may not come across it.

One Times Square hotel had several complaints online about bed bugs and was recently sued for having them.

Murphy (while inspecting): But it looks a lot like all the other ones we’ve seen, doesn’t?

Miller: Let’s take a little closer look here. Now, I can’t be for sure, but this is the type of spotting that I’m talking about.  You see right there? This is a cast skin from a bedbug.  Here. 

Murphy: You’re kidding. So they’ve been here in midtown Manhattan, in Times Square?

Miller: Right, right, exactly.

Murphy: You think this is a hit, this is a find?

Miller: Oh definitely. Most definitely.

Dini says this dark spot could be leftovers from a blood meal.

Miller: These dark spots… we always ask ourselves if we see something dark. How could that have gotten there? And it just so happens that right here is a shed bedbug skin.

Murphy: Now would you suspect that those bed bugs that you found in that headboard had been feeding on guests?

Miller: Yes. The fecal spots tells you that they obviously had some blood in their system. 

In this case, it appears hotel management went scurrying for a good exterminator — along with evidence of bed bugs in several rooms.

Miller: See around the frame? This powdery looking stuff?

Dini finds sign of pesticides, fresh mattresses and new furniture.  Except for the corpses, the rooms we checked are bug free.

Next we try a moderately-priced hotel, Regency Inn & Suites, near New York’s Penn Station, where Janet Wyda and her daughter stayed last Christmas, where she says she was eaten alive.

We checked into room 418.  And there it was: a molted bed bug skin behind the head board,  bloody spots on the back of the picture frame,  blood stains and fecal spotting along the mattresses, and  the creature himself.  Plus a small and growing family waiting under the box spring for a meal.

We report what we find to the front desk:

Dateline: Um, in 418 I think I saw a bedbug.

Hotel concierge: 418?

Dateline: Yeah. Room 418.

Hotel concierge: Okay, just a moment.

Dateline: Have you had them before?

Hotel concierge: No.

Dateline: So you’ve had no other reports of bedbugs?

Hotel concierge: Uh, that’s, uh just is the only one.

Dateline: This is the only one, ok...

Murphy:  You know, Dateline went back to that same hotel that you stayed in in February, guess what we found?

Janet Wyda:    Bed bugs.

And bed bugs haven’t checked into just hotels. They’re going to college too.

SCHOOL PUBLICATIONS Bed bugs in campus newspapers Boston University | Bradley University | Columbia University | Middlebury College | Loyola University, Chicago | University of California, Davis | University of Florida | University of Georgia |University of Oklahoma Dateline does not take responsibility for the content in the student publications. Did we miss your school? E-mail with a link to your campus article.

We’ve heard reports of bed bugs in at least a dozen colleges from the University of Oklahoma to Loyola in Chicago.

Just last week freshmen at New York’s prestigious Columbia University had to leave their rooms because a room nearby was infested with bed bugs. And they’re worried about what other students think.

Andrew, student: They assume I have bed bugs in my room since I’m moving out, and so I’m quick to tell them that I don’t have bedbugs. At least I don’t know of it.

Shira, student: I guess bedbugs shouldn’t have quite as much stigma ‘cause you don’t get them from being dirty and you don’t get them from being unhygenic.  It’s just weird, I feel like I’m defending myself and people are assuming all this stuff now and that’s really hard.

So how can you avoid bringing bed bugs home with you?  Experts say check your luggage closely if you think you’ve encountered bed bugs on the road, and steer clear of used mattresses and discarded furniture.

And if, unhappily, you already have bed bugs?  Call a reputable exterminator with plenty of bed bug experience.  Expect to have several treatments that last several hours, and be prepared to throw out a lot of your stuff.

Murphy: Expensive for hotel managers.  For home owners.

Miller: Very expensive, yes.

Columbia University told us the school rarely has a problem, but when it does, the treatment is aggressive.

Several of the hotels mentioned in our report wrote us to say that while bed bugs are out there, they are not prevalent. They also say they use exterminators regulalry to prevent bed bugs—and in the event bed bugs are discovered, take quick action to eradicate them, including  “discarding and replacing furniture and linen.” The Regency Inn & Suites added that the hotel has heard no complaints about bed bugs.

Dini Miller says we might as well try to get used to bed bugs — forget the stigma too — bed bugs happen to the best of people and have nothing to do with hygiene. 

Murphy: Now, is it possible this whole infestation epidemic is being overblown? 

Dini Miller: Most of the researchers believe that this is an issue that’s on the increase—that’s going to get worse, before it gets better. 

HOTEL REVIEWS ON THE WEB Before booking a hotel room, you may want to read user reviews of the particular hotel and location — frequently, guests who’ve had bug problems report them online. Bear in mind that a report about one hotel does not mean the issue wasn’t isolated to one room, or that hotel management hasn’t since exterminated. To find out if a hotel has bed bugs, check out TripAdvisor. These hotel reviews mentioned bedbugs, but you can also search by specific hotels and locations. Also, you can report bed bug tips and read more on HotelChatter.

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Bed bugs bite back Your bed bug questions answered Your bed bug stories One victim's bed bug journal Murphy: Coming soon, perhaps to a hotel near you A bed bug expert answers questions Bed bugged out at home? Precautions to avoid an infestation at home Traveling? Some hotel spot check tips 'Don't let the bed bugs bite' Section Front   Add 'Don't let the bed bugs bite' headlines to your news reader: