SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- The number of complaints about bed bugs in the city of San Francisco has steadily increased over the last four years.
In 2004, the city tallied 135 complaints which continued to rise in 2006. This year, the average yearly number of complaints about bed bugs has increased to 337.
San Francisco Principal Health Inspector Johnson Ojo Followign says he believes the growing number of complaints reflect increased awareness about the problem, not more bugs.
“Most of our complaints are now coming from hotels, private homes, apartments and mostly public housing,” said Followign.
KCBS’ Margie Shafer reports
Following an outbreak of bedbugs five years ago, the city implemented guidelines to deal with the pests requiring residences to spray every two weeks for consecutive treatments. Recently, homeless shelters were required to replace wooden bed frames with metal frames.
“Treating bed frames made of wood is very difficult. Today… there were very few complaints coming from our shelters in San Francisco.”
Adult bed bugs are a quarter inch long and feed on the blood of people and animals, which makes them almost invisible to humans. Bites can be very itchy and can get infected when they are scratched.
The bugs lay eggs in crevices that hatch in 14 days. In order to break the cycle, the department of public health requires spraying three times, every two weeks.
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