D.C. Building Begins Bed Bug Battle

The District is taking action in a battle with bed bugs in a city-run apartment building. Teams of exterminators moved in Thursday at the Claridge Towers on M Street N.W. after FOX 5 exposed serious problems at the building.

The apartment building is run by the D.C. Housing Authority. On Wednesday, 82-year-old Benjamin Brown pleaded for help. He says the bugs are everywhere-- on his walls, on his clothes, but mostly in his sheets and mattress. It's hard to imagine this, as horrible as the infestation looked, but when exterminators arrived today they said this was a bad case of bed bugs, but not the worst they've ever seen.

Crews from the housing authority helped Brown, who is in a wheelchair, lift his mattress and bag up all his clothing. Then pest control teams got to work. As they lifted the mattress box spring, the bugs scurried away but there's no place to hide anymore.

Exterminators drilled holes in the base of the walls, pumping pesticides into the walls and spraying every crack and crevice, mattress and cushion inside Brown's apartment. The 82 year old and others living at the Claridge Towers say it's a constant battle.

"I think they get immune to it. Once they start to get immune to it you can't kill it. You got to find another chemical," Brown lamented.

Since Brown's complaint, D.C.'s Housing Authority is now inspecting all 342 apartments. It was first infested two years ago when several tenants unknowingly took mattresses thrown out by a nearby hotel that had bed bugs.

"It just shows the insidious nature of this bug," said Michael Kelly, Executive Director of the Housing Authority.

Across the hall, Carl Payton and Tina Durrington-El said they've had their apartment treated before but the bugs keep coming back. So they gave up and began using over the counter products to keep the bugs at bay.

"I get frustrated and I get tired of calling back so I bought my own stuff," Payton said.

That's the problem. The Housing Authority says people need to call their maintenance hotline. At Claridge, officials said they had only three complaints that were being addressed until Brown turned to FOX 5. Now the building has five complaints.

"We can't do anything unless we get the heads up from residents that there is a problem," said Kelly.

The problem is bed bugs are very difficult to beat. They can hide in clothes, a briefcase, even the hollow center of a dog leash as crews discovered in Brown's unit.

"They can lay dormant for up to a year before they come out," said Missy Henricksen at the National Pest Control Management Association.

Some chemicals, such as DDT, used over the past 50 years to eradicate the bugs are now banned because of health and safety concerns. The insects have also become resistant to some treatments.

Getting rid of bed bugs is a very time consuming and expensive process and there are a number of ways to kill them, but no agreement on which is most effective.

"No one can say for sure and it would be great if we could come up with one simple solution," said Henriksen.

Clothes, sheets, stuffed animals, cushions have to be washed. Mattresses must be steamed if not thrown out. If one apartment has a bad case, it's likely the bugs are crawling in the units above, below and next door too. All the surrounding apartments then have to be treated to insure the insects don't come back.

Brown just hopes they're finally gone for good.

"Anybody like to sleep comfortable, nobody want to be hurt, biting," he said. He hasn't had a good night's sleep in a while.

Six months ago, the housing authority also had to treat Horizon House, a building across the street for bed bugs, but some residents there say it's still a problem. At Claridge Towers, the initial inspection and extermination should be finished by Monday.

Experts say it can often take several treatments. Pest control experts say it's a myth that bed bugs are a cleanliness problem. Anyone can get them. The insects can easily hitchhike from one place to another in suitcases or on clothes.

It's believed the resurgence of bed bugs is because of increasing international travel. People pick up bed bugs in countries where they have not been eradicated and bring them back here.

The entire building was treated two years ago when the initial infestation happened. Brown had his apartment treated a year ago, but they came back.