Steam newest weapon in bed bug battle

Bed bugs are more than creepy, crawly critters. They can turn a warm, welcoming home into an unlivable place.

Bed bugs were nearly wiped out back in the 50's and 60's, but the most effective poison against the little blood suckers, DDT, turned out to be highly toxic to humans and was banned. The six-legged pest has made a comeback in every corner of the world, but modern science is catching up.

A two-year battle with bed bugs has cost Amy Upham just about everything: her job, her health, and most of her belongings, leaving only a sparsely furnished apartment.

Upham said, "I've gotten rid of most of my clothes. All my furniture, every last piece of furniture, my bed, my sofa, my rocking chair, my coffee table set, my kitchen set, my desk."

Upham was down on her luck and got the bed bugs at a homeless shelter. She has moved twice and hired exterminators to dislodge the little blood suckers. Now Upham has asthma, and a chemical sensitivity from all the pesticides.

"So basically, the only thing that we can use that kills them is steam. But they get into the walls, they get into nail holes, and things like that, and you just can't hit everywhere with steam," said Upham.

A heating device called a Packtite, and a carpet steamer, are some of the expenses that forced Upham to sell her pickup truck.

Upham said, "It has been a nightmare. I am at the end of my rope. There is nothing more I can do."

But bed bug infestations have also shut down upscale department stores, hotels, and college dormitories in the fight against the stubborn pests.

Two years ago, we showed you a Genesee County family the bugs forced to live in a camper for more than a month. Carrie Mullen and her family bagged their clothes and tossed out their beds, while exterminators fumigated their home.

Mullen said, "We can't wait to be able to get back in our house. It has been a nightmare."

The nightmare did end, and the Mullens chalked one up for the good guys in the worldwide battle against bed bugs.

Brad Fischer of Buffalo Exterminating said, "They can trace, with the DNA, that they actually come from overseas, through DNA strains, and they are found to have a level of immunity to certain pesticides."

But Fischer said heat does kill bed bugs and their eggs, in clothes dryers, carpet steamers, and other devices. Now man's best friend is the newest weapon in the arsenal against bed bugs.

Debbie Puffer of Sirius K9 Inspection said, "He is trained to detect the scent of live bugs and viable eggs. So when we go into a room, we tell him to get to work, and to find his b's and that is what he does."

Experts point out that bug canines are 95 to 98 percent effective at tracking down bed bugs, compared to 30 percent for human inspectors, and are much faster. The number of bed bug complaints received by the Erie County Health Department last year was nearly triple the complaints for 2009, and those are just for public accommodations, such as hotels and schools. For more information on the pest, check out the New York vs. Bed Bugs website.