190480 Emerging environmental health diseases: Bed bugs are back!

Monday, October 27, 2008: 3:10 PM

Judith Saum, BS, RHES , Washoe County Health Department, Reno, NV
     
While bed bugs were common before World War II in households in the United States and Europe, they became rare in the 1950s, only to reemerge in the late 1990s. Increased international travel is one of the many variables used to explain this resurgence. Pest control companies and environmental health agencies nation wide are documenting a marked rise in the number of bed-bug related calls. Yet public health professionals may not possess the skills necessary to identify and respond to this reemerging public health threat. The topics covered will include insect identification, insect behavior, clinical and environmental manifestations, and prevention and control. There will be a particular focus on those situations in which public health nurses may encounter these cryptic, yet tenacious travelers.

Learning Objectives:
Observe bed bug samples and identify their clinical symptoms and environmental signs. Discuss methods for prevention and control of bed bugs in various settings including hotel/motel rooms, apartment buildings, nursing homes, homeless shelters and single family residences.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have had training and field experience in environmental health.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: Environmental Health Paradigms including Bed Bugs Without Borders.
See more of: Public Health Nursing