The Boston University International Programs Office is expecting to see an increased number of bedbug cases in upcoming years, as health experts continue to report a big comeback for the tiny pests.
Global reports of bedbug infestations have surged in recent years, a trend that BUIP is trying to counter in study abroad housing, Director of Institutional Relations Joseph Finkhouse said.
“We have reason to believe that bedbugs will become a bigger problem,” he said. “We need to be as prepared as we can.”
The bedbug problem first caught BU’s attention when two London Summer Internship Program students told The Daily Free Press in an Oct. 4 article that BU administrators ignored their repeated complaints of bedbug bites. British Programmes Associate Director Alison Campbell said the students never visited a doctor to confirm that their bites were from bedbugs.
Other reports of bedbugs in BU study abroad housing have been verified. Campbell said two students received bedbug bites in London housing during the fall semester, and Finkhouse said bedbugs have been reported in Sydney as well.
Finkhouse said recent national news reports about bedbugs have given BUIP additional cause for concern, after stories in The New York Times and The Boston Globe that called attention to the growing problem.
“We have to stay on top of it,” he said.
BUIP is now developing a standard pest-fighting procedure that all international programs will follow, including hosting a meeting this June to teach staff members about preventing bedbugs, Finkhouse said.
He said the meeting will teach leaders of the international programs “how to educate students about the bugs, how to recognize them and how to develop relationships with local pest control enforcement.”
Campbell said the mattresses in BU’s London housing facilities are sprayed for bugs between every semester and if students report bedbug bites, they are advised to go to a doctor — at BU’s cost — to receive confirmation. Once the bites are verified, the students temporarily relocate to a spare room while exterminators spray the area and the mattresses are replaced.
“We take any complaint about anything very seriously,” Campbell said. “We always get professional advice.”
Both Finkhouse and Campbell said they agreed traveling can put students at higher risk for bedbug problems.
“When students come to London, they travel to hostile places,” Campbell said. “It’s very easy for someone to put a coat down somewhere and cause an infestation.”
Finkhouse said students should not stop traveling while they are abroad, but should be careful and observant, and report any problems to the administration.
Students currently in London said they have not heard any bedbug gossip so far this semester, but said they were not warned about the bedbug problem.
“I assume this was to keep people from worrying unnecessarily when we arrived, a time when we were all already stressed from the long flight,” College of Communication junior Allison Moore said in an email.
BU students back in Boston said they would not be deterred by the bedbug problem in BU study abroad housing.
“It would really upset me if I got bedbugs,” COM sophomore Susan Borbely said. “But I can’t let it change my plans.”