Posted on 02/26/2011 5:52:57 AM PST by george76
British Airways grounded two jumbo jets after a passenger complained of being badly bitten by bed bugs during two separate long-haul flights.
The airline fumigated one of the planes on which it confirmed there had been an infestation and apologised to the woman for her ordeal.
Businesswoman Zane Selkirk revealed her body was ‘crawling’ with bugs and ‘covered with bites’ during a ten-hour transatlantic flight from Los Angeles to London Heathrow in January.
The 28-year-old believes she was also bitten on a second flight in February during a business trip from Bangalore in India to Heathrow.
The revelations will certainly resonate throughout the U.S., where there has been a massive resurgence in bed-bug outbreaks.
The mites are invading public schools at an alarming rate, with 1,700 confirmed cases reported in New York City's schools alone in the last five months. The figure is on track to triple last year's total of 1,019 cases in the city.
A spokesman from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said that while in the past the infestations were concentrated in 'hot spots', they were now spreading all over the country.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
DDT kills bedbugs with no harm to humans.
Bedbugs are good for arthritis
The ugly little critters remind us we’re food for them.
Bedbugs are very heat-sensitive - raising the temperature over 125 degrees kills every single one of them.
I thought DDT was banned?
In the days when I was flying international we had to spray the cabin with DDT prior to landing. Thank you Rachel Carson.
Same woman, two different flights.
Sounds like she’s the problem, not the planes.
I thought the bites didn’t show up immediately.
First hotels and now airplanes, makes travel not so much fun anymore. There was something on TV about finding bedbugs. If you pull the sheets and mattress cover back and examine the edges of the mattress before you go to bed, you likely will find evidence of the little critters there.
Read the comments at the article.
I think there is, or should be, a thriving business in “heat pods”. Fairly simple, just an insulated shipping container with a air heating unit, that sits on the bed of a semi-truck. So a business, like a motel, could load furniture in there, close the door, set a timer, and done. It could even have bays, specifically for mattresses.
And while all the stuff is being heated, fumigation gets all the boogers in the walls, floor and ceiling.
There was always an internal debate - board early so I was far away from the doors (long and hot waits getting on and off), or sit near the door (minimal seat time but the smell).
Looks like the airlines are going to have to extend their turn around times for passenger health.
Hmmm which is more important - profit or passengers health?
Twenty years ago i would have answered health; but today?
The first sentence is a dead giveaway, someone needs to run that woman through the dipping vat.
“The mites are invading public schools at an alarming rate...”
Wha, liberal mites?
Yes, and it is particularly inexpensive to tent a house and raise the temperature to 125 degrees. Especially in the winter, would only be 100 degrees higher than it is here right now.
In North America, its banned. That doesn’t mean it isn’t useful and non harmful.
So, why aren’t these products being used? What is the problem?
Liberals.
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