U.S. Universities, Colleges Under Bedbug Attack

August 21, 2008 1:46 p.m. EST

College Station, TX (AHN) - Bloodsucking bedbugs have returned with a vengeance in many college dorms.

Dan Mizer, associate director of residence life at Texas A&M University, which has dealt with bedbugs in the past, explained the bedbug campus invasion to more foreign travel by students, a larger bedbug population, new rules that discourage widespread fumigation and maybe tougher bugs more resistant to pesticides.

A&M spent $37,000 in 2007 to bring in bedbug-sniffing dogs. This fall, Mizer said, the university will tap a Minnesota firm that will heat the rooms overnight to 130 degrees to kill the insects, but will not harm the residents' belongings.

Aside from A&M, other universities which are engaged in a battle with the bug are the Ohio State University and the University of Florida.

The Ohio State University has several reports of bedbug outbreaks in the past 15 months, while the University of Florida bad cases of infestation have been reported several times a year.

Greg Baumann of the National Pest Management Association said campus dorms are ideal bedbug habitats because of the high population density.

Richard Cooper, an author and expert on bedbugs, said a bedbug infestation is not an indicator of poor housekeeping.