A bed bug trap sits under a plant on the second floor of the Fine Arts building. Photo by Kyle Ivacic.
Rumors of bed bugs present in the Fine Arts building have been circulating in recent weeks – cemented by four student-reported sightings that caused UAA Environmental Health and Safety, Risk Management to perform multiple sweeps of the building.
While an initial sweep of the building didn’t find any bed bugs, someone later found a live bed bug on their pants. This discovery prompted further action, including the placement of traps throughout the building, which resulted in the capture of three live bed bugs on the second floor.
These three bed bugs led Risk Management to use a chemical spray on the second floor on Feb. 7 and quarantine the floor’s public furniture. No live bed bugs were found after that point.
An interview with Director of Risk Management Tim Edwards revealed that, at this time, students are at low risk of receiving bed bugs from the building’s furniture.
The belief by Edwards and others in Risk Management is that the bed bugs came in on the clothing of someone who is dealing with an infestation at home. Edwards said that the confirmed bed bugs have all been mature, a sign that they are not growing within the Fine Arts building.
Edwards said that “we have [the situation] in pretty good shape” and that sightings are taken seriously and are being met with the appropriate response as determined by Eagle Pest, UAA’s contracted pest control provider.
UAA Risk Management will fully pay for the extermination expenses of any student who reports a home bed bug infestation, said Edwards.
“We’re just [...] going on your word,” Edwards said in regard to students who claim that their home has been infested as a result of being exposed to them at UAA.
When a student bed bug report comes in, Risk Management does a sweep of the building with a bed-bug-sniffing dog and quarantines furniture that the dog deems suspicious. Over the coming weeks, Risk Management plans to regularly sweep the building until the dog no longer finds anything out of the ordinary.
To avoid having to use chemicals again, Edwards said that Risk Management has invested in a warming tent that can heat up furniture and personal items on site to the temperature at which bed bugs will die. In addition, students who do not want to hang their coats or other personal items on public hooks are being offered private bins to put these items in.
Bed bug traps are available, free of charge, to students or staff who spend time in the Fine Arts building and want to put traps in their home.
It is requested that students who think they have found a bed bug, trap it in a container and present it to Risk Management in order to determine what insect the student has found.
Students who would like to file a claim or request bed bug traps can contact UAA Risk Management at uaa_ehsrms@alaska.edu.
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