Bedbugs in seminary in Israel???

amother

Sun, Sep 14 2014, 12:51 am

Dd got bites. Is it bedbugs? Wwyd?

ValleyMom

Sun, Sep 14 2014, 12:58 am

Have her see a doctor ASAP.

My SIL did a house exchange with people in Majorca and she came home to a terrible bed bug infestation. She battled for NINE months.

NINE MONTHS...

Weekly visits from exterminators--bills were outrageous but they are gone.

According to what she said the bedbugs bite on extremities that are exposed-arms, out of the blanket, legs dangling etc.

Are other girls getting bitten?!

Good luck!!

amother

Sun, Sep 14 2014, 2:14 am

Other girls also got bitten. What the point of going to the doctor? If it's bedbugs than she will get them the whole year in seminary.

cityofgold

Sun, Sep 14 2014, 4:12 am

She can tell the administration and they should deal with investigating it and dealing with it. If other girls also got bitten, it would probably help if she told them how many other girls, too.

abound

Sun, Sep 14 2014, 4:32 am

if she has it she should let families know, I would not want a sem girl coming to my home for a meal or to sleep if she was carrying bed bugs with her.

5*Mom

Sun, Sep 14 2014, 5:43 am

Are you sure they aren't mosquito bites? Mosquitoes are raging here right now.

chanchy123

Sun, Sep 14 2014, 5:50 am

I've never heard of bedbugs in Israel - NEVER. Mosquitoes do sound more realistic - (and there are a few simple solutions to deal with that). If there really are bedbugs there - I would "turn over tables" that is not normal.

etky

Sun, Sep 14 2014, 5:55 am

chanchy123 wrote:

I so hope you are right. I can't imagine having to deal with that and I don't want to worry every time my DD brings home a friend from her program this year.

amother

Sun, Sep 14 2014, 6:04 am

hate to be the barer of bad news, but there are bed bugs in israel... I have them. yes, I am positive they are bed bugs and not mosquitos

chanchy123

Sun, Sep 14 2014, 6:09 am

amother wrote:

hate to be the barer of bad news, but there are bed bugs in israel... I have them. yes, I am positive they are bed bugs and not mosquitos

Where do you live? What sort of home. I knew of a family who had fleas once. They had to fumigate their home and mattresses. There was a dead animal near the enterence of the building that was infested. Disgusting I know - but the only story I've ever heard close to this.
Maybe someone brought them with them from NY?

amother

Sun, Sep 14 2014, 9:35 am

Op here
I'm not sure what it is. Dd called me and said she got bites on her legs and other girls also got bites. It might be Mosquito bites. How do you tell the difference?

amother

Sun, Sep 14 2014, 11:03 am

Op here
I talked to dd. From what she described the bites and what I saw online it is mosquito bites. The bites are huge and white in the middle. Bedbugs are tiny and red in the middle.

Miri1

Sun, Sep 14 2014, 11:14 am

I'm not saying there can't be bedbugs - there definitely can, and there's no reason they can't be transmitted by another seminary girl who brought them with her clothing from home,

But....
They may be some other type of bug (such as desert midge), or even a different species of mosquito that they are reacting to - I know that certain bugs make me react very severely.

Hatzlacha, I hope they figure it out soon, and it all goes smooth!
A trip to a local doctor might give her the answer, as the doctor should be familiar with the types of bites people get in that area.

jeriactive

Sun, Sep 14 2014, 7:38 pm

There definitely ARE bedbugs in Israel unfortunately. My neighbors daughter spent months, and a LOT of money cleaning out her house. She has no idea where they came from, and is guessing from new clothing she bought for her child.

The sem must be told asap and they will have their hands full trying to clear it up. And yes; the girls should consider their hosts before going anywhere....

Good luck

Miri1

Mon, Sep 15 2014, 12:32 am

I hope it isn't bed bugs, but I don't think you can diagnose it over the phone. According to the information on the CDC website, the bites can look similar to mosquito bites. People react differently to the bites as well. An expert would be able to find signs of bed bugs in the furniture.

http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/b......html

amother

Mon, Sep 15 2014, 2:30 am

FYI: This probably won't help OP at this point BUT it should be comforting to some others. There are trained dogs, at least in and around New York City, that are excellent at diagnosing bedbugs.

About 3 yrs ago, we found a few larvae things between our mattresses (no bites) (in retrospect we believe they were from moths or carpet beatles). Just in case, we had an exterminator come. The exterminator pronounced that they were bedbugs and quoted us a huge sum to exterminate. The huge $ caused us to seek a second opinion and I read about the dogs. The dog company did not do extermination, so they were not biased (we did have to pay a flat fee of I think $90).

The man arrived with the dog, took one step in the house, showed me samples of bedbugs and their larvae in a jar (which did not look like what we found), observed that the dog was trying to leave the house, and declared "I think you're clear." He assured me that the dog usually reacts the second he gets in an infested house, and wants to leave if he knows he's not going to get the reward that he gets when he finds bedbugs. I questioned whether the dog might miss a very new, localized infestation; so he decided to bring the dog to the bedrooms. No reaction there either. We vacuumed up what was there, said goodbye, and had no further insects of any type in our beds.

I do seem to recall reading, by the way, that bedbugs leave trails/stains of blood and their excrement on mattresses.

Good Luck, OP! Hope DD enjoys her year, regardless.