The case was reported in the morning and by that afternoon Anderson Pest Solutions, Saint Xavier University’s vendor, had inspected the room. By noon on Wednesday, November 6, the room was treated. The affected room is scheduled to be treated again on Wednesday, November 13.
As a procedural step, the entire floor of the affected room was inspected. No other bed bugs were found. Andreas Pfatchbacher, a junior resident, said, “They searched my forth floor room and result confirmed that the bed bugs were only found in another room on my floor. My room had no bed bugs, but the fact that they were on my floor is disgusting.”
The small infestation was limited to one bedroom of the two-bedroom suite. The suites in Obrien hall typically have two bedrooms, one on each side of a living/kitchen area. Residence Life and Anderson Pest Solutions identified this case as a normal case. There were no special circumstances.
Many residents of O’Brien hall reacted negatively to the report of beg bugs found in their hall. Lorenzo Savino, a junior resident, said,” It is completely outrageous.” However, Bridget Godeke, a sophomore resident, commented, “initially it made me nervous, but I think Residence Life handled it pretty well.”
The beds at all Saint Xavier University halls are covered with a mattress cover at the beginning of the academic year.
The cover is designed to prevent bed bugs; however residents are not required to keep the covers on. Residence Life Director, Katy Thompson, said that the covers are on at the beginning of the semester and are required to be on at the end of the semester, so there is an expectation that the residents keep the covers on.
Although beg bugs thrive in warm environments, Residence Life said that there was no indication that the switch to heat in University’s residence buildings contributed to the infestation. There is no clear cause of the bed bugs at all, according to Residence Life. Students of the affected room did not report any previous encounters with bed bugs.
The treatment of the affected room includes another treatment scheduled for this week.
No other rooms are scheduled to be inspected because Anderson Pest Solutions and Residence Life have no reason to believe the beg bugs spread to any other floors of O’Brien Hall.
In total, Residence Life reported that less than ten beg bugs were sighted. They attribute this to a quick response time from Anderson Pest Solutions as well as the student’s early report.
Residence Life urges all resident students to report issues they believe to be attributed to bedbugs as soon as possible.
Keeping the mattress covers on and regular washing of bedding is also encouraged.
David Rodriguez
News Editor