State lawmakers out to battle bedbugs

COLUMBUS -- Here's something to keep in mind as you travel around the state this summer -- Ohio is seeing more bedbugs in places where people sleep.

That includes fancy hotels, rundown housing projects, nursing homes and hospitals.

Shirley Bednow suffered bedbug bites staying in Cincinnati's Hilton Nederland Hotel.

"I said, oh I'm being attacked," Bednow remembered.

Now state lawmakers are touting a measure to tackle the bedbug problem.

The bill, sponsored by Cincinnati's Dale Mallory, would spend $335,000 to educate building owners, promote prevention programs and set up a Bedbug Information Hotline.

Bedbugs were all but exterminated in the United States decades ago. DDT was a chemical that proved effective in killing them, but a switch to weaker chemicals and more global travel has allowed bedbugs to make a comeback.

Ohio's had 800 bedbug complaints last year. The Ohio State Extension Service and State Board of Health track the bedbug problem.

Greater Cincinnati is deemed to be the nation's fifth most-infested region.

Cleveland has not seen a big jump in recent bedbug bite cases according to Dr. David Roberts, a MetroHealth Medical Center pediatrician.

Bedbug bites look like other bug bites, but Roberts says they can be more dangerous, spreading viruses or other diseases by biting multiple victims.

Local lawmakers co-sponsoring the bill include Barbara Boyd, Kenny Yuko, Michael DeBose, William Batchelder and Mike Foley.

The bill would also require local boards of health to treat bedbugs like any other vermin infestation.