The Department of Facility Services confirmed a case of bedbugs in one room of Straz Tower Monday morning.
Director of business operations and auxiliary services Rick Arcuri said a confirmed bed bug case means Marquette’s pest control service, Batzner Pest Control, inspected the room and found either evidence of bedbugs or bedbugs themselves.
“We have bedbugs in one room and do not routinely move people due to the risk of spreading the bedbugs around,” Arcuri said.
Arcuri explained it’s common this time of the year to have reports of bedbugs as students travel for spring break and then return to campus.
“We see most of our bedbug reports after breaks so having a case now is not a big surprise,” Arcuri said.
Because there is a confirmed case of bedbugs, a protocol treatment will take place. The treatment, according to bedbug safety documents provided by Batzner Pest Control, will displace affected students for about two hours.
Max Mattappillil, a sophomore in the College of Engineering and resident of Straz, said he was surprised to hear about a case of bedbugs in the building.
“My floor, as well as the floors I spend the most time on, are very clean and would not provide an environment that is conducive toward bedbugs,” Mattappilli said.
Students are advised that nothing should be removed from the room to avoid spreading the bedbugs. To ensure proper heat ventilation, cluttered items in the room should be spread out, and over-crowded closets should have items removed and placed on the ground two feet from baseboards or walls.
According to Batzner, signs of a possible bedbug infestation include bloodstains on fabric, dark spots of bug excrement, an offensive musty odor, bedbug skin casings and visible bedbugs.
High-speed fans are used during treatment to get the room to a high temperature to kill the bed bugs. After treatment is completed, the room may be hot and it is advised to turn the air conditioning to high as well as to open windows.
Batzner reports after treatment some things in the room may be moved around as they were taken out for treatment evaluation to get an even heat distribution to ensure the killing of bugs.
Any dirty laundry or linens should be washed completely and then dried on high heat for at least 20 minutes to ensure all remnants of the bugs are killed.
Arcuri said that the treatment protocol Marquette uses, as outlined by Batzner, has been very successful in handling bedbugs.
“I am not too worried about the situation as long as a proper course of action is being taken in order to ensure that there are no more bedbugs,” Mattappilli said.