Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Dry cleaning does kill them. What you can do if you're going to the thrift store is keep the items in a sealed plastic bag until you're ready to wash them. I've also heard of people picking up bed bugs at non-second hand clothing stores, so this might be a good idea regardless.
Yes- this is very disturbing. A number of stores in NYC have discovered bedbug infestations. It probably has a lot to do with the fact that bedbugs are fairly common in NYC these days, so they could quite believably have been carried in by employees (or customers) with infested apartments or have had bedbugs migrate from the apartments or offices above.
I haven't heard of this happening in other cities yet, but public libraries across the country are having issues... for obvious reasons.
Anonymous wrote:Can cleaning crews also track in BB if they use a vacuum that has been to a BB infected house?
Anonymous wrote:for used clothes--put them in a sealed back, then take straight to the dryer, 20 minutes at high heat should kill them. [/quote
We do this too but I leave it for 45 minutes- rather be safe than sorry.. I also like buying used clothes and we had a BB scare (thinking we got it from a hotel)- we did not have BB after all but we changed how we travel (don't unpack- leave suitcase in tub) and treat used clothing. After this I would never buy used furniture since there isn't an easy (or fool proof) way to treat the furniture before bringing into the house.
Anonymous wrote:I thought Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc wash and dry all donated clothes items before putting them out for sale.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:All of a sudden there're bed bug infestations spreading in American cities. What's the situation in Europe and elsewhere? Does anybody know if they're also dealing with the same explosion of cases?
Yes. It's everywhere, especially in densely populated cities.