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When Bedbugs Bite By: Chris Bouchard bouchardc@students.nescom.edu

(BANGOR) It started in October. Two on-campus residents started to get mysterious bites. They had no idea why these bites were occurring, or where they were coming from. It wasn't until February that all three students residing in the fourth-floor quad of Carlisle were able to discover that they were in fact the victims of a bedbug infestation. Stephen Nason, Bryon Pond, and Taylor Cormier were all shocked when they found bed bugs sitting on one of the bunks in their room. "Taylor and I had been getting bites since October," says Nason, "but it wasn't until February that Bryon started getting them, and he got them pretty bad."

Bryon Pond's bites can be seen in the photos below. He apparently received the worst of the infestation, and felt that several aspects of the situation could have been handled much more efficiently.

"My feeling is that it could've all been taken care of faster," admits Pond. "Apparently you need to actually show the bedbugs to the nurse before anyone even believed you. It wasn't enough to just show the bites. Every time we found ourselves getting bitten, we had to catch the bugs, show the bites to the nurse, and //then// we could meet with the RD. We had to go through this process three times, and every time it forced us to put up with the bugs for an extra day."

Once it was discovered that the residents of the quad had a bedbug problem on their hands, they were moved to an off-campus apartment while Modern Pest proceeded to spray the room. They were moved back to their Carlisle quad only three days after the room was sprayed.

"The RD knew that it took two weeks for the spray to take effect, but moved us back into the room after only three days," states Cormier.

The three returned to their infested room around mid-terms week. They reported the problem, and were then referred to the school nurse.

"We had to go to the nurse to confirm that we were still getting bites," says Nason, "Once we were able to show them that we still had it, Modern Pest came back and sprayed over break."

Unfortunately the bed bugs were still in the room once they returned.

"The first night we got back," says Nason, "we were all itching. What's weird is that we took all of our clothes and belongings back over break, but didn't get bit once. It wasn't until we all got back into the room that it started again."

The school nurse was unable to be contacted for an interview. Nason, Cormier, and Pond are now permanently staying at an off campus apartment. Their room is being sprayed once again and undergoing an evaluation.