Bed Bugs and Public Health

The recent increase in bed bugs infestations has become a serious issue for public health in Canada. The National Collaborating Centres for Public Health, committed to strengthen public health and provide practitioners with the best existing evidence, presented the session: Bed Bugs and Public Health: A Re-emerging Scourge for the New Public Health. This pre-conference session was held in Toronto, on June 13th 2010, as part of the Canadian Public Health Association Centenial Conference.

Guest speakers offered valuable information to participants on bed bugs behaviour and biology, on experiences of cities like Montreal and Toronto dealing with bed bugs infestations, on the social impacts of the infestations, especially regarding vulnerable populations, as well as public health control and prevention mesures.

To consult the PPT presentations, please click on the following links:

• Bed Bugs and Public Health: A Re-emerging Scourge for the New Public Health  281 Ko
  Dr Tom Kosatsky, Director, NCC for Environmental Health
  National Collaborating Centres for Public Health
  
• Bed Bugs 101  2,34 Mo
  Taz Stuart, Entomologist, City of Winnipeg
  
• Direct and indirect health effects of bed bugs infestations  489 Ko
  Dr. Stéphane Perron, Montreal Public Health
  Reg Ayre, Manager, Healthy Environments, Toronto Public Health
  
• The Social Impacts of a Bed Bug Infestation  211 Ko
  Dr. Elizabeth Comack, University of Manitoba
  
• Bed Bugs: The Toronto Experience  1,33 Mo
  Reg Ayre, Directeur du département des Healthy Environments, Service de santé publique de la ville de Toronto.
  
• Bed Bugs and Montreal  575 Ko
  Dr. Stéphane Perron, Montreal Public Health
  
  Facilitator: Dr. John Carsley, Vancouver Coastal Health

Following the presentations, participants had a group discussion on these questions:

»What is an appropriate Public Health response?
»How should we make the public aware of the problem?
»What do we do about the stigma?
»How do we increase landlord/tenant cooperation?
»How can Public Health fund bedbug programs?
»What is missing? What can the National Collaborating Centres contribute that can add value?

For any question, or if you would like to receive additional information, please contact us by email at info@nccph.ca,