The Jessa Hospital in the Limburg city of Hasselt is using sniffer dogs to help it check for bedbugs. The news that the dogs are being used first appeared in the daily newspapers published by Mediahuis and has since been confirmed by the hospital’s management.
Bedbugs are small insects that cause itchy lumps when they bite someone. Two weeks ago, several rooms in the psychiatric ward of the hospital had an infestation of bedbugs. The rooms affected by the infestation are currently being disinfected and the sniffer dogs are checking to see if the bedbugs have all been eradicated.
Bed bugs are reddish-brown crawling insects that grow no larger than 8.5mm. The insects Larvae or nymphs are between 1 and 6 millimeters long and are lighter in colour. They darken when they have just sucked blood. Bedbugs feed on blood by biting people or animals. At itchy bump is left on the skin of the person (or animal) that has been bitten. Bedbugs’ name derives from the fact that they are often found in beds.
Situation now under control
Around 2 weeks ago several rooms on the psychiatric ward of the Jessa Hospital were infested with bedbugs. The hospital says that the situation is now under control and that active measures are still being taken to tackle the infestation. The hospital’s spokeswoman Lieve Ketelslegers says “We follow a strict disinfection schedule. The affected rooms are disinfected in three phases, each with a 10-day rest period to allow the pesticide to take effect”.
As bedbugs are difficult to locate with the naked eye and are adept at concealing themselves, sniffer docks have been deployed to look for the insects.
"This is a specialised team with sniffer dogs trained to sniff out bedbugs. They only come her to double-check the rooms”, Ms Ketelslegers said.