Incheon City is forming a 'Bedbug Joint Countermeasure Team' including an emergency pest control unit to prevent the spread of bedbugs and alleviate citizens' concerns, launching an all-out response.
The city announced on the 7th that the current system, where each department manages facilities individually, has limitations in preventing the spread of bedbugs, so it will organize and operate the Bedbug Joint Countermeasure Team.
The Bedbug Joint Countermeasure Team, composed of Incheon City, related agencies, and the Office of Education, includes the Bedbug Emergency Pest Control Unit. The emergency pest control unit, consisting of the Health and Environment Research Institute and health centers from 10 districts and counties, will promptly check for the presence of bedbugs and carry out pest control when bedbug-related complaints are received at the 120 call center or district/county health centers.
The Joint Countermeasure Team will strengthen guidance and inspections to encourage voluntary pest control at 13 types of mandatory disinfection facilities such as food service establishments, medical institutions, performance venues, and schools. For these facilities, the health centers will verify whether disinfection has been conducted, with a focus on checking whether bedbugs have been eradicated in facilities where bedbugs have occurred.
The city will conduct joint inspections of 757 locations with a high likelihood of bedbug appearance, such as lodging facilities and bathhouses, until the 8th of next month. For hygiene-vulnerable facilities like about 210 households in jjokbangchon (small room villages) and around 800 gosiwon (boarding houses), the health center emergency pest control unit will be dispatched promptly to carry out rapid pest control if bedbugs appear.
Additionally, special pest control training will be provided to about 170 private pest control companies in the region, and bedbug information booklets produced by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency will be distributed to promote active citizen response. Since bedbugs were detected at a jjimjilbang (Korean sauna) in Incheon on the 13th of last month, no additional reports have been received so far, but the spread continues nationwide.
Source: Bedbug bite marks [Image source=Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency Bedbug Information Guide]
Shin Namsik, Director of the Health and Welfare Bureau of Incheon City, urged, "As the spread of bedbugs is increasing due to inflow from overseas travel, it is necessary to thoroughly disinfect travel items and be careful not to store luggage on the floor or bed even if bedbugs are not visible."
Although bedbugs have not been recorded to transmit diseases so far, they cause itching which can lead to secondary skin infections. They hide in bedroom walls, wallpaper cracks, and mattresses, feeding at night and tending to be more active in the early morning than in the evening. They are difficult to distinguish from fleas, but the bite marks differ. Bedbugs bite 2 to 3 places in a row, leaving marks in a line or circle, whereas flea bites are often scattered.
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