Tourism is the lifeblood of Hawaii's economy and local legislators don't want bedbugs to suck it dry.
As the tiny parasite once thought to have gone the way of bubonic plague and goiters makes a resurgence across the US, Hawaiian legislators have introduced resolutions urging the state Department of Health to mount a prevention and education campaign against the insects.
"We just want to make sure that people are aware of it so that we nip it in the bud, so to speak, before it starts to be a real issue out here," said state Senator Rosalyn Baker who introduced the Senate version on the resolution. Baker, a Democrat who represents popular tourist spots along Maui's west coast, heads the Senate Health Committee.
The campaign would target the islands' hotel and accommodations industry, which lodged 7 million visitors last year.
Not only a sleep-depriving nuisance, bedbugs have become a serious legal problem for the lodging industry. Several lawsuits have been filed against hotels around the US because of alleged attacks by bedbugs, including a US$20 million suit against a resort in New York state's Catskills region filed earlier this month.
It turns out that bedbugs are every bit as fond of travel as the people they prey on. Hidden in suitcases and travel clothes, the appleseed-sized bugs hitch rides across continents.
Since 2000, the 5,000 member companies in the National Pest Management Association Inc have noticed a 62 percent increase in reports of bedbugs, said Cindy Mannes, vice president of public affairs with the association.
Locally the situation seems a little less itchy with a gradual 10 to 30 percent increase in calls over the last year or so, said Tim Lyons, executive director of Hawaii Pest Control Association, which represents 80 pest control companies statewide.
However, the Department of Health said the 26 reports it has had since April are normal.
"It kind of seems that they're trying to make a bigger deal of it then it actually is as far as control issues," said Kurt Tsue, department spokesman.
Tsue said the department has had an education pamphlet on the bugs for the past 20 years and would be amenable to helping launch a new campaign. The bugs just haven't been a high priority because they aren't linked to any diseases, he said.
The return of bedbugs after about a half-century of obscurity is the result of an increase in international travel, the creatures' nocturnal habits and changes in how homeowners have chosen to control pests inside their homes, Mannes said.
Back in the 1950s, homeowners regularly used the now-banned chemical DDT.
"You could buy it over the counter. It was just a whole different world," Mannes said.
Add to that the stigma of having bloodsucking vermin romping around in your sheets and the world -- not just Hawaii -- has swiftly become a bedbug paradise.
"People don't want to tell you they have them," Mannes said.
But it's not about filth. It's just about the blood coursing through people's veins -- the bugs preferred libation.
"They've found bedbugs in places that you would give a five-star housekeeping of America award. It has nothing to do with cleanliness. It has to do with transporting them," Lyons said.
Solutions to controlling the problem can be as simple as having the right vacuum and knowing where the bugs like to hide or just vacuuming suitcases after returning from a trip, Lyons said.
Some say that Hawaii's problems with coqui frogs could have been controlled if action had been taken more quickly, he said. The quarter-sized, shrieking frogs native to Puerto Rico have become a significant nuisance on the Big Island and Maui.
"We want to avoid that kind of a situation with bedbugs," he said.
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