Bedbugs: extreme infestations

La saison des déménagements qui s’ouvre est également celle… des punaises de lit. Les chiffres officiels indiquent que le problème est stable à Montréal, mais les cas d’infestations majeures se multiplient, témoignent des exterminateurs. Des locataires vivent depuis des années avec des milliers d’insectes et contaminent tout le monde autour d’eux. Entrons ensemble dans un de ces immeubles où propriétaires et locataires sont plongés en plein cauchemar.

« Il va finir par contaminer toute la rue !»»

Ryadh Zouaidia puts on a pair of latex gloves.He spreads the folds of the blue cushion of the lullaby.They are there, clearly visible.The cluster of teeming bedbugs that cling to the fabric fibers shows the magnitude of the insect infestation in this accommodation in the Saint-Michel district.

"When you see it on the walls and on the furniture, it is that the infestation is extreme," explains the exterminator.Cases like that, we see every month.»»

This morning, M.Zouaidia can finally carry out an extermination treatment in the accommodation of a tenant.Man is absent.As always, when he saw the speakers who came to help him prepare his accommodation for treatment, he saved from the back of the building.This is the third time they have been there.Each time, the tenant made them miss it, and they had to leave empty -handed.The first visit took place in mid-April.

"We saw him on his balcony this morning. Il a donné son accord verbal pour qu’on prépare le logement pour l’extermination»», dit l’inspecteur municipal, qui accompagne le personnel mandaté par l’Office municipal d’habitation de Montréal.The owner of the building, Roger Landry, therefore opens the door to them.

The people who penetrate there have put on combinations and disposable slippers over their clothes. « En situation d’insalubrité, on met toujours ça»», explique Mélanie L’Archevêque.

A negligent and obstinate tenant

The story of this small accommodation is that of a neglected and obstinate tenant, who has refused for three months to adequately prepare his apartment for an extermination treatment.And that causes a lot, a lot of damage.We have tried to speak to him many times.He never opened the door or won the phone.

« Parce qu’il ne veut pas collaborer, il empêche une petite famille de vivre, il y a des enfants qui ne voient pas leur père, il y a deux logements contaminés, ç’a mis beaucoup de gens dans la merde… Tout ça parce qu’il ne veut pas nettoyer !»»_{— Roger Landry, propriétaire de l'immeuble}

This is a fact: the bad will of this tenant rotten the lives of the inhabitants of two buildings, who have been trying for almost three months now to end the bedbugs.It is that the infestation in its accommodation is so important that the apartment located on the other side of the adjoining concrete wall, in the neighboring triplex, was contaminated by the bedbugs.It was by going through the bathtub hatch, where the apartment valve of the apartment is located, that the insects were able to enter the neighboring building.

« Ce n’est pas la première fois que j’entends parler d’une situation semblable»», dit Hans Brouillette, porte-parole de la Corporation des propriétaires immobiliers du Québec."Bugs are a public health problem, not a housing problem.They are not only in the rental, but also in waiting rooms, public transport, cinema seats.»»

The contaminated tenant, in the neighboring building, suffered four exterminations.Still, insects have returned.She tried to seal her accommodation, to no avail.The bug is slipping into the slightest slit of a few millimeters.She can live weeks without food.And reproduces at a crazy speed.

This tenant asked us not to reveal his name.She is a teacher and fears that the presence of bugs at home will react parents and colleagues. « Tous les matins, je passe mes vêtements à la machine à vapeur pour m’assurer que je n’en transporte pas dans ma classe»», dit-elle.

The young woman has trouble talking about the situation without becoming emotional: she has been living in a nightmare for three months."We had to empty everything.I made 10 bags of clothes, curtains, bedding for the mesh washer and 16 bags of frozen equipment.We thought we had finished with all this.And last Friday, the little one was further sting.»» La petite, c’est la fille de son conjoint, qui a deux enfants en garde partagée.Obviously, the mother no longer wants her children to go to their father ... because she fears to be herself contaminated.

"It was extremely difficult.Children do not understand why they can no longer go to their father.»»_{— Une locataire contaminée dans l'immeuble voisin}

"I find it absurd that an 80 -year -old who needs help can cause all of this.It's absurd. Il va finir par contaminer toute la rue !»» Les punaises ont en effet migré chez elle, mais également chez la voisine de palier du locataire fautif.

Helpless owners

« Je ne dors plus, je ne mange plus… Il a quasiment le pouvoir de faire annuler la vente de notre maison»», dit France Landry, conjointe de Roger Landry, tous deux propriétaires de l’immeuble depuis 40 ans.The couple has indeed sold the triplex.The sale is concluded, but the official act, not yet signed.In the meantime, they have placed all their effects to move in bags ... for fear of transporting bedbugs with them.

« Je paye mes taxes, je paye mon hypothèque… mais on dirait que la maison appartient à mon locataire»», s’insurge M^me Landry.The owners feel completely helpless.They started an eviction procedure at the Housing Régie, but it can take months to settle.

En quelques heures à peine, tout ce qui était « traitable»» dans le logement du locataire a été aspergé avec des produits chimiques ou de la vapeur brûlante.And all of his property found himself in hermetic bags or bins, and the whole thing ended in the immense refrigerated trailer of the won extermination company, in which it is possible to fit the furniture of two apartmentsfive -room.

"We did several tests to find the lethal duration," explains Ryadh Zouaida. Après quatre jours à - 19 ^oC, les punaises sont mortes.So we put them five days at - 27.Once you are zero presence, we give the effects to the tenant.»»

Silent epidemic

For years, figures from the Montreal Public Health Department (DSP) are almost the same: around 3 % of Montrealers, or around 17,000 households, declare that they had had bugs in the past 12month.But these figures, apparently stable, hide more and more cases of major infestations, believes HaroldLeavy, president of extermination Maheu.

Recently, M.Leavy intervened in accommodation where he counted around 20,000 bedbugs. « Il y en avait jusque dans le jambon dans le réfrigérateur !»» De tels cas d’infestation majeure, il en voit de plus en plus souvent.The tenant in question had infested the 14 surrounding dwellings."There were bedbugs even in the pipes.»» Il a fallu neuf interventions d’extermination dans cet appartement avant de venir à bout des insectes.In another case, a lady had no less than a thousand bugs in the chair where she used to sit."She was literally devouring herself.»»

"Some tenants have lived for years with thousands of insects.They tried all kinds of more or less effective products to get rid of it.The bedbugs have sunk deep within the walls. Et elles deviennent très difficiles à chasser»», explique-t-il.

"We are called when people are desperate.Cases are more difficult to settle.»»_{— HaroldLeavy, président d’Extermination Maheu}

Montreal has been holding for several years an official register of bedbugs, where tenants and owners must point out that they have known this type of problem.A card was even produced, without addresses, but with a rental precise enough to alert possible tenants."The city thought that the card was going to put pressure on the owners, but that does not adjust anything. Savoir qu’en 2017 il y a eu un événement de punaises dans un immeuble, ça donne quoi ?»», estime Hans Brouillette, de la Corporation des propriétaires immobiliers du Québec (CORPIQ).

The tip of the iceberg

Municipal regulations provide that a tenant who has bugs must notify its owner.It is the latter that it is the responsibility of solving the problem, for which he must call on one of the certified exterminators. « Ça ne se passe pas comme ça du tout !»», s’insurge M.Leavy."Bugs are like an iceberg: everything we see, these are the cases where people complain.The submerged part is those who say nothing.The register is more used to say that the problem does not move only to really solve the problem.»»

The sub-declaration can actually be a problem, is suitable Mélanie Tailhandier, environmental hygienist at DSP."There is a phenomenon of shame to experience an infestation at your home.But the more we wait, the more it grows.We try to counter the phenomenon by raising awareness.»»

The bug, this enemy

It only measures five millimeters.It can spend a year without food and temporarily survives the cold and extreme heat.It copulates from 30 to 150 times a day: the male penis is actually a dart that can pierce the female shell in any point.A female can lay 200 to 500 eggs during her life.Bugs feed on human blood and proliferate in hot and humid environments.They are small, but eat like ogres: in a single night, they can prick more than 90 times.

How to avoid them during a move

1.Do not hesitate to vacuum the moving truck.

2.Never collect furniture left in the street.

3.Never let children play on abandoned furniture.

4.Carefully seal your cardboard boxes using adhesive tape.

5.Place all your clothes in plastic bags.