photo by: Conrad Swanson

General Dynamics, 3833 Greenway Drive.

The number of reported bed bug cases in Lawrence has risen steadily over the past few years, but this week city employees received a report like they’ve never seen before.

In the past, bed bug infestations were relatively common in homes and apartments, said Brian Jimenez, the city’s code enforcement manager. As such, it was “unique” when he heard General Dynamics Information Technology, 3833 Greenway Drive, was struggling with its own infestation.

“We’ve never had one in a non-residential setting before,” he said. “My guess would be that at some point one of their employees probably brought them in to the work environment and it got worse over time.”

The Douglas County Health Department forwarded several reports to the city after they received a number of calls from General Dynamics employees, Jimenez said.

Contacted for comment General Dynamics Spokeswoman Yvonne Hylton released a written statement: “We are aware of the situation at our site in Lawrence, KS. We are working to resolve it as quickly as possible.”

Hylton did not respond to additional questions about the business, including how many people are employed there. The company, which does a variety of call center work and data management for the federal government, is one of the largest private employers in Lawrence. The company previously operated under the name Pearson Government Solutions. Past Journal-World articles have reported workforce totals vary, but often are around 1,500 employees at its East Hills Business Park facilities.

The city doesn’t send its own inspectors to the scene, Jimenez said. Rather, the city’s job is to ensure the infestation is taken care of by keeping track of the extermination process.

By the time the city learned of the infestation on Tuesday, General Dynamics had already contacted Schendel Pest Services, Jimenez said. The use of a licensed, professional exterminator is required by the city’s bed bug policy, he said.

Now the city will let Schendel address the infestation and keep an eye on it all from a distance, Jimenez said.

“We’ll want the final signoff, saying, ‘Here’s what we’ve done, and we’ve done it to the best of our ability,'” he said.

For decades, bed bug infestations were largely nonexistent in the area, Jimenez said. But over the past five years or so, they’ve been on the rise.

Now, the city receives infrequent infestation reports, perhaps a few a month, Jimenez said.

In the 1940s and 1950s, the United States all but eradicated bed bugs, said Scott Brown, an entomologist with Schendel. But as international travel became much more accessible, the insects made their way from Europe — where they hadn’t been wiped out — back to the United States.

“They’re basically here to stay, and it’s something we have to deal with from time to time,” he said.

And now that they’re back, anybody could be at risk — even businesses like General Dynamics, Jimenez said.

“It has nothing to do with cleanliness or anything,” he said. “All it takes is someone who works there to inadvertently bring them in and you could quickly have a problem.”

Bed bugs are tiny, nocturnal insects that hide in small places and feed on blood, Brown said. Beds are a hospitable environment for them because they are full of places to live and hide and humans spend a significant amount of time there.

“They harbor in the cracks and crevices of your bed, seams and folds in mattresses and box springs,” Brown said. “They can pretty much live anywhere in a crack and crevice.”

The insect’s bite is generally painless and innocuous, Brown said. They release a natural anesthetic when they bite, which numbs any pain. However, some people could have more severe reactions and notice itchiness or swelling, he said.

Bed bugs do not spread diseases, nor are they known to severely damage a person’s health, Brown said.

“No healthy person has ever died from a bed bug bite that I’ve heard of,” he said.

However, the infections can be both annoying and painful, Brown said. Plus, they spread fairly easily.

“They’re basically hitchhikers, so they can get on to your clothing, like if they’re on the chair you sit down on,” Brown said. “But they’re not very fast movers and they don’t fly, so you have to be sitting there for a while and you have to be still so they can get on you.”

Exterminating a bed bug infestation can be a difficult process, Brown said. They’re a resilient insect that can only be killed through direct contact.

At an infestation site, Schendel’s exterminators will use a combination of heat, cold and chemicals to kill the insects and their eggs, Brown said. They can’t live in extreme temperatures, and several chemical compounds have been known to be effective in treating infestations.

However, applying those techniques to a business like General Dynamics could be tricky, Brown said.

“You have to get up to 120, 125 degrees to get 100 percent kills,” Brown said of the heat treatment. “If you’re in a big room with high ceilings, it can be very difficult to get the temperature up.”

Generally, exterminators can address a home infestation in a single day, but with a larger building they’ll likely have to work in sections, Brown said. Moving from one room to the next could take several additional days.

Brown said he couldn’t specifically address the infestation at General Dynamics or how long it might take to handle the issue there.

Though Jimenez said Lawrence has never seen a business infested with bed bugs before, Brown said it’s not all that uncommon. His business, which covers a wide geographic area, has treated other office buildings, movie theaters and more.

And although General Dynamics employees may be concerned, Brown said there’s no need to panic or even avoid the office.

“They don’t need to skip work; they’re not going to hurt them other than just be irritating,” he said. “The possibility of bringing them home is slim to none, unless they’re in an area with a large population.”

Anyone who is especially concerned about carrying bed bugs home with them should immediately run their clothes and shoes through the dryer on high when they get off work, Brown said. That’s the method the exterminators themselves use, and that’s the method they recommend.