hospital hallwayIt's likely that everyone's first inclination after hearing the news that bedbugs were found this weekend at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis is: extreme panic. After all, hospitals are the ONE place we'd expect to be clean and safe from these pesky critters, right? But actually that assumption isn't correct. In fact, what happened at Riley -- a patient's parent reportedly found one of the bedbugs in his child's hospital room -- is actually much more common than you'd think. Ick!

According to many pest experts, bedbugs are actually a common problem in hospitals (and a quick Google search will confirm that claim). It's not a sign of lack of cleanliness: Rather, it's simply a case of hospitals are full of the places where bedbugs like to congregate in -- namely, beds, where people are sleeping every night, along with other furniture. That's why even the "finest" hospitals are susceptible to bedbug infestations. (And that goes for hotels, too, as some of my close friends unfortunately experienced themselves after a vacation to New Orleans.)

You shouldn't worry if you hear that a local hospital has discovered bedbugs, but you should definitely be all kinds of angry if the hospital doesn't do all it can to contain the infestation and remove the bugs. Luckily for the Riley patients, the hospital has taken the necessary steps to eradicate the critters: Pest control completely cleaned and fumigated the only room where the bedbug had been found, as well as checked rooms above, below, and on the same floor to ensure that the infestation hadn't spread.

Of course, that does very little to calm the nerves of those of us who are already more than a little paranoid about these little guys and who have started to itch just from reading this story. I'm already hesitant to step inside a movie theater lest I catch the little buggers; will I start being afraid of hospitals now, too?

Have you ever had bedbugs?

 

Image via Viajar24h.com/Flickr