Dr. Mohammed El Damir

Adam’s Pest Control, Inc.

Mosquitoes are not only nuisance insects when buzzing around people’s ears, but also when causing allergic reactions and transmitting disease-causing pathogens via their bites. In order to manage these unwelcome bloodsuckers in and around homes or farms, it is recommended to apply a thorough inspection to determine where to treat first, and then to choose the product and treatment method best suited for your situation. As you may know, mosquito management products are designed for treating different types of areas; therefore, the selected treatment option should be based on the understating of why, where, when and how to treat for mosquitoes.  It is important to know that there are nuisance mosquito control programs, which are usually done by pest management companies. And vector mosquito control programs, which are done by government agents. Anyhow, both programs can co-exist and be mutually beneficial. Here, I will mention three mosquito applications commonly used by the pest control industry. 

1. Applications of larvacides. If properly conducted, this method can be effective and pose minimal risk to people and the environments. Larvacides are usually applied to water surfaces where mosquitoes are breeding. They will eliminate the mosquito larvae as they develop.

2. Applications of adulticides. EPA approved residual insecticides can be used to treat mosquito’s resting and landing areas. Depending on the product’s label instructions, repeated applications may be needed, as the residual effects of the insecticides will last only for a maximum of one week or less, especially after rains. However, this treatment option is best suited to provide short-term relief from the mosquito bites for a special outdoor party or event. Residual insecticides can be applied with standard pump sprayers for small areas or with power sprayers for large areas. To maximize your success of reducing mosquitoes, treat around landscape plants, turf and ground cover, under decks, around windows and doors, to exterior siding, around building foundations, grass areas adjacent to or around a structure, and other places where mosquitoes may rest/hide, such as shrubs, tree canopies, hedges, dense vegetation, exterior walls, under decks, porches and other shady areas that aren’t receiving direct sunlight. The residual effects of these materials will kill mosquitoes as they enter and land on treated surfaces.

3. Space Treatment: This option uses special products that can be applied via fogging or misting machines. In order to achieve quick knockdown, immediate and complete management of mosquito populations, space treatments should be done when mosquitoes are most active around sunset or sunrise. Besides the notice of application, it is important to make sure that none target organisms, such as, humans or pets will not be exposed directly to the pesticide during fogging or misting. Additionally, it is unfavorable to treat for mosquitoes when the wind speed is more than 10 mph, during hot weather or when it rains.

Finally, remember that mosquito management requires an understanding of the mosquito habits as well as the familiarity with product label instructions and safety procedures.

By: Dr. Mohammed El Damir

Ticks are known by their bites, which normally trigger itchy skin irritations for sensitive people. Severe infestations on animals can cause anemia, weight loss, and even death, especially when large quantities of blood are consumed. Anyhow, what makes the tick bites important is that ticks are second to mosquitoes as vectors of a large range of disease-causing pathogens of domestic animals and humans.

There are 867 tick species in the world. About 80 species are found in the USA and 13 of them are currently spread in Minnesota. However, only 10% of the tick species are known as disease vectors. Other tick species are simply considered a nuisance due to their bites. In North America, the pathogens associated with the following diseases can be transmitted by tick bites: Lyme disease, human granulocytic and monocytic ehrlichiosis, babesiosis, relapsing fever, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Colorado tick fever, tularemia, Query fever, and tick paralysis.

Black-legged (deer) ticks, American dog ticks, and brown dog ticks are the most likely tick species known to be encountered by people. There are three major disease-causing organisms transmitted through the bite of an infected deer tick. These are Lyme disease, human anaplasmosis, and babesiosis. The American dog tick is responsible for transmitting Rickettsia rickettsii, which causes Rocky Mountain spotted fever in humans. It can also transmit tularemia. Brown dog ticks are not known to transmit diseases to humans, but may transmit disease among dogs.

To avoid tick bites, it is important to be prepared before it is too late. Like mosquito and other insects, the onset of the tick’s season is temperature dependent issue, the warmer the spring temperature, the faster insect pests can develop. Therefore, if you live in known tick infested areas, watch the weather and be prepared for these bloodsuckers. For example, adults of deer ticks can emerge in patchy snow at temperature of 40°F and more. Early in the spring and in the fall, call your  pest management professional (PMP) to apply an EPA tick approved pesticide around the perimeter of your house as well as to all tick habitats, especially where the lawn and wooded area meets. In addition, do the following recommendations:

• Check your pet for the presence of ticks.
  Immediately remove ticks from pets and humans as soon as they are noticed. Ticks should be grasped with tweezers at the point where their mouthparts enter the skin and pulled straight out with firm pressure.
• When entering tick-infested areas, keep clothing buttoned, shirts inside pants, and pants tucked inside boots.
• Do not sit on the ground or brush against any vegetation, especially in bushy areas.
• During tick season, use tick repellents, such as DEET or Duranon (0.5% permethrin) to lightly cover exposed skin and clothing. Read the product’s label for instructions. Never apply repellents to cuts, wounds, or inflamed and irritated skin. Do not over treat (saturate) the skin or apply beneath clothing.
• It is important to treat your pets for ticks. There are a variety of commercially available products for you to use on your pets. Be extremely careful not to allow chemicals to get into the eyes, nose, or mouth of the pet. See your veterinarian for proper products and recommendations.
• Keep your lawn mowed and thin vegetation around your house.

Although mosquitoes and ticks have different habits and behaviors, the establishment of mosquito misting system with misting nozzles discreetly placed around your house, lawn and places where mosquitoes or ticks are commonly encountered can help in reducing the pressure of these bothersome pests.

Dr. Mohammed El Damir
Adam’s Pest Control, Inc

Although experts do not believe that bed bugs can transmit infectious pathogens, it is
possible. They have been found to carry up to 40 human pathogens; fortunately, there
are little evidences that transmission has ever happened. The recent article conducted
by Canadian researchers has linked MRSA to bed bug bites. MRSA is a bacterium
responsible for several difficult-to-treat infections in humans. This article assumes that
bed bugs are a potential reservoir of this disease and their bites may make people
vulnerable to infection by MRSA bacteria present in their environment. By reading the
findings from this research work, I did not see any legitimacy to this claim, as it is still a
theory at this point. In addition, besides the bed bugs and their bites, MRSA bacteria can
enter a body through a compromised skin, such as cut, wounds, etc. when hosts are
present in setting with frequent skin-to-skin contact as well as contaminated items and
surfaces.

The relationship between bed bugs and MRSA cannot be fully known until a viable
theory is proven via a large scale of committed researches from reliable research settings,
I recommend that we should be extra vigilant when dealing with bed bugs, especially in
lack of cleanliness environments (where MRSA bacteria thrive); nevertheless, I still
convinced that there is no relationship between bed bug infestation and the sanitary
conditions of the infested location. I also recommend adopting proactive bed bug
prevention methods to avoid transporting bed bugs from one area into another. Some
people tend to buy toxic pesticides and bug fogger to deal with bed bug in their
premieres. This of unprofessional control methods will eventually lead to negative
consequences that could be as worse as MRSA or any other infectious pathogens.  Bed
bugs can be professionally battled though effective management means, such as heat
treatment “the use of lethal temperature limits to destroy all life stages of bed bugs”, as
well as a compensation of proven chemical and non-chemical approaches applied by
certified pest management professionals.

Finally, as I usually say, deal with bed bugs by education.

Deal with bed Bugs by Education

As you may know, bed bug infestations are challenging people in all kinds of residences. Besides, sucking blood from their victims, they leave unsightly fecal matters and shed skins in bed associated parts, cracks, crevices, voids, folded places, as well as in every imaginable places of their hidden spaces. Furthermore, they are known to cause extreme anxiety to vulnerable individuals by turning their lives into nightmares.

Due to the cryptic nature of bed bugs, many people have become paranoid and afraid of bed bugs to the extent that they are experienced anxiety and a poor quality of life. This leads to the development of unnecessary phobia, which makes them spend lots of money on unneeded measures. Sometimes people buy unproven pesticides, especially via the Internet and treat their mattresses and beds assuming that this action will eliminate bed bugs for good and at all. Guess what is going to happen. Well, they will develop allergic rashes from exposure to pesticide/ chemicals, which they will blame it on the bed bugs. However, do not panic, but do not chill out either. The best way to manage bed bugs is by education. Learn from credible resources about these bloodsuckers. Try to know what bed bugs look like (all life stages), their behaviors, habits and biology. Be informed that not every bite is related to bed bugs, other bugs, such as fleas, ticks, spiders, etc may also bite humans or their pets. Additionally, food allergic reactions can be also mistaken for bed bug bites. Still, never ignore any bite. Remember, the sooner you deal with bed bugs the better off overall bed bug control would be.

One of the major concerns of bed bug infestations is their capability to spread. As you may have heard, bed bugs are skilled hitchhikes on clothing, furniture, suitcases, seats of public transportation means, etc. Again, knowing about bed bugs and their habits will minimize the risk of their spread from one area to another, which is key to a successful bed bug management/eradication.

Finally, bed bugs are resilient pests, for this reason, their management may require the employment of both non-chemical (such as heat treatment) and chemical pest management tactics, especially if all non-chemical methods prove insufficient to solve a bed bug problem. Follow up treatment evaluation is highly recommended to ensure that the bed bugs have been eliminated. Be alert by raising awareness via means of education on prevention of bed bugs.

What Does Integrated Pest Management In Schools Mean

Schools are considered sensitive locations where employees and students have no tolerance to pesticides or their residues. Therefore, the trend of adopting the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategy for dealing with unwanted pests at schools is widely experienced throughout North America.
First, let’s make sure to recognize that pesticides are powerful tools for managing pests. But, the careless use of pesticides could create health and environmental concerns. In order to reduce the risk of pesticide drift and exposure, pesticides need to be applied carefully according to label directions and in a way to minimize the risk to non-target organisms and the environment. The integrated pest management (IPM) program is the best long-term solution to reduce the hazards associated with pesticide use. Simply, an IPM strategy is an ecological-based strategy that maximizes the use of non-chemical pest management tactics and reduces the use of chemical options. IPM mainly uses multiple practical methods to remove or reduce all of food, water and shelter sources available to pests. These methods may integrate preventive measures such as sanitation, exclusion and habitat modification followed by (if needed) physical remediation methods such as mechanical removal or destruction of the pest. If above methods alone prove insufficient to solve a pest problem, the IPM program will eventually evolve to meet those challenges by using other pest remediation tactics, including the judicious use of pesticides.
The goal of the IPM in schools is to reduce the students and staff exposures to pesticides, as well as to provide pest free environments. However, in order to achieve this goal, the following IPM school principles need to be carried out:
1. Apply inspection and monitoring practices in a regular bases.
2. Implement non-chemical methods as front-line solutions. These include, but are not limited to, prevention methods (i.e., sanitation, exclusion, pest habitat’s removal/modification) and physical pest management approaches (i.e., vacuuming, heat treatment, moisture removal).
3. Only as a last resort, use selective least toxic pesticides that cause low risks to human health and have no or minimal impact on the indoor and outdoor environments.
4. Provide ongoing education and training programs for staff and students. These seminars should comprise various aspects of IPM, especially on pest sighting procedures, good sanitation hygiene, and exclusion tactics.
5. Establish a well-developed communication system between the school pest management personnel and the pest management professional (PMP).
6. Always provide posting notice before treatment.
7. Establish a well-maintained Record-keeping system that includes inspection reports, pest-sighting logs, pesticide usage reports, etc). This information is important not only to justify budget requests for pest management services, tools and materials, but also to enable the school’s pest management in charge and the PMP to expect conditions that prompt pest problems and thus prevent them from occurring or manage them before they become problems.
More information can be found at the following links
Suggested links
http://www.epa.gov/opp00001/ipm/
http://schoolipm.ifas.ufl.edu/Florida/Links.htm
http://www.ipminstitute.org/school_directory.htm

Allergy and hypersensitivity terms and factors related to their occurrence are not only important for health-care and food service providers, but also to pest management professionals (PMPs). PMPs will often work in different residential and commercial accounts, as well as in different environmental habitats and conditions, where they may carry some allergens on their clothing, bodies, equipment or supplies. PMPs should become familiar with the different allergen types and sources to avoid introducing any allergens that might promote allergic reactions to individuals in the service areas and create liability issues.

In order to understand what an allergy is, first, let’s define it. An allergen is anything that can trigger the immune system of people or animals and cause allergic reactions - “the hypersensitive response of the immune system of an allergic individual to a substance.”

Where do allergies come from? Allergens are found everywhere, in sanitation, food, or medical products we use; however, allergens can be found in different sources including:

· Microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, and fungi [mold])

· Animal (cats - fur and dander; cockroach - feces, saliva, egg cases and cast skins; dust mite - feces and chitin; bed bugs; anticoagulant substances; and, wasp, fire ant and bee venoms)

· Chemicals (chlorine)

· Drugs (penicillin, sulfonamides, salicylates and local anesthetics)

· Foods (milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, soy, fish, and shellfish)

· Plants (poison ivy, poison sumac or poison oak)

· Pollens and smokes

Allergic Reactions

The severity of allergic reactions ranges from mild to life threatening, depending on the type of allergens, individual’s sensitivity, level of exposure, and the route of entry. Type one allergic reactions (immediate-type allergic reactions) are easy to be detected since allergic reactions are occurring within a few minutes to four hours. Whereas, in type two allergic reactions (delayed-type allergic reactions) reaction symptoms are occurring within more than four hours and up to few weeks after contacting the allergens, making them hard to be detected and immediately treated. People react differently to an allergen i.e., bed bugs feed on warm-blooded animals, they secret anticoagulant substances (allergens) while feeding to prevent blood from clotting. These substances provoke allergic reactions such as reddish, irritated, itchy skin marks for moderate sensitive individuals and occasionally blisters and necrotic spots of the skin for severe sensitive people; some people do not react to bed bug bites at all. However, an extreme allergic reaction, called “anaphylaxis”, can kill sensitive people within a few minutes. Annually in the United States, “40-100 people die because of insect stings and over 400 people die from allergic reactions to penicillin.” The frequency and duration of exposure to some allergens trigger the development of allergy-related illnesses; i.e., frequent contact with cockroach allergens (feces, saliva, egg cases and cast skins) trigger asthma symptoms especially among children - “one in five children in the United States is allergic to cockroach allergens.” Route of allergic reactions can be through ingestion (milk, peanuts, soy, etc), inhalation (pollen, perfume or cat dander), direct contact with an allergy-causing plant (poison ivy) or insect stings and bites.

A routine part of PMP jobs involve removing some allergens that can provoke allergic reactions to some people, such as eliminating stinging, and biting insects. However, PMPs may bring some allergens from previous service locations, or use products containing allergens during services (i.e. using peanut butter as rodent bait in a school where allergic kids are present). To avoid cross contamination from one account to another, PMPs should communicate with the pest management person in charge before the service is performed to understand the plant/location allergen policy, use allergy-free approved products, and ensure that there are no sensitive people in the service locations during or post treatment. Cleaning equipment, washing and changing clothing between services, as well as scheduling allergen-containing areas after allergen-free areas, help in managing allergen problems in sensitive accounts.

Adam’s will soon be hiring in the Brainerd Lakes area. No pest management experience required, although it is desired. We will train and pay during training (typically about 3 weeks of classroom and 3 weeks of field training). If you are interested, contact us today. We hope to identify good candidates in February to start in March, but this time frame is a bit loose at this point, so if you read this in March or April, you still might want to contact us at 866-284-7767. Ask for Melissa.

This weekend, Adam’s will be at the Minneapolis Home and Landscape Show at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. Stop by and see us and ask about your pests! If you need tickets, we have a few we can hand out first come first serve at our main office at 922 Hwy 55 Suite 100, Medina MN 55340.

Since creating our blog, I’ve not been the most dilligent blogger out there. Probably like most, I posted a bunch early, and have “gotten busy” and not posted. Another factor is on each of my posts, I find I receive very little good constructive responses. I get quite a few, but 90% of them are just promoting their own blogs, or at least that’s what I think. The response might be like:

   I like your blog. Check out ours at….

or

   Pest Control is important, as we state at www…

It won’t discourage me from blogging, but I screen the responses and don’t release them unless:

1. They add to the discussion, and
2. They don’t reference their own site (with some exceptions).

I figure it is better for our readers to so the signal to noise ratio remains high.

Recently we were called out to a Twin Cities suburb to go after a wildlife creature we’ve never gone after before. On Friday, we got it, and it was a first for us. We caught a chicken! We get calls for squirrels, raccoons, skunks, and opossums, but never before for a chicken.

Fortunately for this chicken, we practiced “Catch and Release”, although with this particular catch, we could have also had an Adam’s Pest Control first - ”Catch and Eat”!

ADAM’S Pest Control has long been a leader and again continues to lead with a state of the art website and now this blog, which is designed to help our customers, our prospective customers, and our industry, if we can be of assistance.

If there is something you’d like to see, email us, or contact us through www.adamspestcontrol.com.