NEWS

Latest 'bug' at state office building was not bug, officials say

Specially trained dogs called in to search for pests

Justin A. Hinkley
Lansing State Journal

LANSING - State employees might be getting a little paranoid.

After two confirmed sightings of bedbugs at a state office building in recent weeks and two rounds of special bug-sniffing dogs left officials confident the insects were "eradicated," an employee reported yet another insect sighting at Constitution Hall, 525 W. Allegan St., on Wednesday morning.

Turns out that latest "bug" wasn't an insect at all, said Caleb Buhs, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget. When specialists from the Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development — which has offices at Constitution Hall — tossed the latest specimen under a microscope, they determined it was dried blood. A scab.

So Buhs returned to his earlier position that officials have "a high degree of confidence" that the bedbug infestation is contained.

A Lansing pest control company, Rose Pest Solutions, earlier addressed two sightings of bedbugs at the facility, which houses employees from the departments of Natural Resources and Environmental Quality, along with the agriculture department. The first sighting happened Dec. 22 and the second happened on Friday.

On Wednesday morning, Rose officials used dogs that are specially trained to sniff out insects — dead or alive — or their eggs and found no evidence of bedbugs at Constitution Hall, Buhs said. The dogs have a 97% success rate, Buhs said.

Buhs said officials believe one employee was responsible for bringing bedbugs into the building and steps have been taken to ensure that employee did not bring the insects back in. The bugs can spread easily because they can hide in clothing, furniture, bedding and luggage, and can live several months without feeding.

Buhs declined to say which department the employee came from because he wanted to avoid any stigma.

Constitution Hall, 525 W. Allegan St. in Lansing, is seen in this Lansing State Journal archive photo.

After the December sighting, Rose exterminators found two infected chairs, which were "were bagged and removed from the building," Buhs said. On Friday, a bug was spotted on a laptop in the same area of the building. That laptop belonged to the one employee.

He said four employees had been relocated and the infested area had been cordoned off, but employees now have nothing to fret, Buhs said.

Bedbugs are not known to carry disease but can bite and cause itchiness, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.The EPA says it's a myth that bedbugs are attracted to filth; they are drawn to blood, warmth and carbon dioxide.

Contact Justin A. Hinkley at (517) 377-1195 or jhinkley@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinHinkley. Sign up for his email newsletter, SoM Weekly, at on.lsj.com/somsignup