Montreal bedbugs thrive with lax landlords

Bedbugs are becoming a serious problem in many cities across North America, including Montreal, the city's public health department says.

Twenty years ago, the pests were rare in Montreal, but the department says bans on powerful pesticides and increased international travel have given rise to bedbug infestations.

Robert McIllwraith, 54, is one of many Montrealers dealing with a bedbug infestation. He says he has been living with them in his Lasalle apartment for the past two years.

"When they're biting, you can feel them like a magnet pulling. I can feel them almost like they're clawing their way in, like there's a big suction."

Bedbugs are on his walls, his floors and his furniture. He says he contacted his landlord when the problem started. McIllwraith was given a spray, but says it didn't work.

Six weeks ago, the landlord sent an exterminator. That didn't work either. "These guys are so fast and so resilient that nothing is killing them anymore," McIllwraith said.

Public health officials say McIllwraith is one of thousands of Montrealers dealing with the pests.

Dr. Stéphane Perron of Montreal Public Health says apartment buildings are hit the hardest because landlords aren't dealing with the problem thoroughly.

"In many areas where there's more poverty, the tenants won't advise the landlord right away and the landlords won't do anything," he said.

The problem has little to do with hygiene, Perron said.

"It's not because the tenants aren't clean … no one is hiring an exterminator, no one is taking care of the problem, so the problem becomes chronic."

Perron said a thorough treatment of a person's living space is the only way to rein in these creepy crawlers.

"The solution, is really, having people informed about what bedbugs are so that as soon as they have one they can go and get the proper help."

He said that in most cases, the entire building needs to be sprayed — twice — to kill the bedbugs, as well as their eggs.

Bedbugs do not transmit any known blood-borne diseases. But they can lead to serious infection if people scratch the bitten areas, and their saliva can trigger allergic reactions.