People knowingly resell infested furniture as bedbugs surge near Vaasa

Bedbug cases have risen sharply around Vaasa, with pest controllers now handling several new cases a week and some infested furniture being resold online, Yle reports.

Juha Pikkarainen, a pest controller with Anticimex who has worked in the Ostrobothnia region for seven years, said he used to see about one new case a month. The problem has spread beyond city centres and apartment blocks to neighbouring municipalities, terraced houses and detached homes.

Pest control company Täystuho has also recorded a clear increase in Vaasa. Both companies say bedbug problems are growing in cities across Finland. Travel is a common way for the insects to spread, while the increasing trade in second-hand furniture is another significant factor.

Pikkarainen and fellow pest controller Jarkko Kataja said social media sales pose more of a concern than flea markets. They said some people sell furniture even when they know it is likely to contain bedbugs or eggs. Pikkarainen recalled finding a bed in a house in Jakobstad that had been taken from a Vaasa home where bedbugs had been found. The new occupants had bought it cheaply through an online flea market.

Furniture can look clean while bedbugs or their eggs remain hidden in cracks and corners. Pikkarainen advised people not to discard beds or sofas before contacting a pest controller, because the furniture can help establish how extensive the infestation is.

In one Vaasa apartment, pest controllers packed a resident’s belongings into a large tent and heated it to 56 degrees Celsius for a weekend. Pikkarainen said the heat kills living bedbugs and their eggs. The resident was moving out and wanted to prevent the insects from coming along.

The increase is also affecting Vaasa Central Hospital. Infection control chief physician Silvia Grönroos-Pada said patients increasingly arrive with bedbugs at home. The insects do not spread diseases, she said, but their bites can cause itching.

When staff suspect a patient may have bedbugs at home, the patient showers on arrival and their clothes are sealed in plastic bags. The hospital has also called pest controllers to patient rooms in some cases. Grönroos-Pada said more patients need to be treated in isolation, putting pressure on available care spaces and adding costs.