Cimex lectularius, more commonly known as bedbugs, was confirmed plaguing three residences in the fall — Alondra, Granada and one Rains apartment. Stanford Student Housing is on a mission to inform students about these blood-feeding insects and has kicked off a comprehensive educational program about bedbug precautions and identifications.

“Since bedbugs are a worldwide issue that is showing signs of continuing growth, we want students to be aware of the overall problem and how they can help protect themselves and Stanford,” said Associate Director of Student Housing for Operations Imogen Hinds. “This phenomenon is occurring at most Universities around the country where students come and go and live in close-knit communities and share quarters.”

Student Housing serves about 12,500 student residents in over 350 buildings. Even though the impact bedbugs are having at Stanford remains very small, Executive Director Rodger Whitney said Student Housing takes each case seriously and works on containment quickly.

“The three cases that we have experienced this year are the norm for the past three to four years and is very much in line with other like-Universities around the country,” Whitney said.

During winter break, Crane Pest Control inspected all rooms in Florence Moore and Granada. No bedbugs or new infestations were found.

“As an added precautionary measure, we plan on following up these inspections again within the next several weeks, due to the bedbug life cycle,” Hinds noted. “All areas where we had incurred an infestation were handled per our pest control methods which enabled us to move students that needed to move-out over break to return to their residence.”

The one Rains apartment was a relatively low-grade case which is being addressed by standard protocols and affects only one student.

The new bedbugs Web page supplements Student Housing’s other preventative measures, which include sharing practices with other Universities and new pest inspection procedures after students move out of their residences.

Bedbugs are a “growing, worldwide problem brought about by increased travel and decreased use of pesticides,” according to the site.

“Although bedbugs are considered a nuisance bug and don’t carry any disease, they can have a noticeable impact on those who come in contact with them,” said Whitney. “It is very important that all do take steps to decrease their risk of being exposed to bedbugs and carrying them into our residences. Since we live in such a very tight community, if bedbugs are introduced in our residences, it is likely that more than just that one resident could have to deal with the situation.”

Whitney stated that most bedbugs are introduced into residences by people unknowingly carrying them into buildings.

“If we can help educate all those that live in our housing about how to identify bedbugs, how to avoid bedbugs and how to report early any possible problems with bedbugs, we can help control the problem and reduce the incidents and ideally eliminate it for our students and for our graduate and undergraduate residences,” Whitney said.

For more information regarding bedbugs, students should go to the Web site, http://www.stanford.edu/dept/hds/shs/bedbugs, or speak directly with their housing supervisor or student housing associate in their campus residential area, Whitney and Hinds said.