SAFETY:REPORTS THIS week that the deaths of a number of tourists in Thailand could have been as a result of them inhaling a spray used to kill bed bugs has focused attention on another potential hazard for travellers.
The tourists who died included 23-year-old New Zealander Sarah Carter, a British couple in their seventies, and an American-born tour guide, all of whom developed heart problems while staying at the same hotel in Chiang Mai. A Canadian man who visited the hotel also died. Initial reports suggested consumption of toxic seaweed at a nearby night market had caused their deaths until a New Zealand TV station sent an undercover reporter to the hotel who took swabs from the room where Ms Carter and her two travelling companions, who also became gravely ill, had stayed.
Dr Ron McDowall, a consultant to the United Nations who specialises in hazardous chemicals, said independent testing of the swabs had found traces of the toxin chlorpyrifos. “I think she was killed by an overzealous sprayer, who has been acting on the instruction of the hotel owner to deal with bed bugs,” he told the 60 Minutes current affairs programme which undertook the investigation.
Chlorpyrifos is commonly used across Asia for killing bed bugs and cockroaches, he added. It is normally used in small quantities but a mistake with the dosage could prove lethal.
Dr Colm Moore, technical manager at Rentokil in Ireland, says the chemical is banned for indoor use in many countries. If it did cause the deaths in Thailand he believes there was probably “very over exuberant” or “off-label” use of the product. The deaths probably require further investigation, he said.
The Department of Agriculture confirmed there are currently no biocide products with the active substance chlorpyrifos registered in Ireland.
Bed bugs are a growing problem in Ireland and around the world because of increased travel and the fact that the bugs are becoming more tolerant of, and resistant to, pesticides. A recent survey found some 95 per cent of pest control companies in the US dealt with a bed bug infestation in 2010, up from 25 per cent in 2000. Similarly, the number of call-outs Rentokil received to deal with bed bug infestations in Ireland increased by 64 per cent over the 10 years to 2008. In one case a woman summoned them to deal with an infestation in her home after she travelled from New Zealand. The bugs probably travelled in her luggage.
Rentokil exterminates the bugs in hotels, hostels, hospitals and people’s homes using approved insecticides or a chemical-free heat treatment which kills the insects by getting the core temperature in the room to 56 degrees. Dr Moore always inspects his bed for bugs when travelling. If there are marks on the corner of a mattress or a headboard which looks like somebody spilt coffee grains on it, these are signs bed bugs have been around. This is their faecal matter, Dr Moore said.
* bedbugregistry.com