Brandon Library Closing To Battle Barrage Of Bed Bugs

BRANDON, FL – Apparently, bookworms aren’t the only creatures that like to make their home in books. Hillsborough County has been forced to close the Brandon Regional Library for three days after bed bugs were discovered in some returned library books.

According to Hillsborough County spokeswoman Michelle Van Dyke, library staff found bed bugs in some the books Tuesday, Feb. 20.

Those books were promptly discarded but officials fear some of the bugs may have escaped in search of a food source.

Bed bugs are parasites that feed exclusively on blood. Their preferred habitat is warm bedding, leading officials to speculate that the borrower of the bed bug-beseiged books was reading in bed. Seeking to feed on human blood, the creatures may have crawled into the books and were trapped between the pages.

The county has brought in a pest control company to rid the library at 619 Vonderburg Drive of any remaining insects. The company will inspect, treat and clean the 25,000-square-foot library, which shares a building with Center Place, Brandon’s nonprofit fine arts and cultural center.

"Out of an abundance of caution, they’ll sweep the entire building," VanDyke said.

The library is expected to reopen on Friday. Until then, all scheduled programs and events at the library have been canceled.

Although Center Place is in the same building, it is separated by the building's entryway so Center Place has not been affected by the closure of the library.

Bed bugs in books is not unprecedented. The American Library Association offers library staff tips on spotting the bugs, preventing infestations and treating the problem.

According to the association, 99.6 percent of pest control companies have treated homes, hotels and businesses for bed bug infestation in the past year, and 17 percent of these treatments were at libraries.

Van Dyke said the last time this occurred in Hillsborough County was in 2015 when an upholstered chair at the North Tampa Branch Library was discovered to have bed bugs.

In addition to enforcing a quarantine and treating the library, the association recommends following up with the book borrower and possibly suspending the library patron’s privileges.

Although the library staff believes the books with bed bugs came from a single source, Van Dyke said it's not definite and statutes dealing with the confidentiality of library patrons prevent the library from approaching the suspected source.

There are several treatments for bed bugs. Fumigation with chemicals or the application of chemicals is the most common. There are 300 chemicals approved for treating bed bugs.

For upholstered furniture and mattresses, a steam-cleaning method is the preferred treatment.

The National Pest Management Association also recommends heat treatment to kill the bed bugs at all stages, including the eggs. Generally, the facility is heated to 113 degrees for seven hours.

Hillsborough County has chosen to use the heat method at the Brandon library. The estimated cost is $6,000.

"It's safe and effective, and it doesn't use any harsh chemicals," Van Dyke said.

With the incidence of bed bug infestations on the rise, many pest management companies have begun using dogs that are trained to detect bed bugs by sniffing the bugs’ pheromones. This has proven 90 percent effective, according to the library association.

Until the Brandon library reopens, residents are invited to use the Bloomingdale Regional Library, 1906 Bloomingdale Ave., Valrico; the Seffner-Mango Branch Library, 410 N. Kingsway Road, Seffner, or the 78th Street Community Library, 7625 Palm River Road, Tampa.

Image via American Library Association