Recently a woman died and a man is seriously ill due to receiving kidney transplants from a donor who carried the LCMV virus. The virus was responsible for the death of three other kidney transplant patients on the east coast in 2005.

The donor was a homeless man. Experts suggest he received the virus from rodents, pets or wild animal droppings. Typically the virus causes symptoms similar to the flu. 

The virus is not easily passed from human to human. The only known way the virus is acquired from another human is from mother to fetus.

Due to the small supply of available organs, recipients will often take an organ from someone at high risk of disease and health problems. 

It does not seem to be a major problem with pregnant women, but avoiding animal droppings is another issue that pregnant women need to be concerned about more than most people.

Throughout history rodents have always been a problem or a nuisance for people all over the world. Professional rodent control services in New York City and New Jersey can be quite helpful if you have not been able to get rid of rats and other unwanted critters. Be sure to avoid their droppings.

How do you know when to hire a pest control company? Some pests can present a health threat or property damage risk that demands the immediate attention of a pest control professional. It helps if you can identify the cause of the problem.

If you hear scurrying across the ceiling at night or hear scratching or high pitched cries coming from the attic, chances are squirrels or a raccoon have moved into your attic. Little black pellets on the floor or shelves of your garage or basement are likely to be mouse or rat droppings. The sight of a trail of ants across the kitchen floor, a cockroach scurrying under the stove, a beetle or two on the carpet are all signs of a potential infestation.

Sometimes a problem is first noticed by the effects the insect’s presence. If you wake up with itchy welts on your body, bed bugs could be the culprit. If you discover round holes in the fascia of your house, be on the lookout for carpenter bees. If you find dirt tunnels on the side of your home, it’s time for a termite inspection. The discovery of mounds of sawdust along your foundation could indicate carpenter ants.

If you see signs of a pest problem, contact a pest control professional. He can tell you what your treatment options are and take care of the problem before more damage occurs.

City agencies are swatting at the “bed bugs on the subway” story faster than a bed bug victim scratching his bites. The fracas started when NYC Housing Department educator Edward Brownbear told a Brooklyn audience he had seen bed bugs on a woman at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn subway station. Meeting attendee Heather Letzkus of Greenpoint wrote in her blog, “I was horrified. It’s a very scary thing. Just the thought that I could pick them up by sitting on a subway bench freaks me out.” Fear that the nefarious nocturnal blood-suckers had invaded the subway system tore through the news media, provoking consternation and denial by city officials.

The facts are that bed bugs are easily transported on clothing, backpacks, briefcases and suitcases by often unsuspecting victims. “If you go way back 100 years ago, bed bugs were very common on trains, on buses, in taxicabs, in all modes of transport,” University of Kentucky entomologist Michael Potter told the New York Times. The noted bed bug expert explained that bed bugs could easily harbor in cracks and crevices on subway benches and on seats in the trains. “In other areas of the world where bed bugs are also a big problem, like India, there have been reports of massive problems of bed bugs on trains and on benches.” He’s heard similar reports about bed bugs on European trains.  However, Potter didn’t think New Yorkers should panic. “This is still probably a rare occurrence and people shouldn’t stop riding the subway.”

New York City Transit spokesman Charles Seaton reassured subway riders that a bed bug infestation had not yet been confirmed, saying, “We will send people to check to see whether there is this problem.” Until then, watch where you sit.

People all over the country have to deal with pesky raccoons, even city dwellers. Raccoons enjoy residing in the underground sewer system and other locations. Unfortunately, raccoons sometimes have rabies. Rabid raccoons tend to initiate brawls with other animals. If you see one attacking a stout Grizzly bear he may have rabies or he may just have a massive ego.

If you live in an area where raccoons wander around it’s a good idea to vaccinate your pets against the disease. Rabies can kill. The variety of rabies that inhabit raccoons is a serous public health problem since it can be passed on to other animals.

The virus is contained in the critters’ saliva and is passed to their victims by bites and scratches. If you live in a community that features raccoons you might want to check with the appropriate public officials and inquire if they are willing to use baits that include a vaccine that when consumed by raccoons  protects the varmints from rabies. The bait is being utilized in various parts of the country. If  your community selects the right type of bait it will not harm dogs if they happen to eat a few for a snack. If you notice a rabid animal, immediately contact your government officials. 

Lights! Camera! Action! Bed bug expert Douglas Stern, owner of Stern Environmental Group, appeared on CBS affiliate WPRI-TV Eyewitness 12 News in Providence, Rhode Island this week. Interviewed by Susan Hogan, the station’s Call 12 for Action consumer problem solver, Stern explained the benefits of Cryonite, an icy carbon dioxide spray that freezes bed bugs, killing them before they can scurry away.

Bed bugs reports have increased by 500% in the last decade, Hogan told viewers, with single-family homes and apartments bearing the brunt of recent infestations. Here’s how the station broke down bed bug sightings:

• 44.6% single-family homes and apartments
• 37.2% hotels and motels
• 16.2% other
• 2% college dorms

Traditionally used chemical sprays don’t work on today’s bed bugs which have developed a resistance to traditional treatments, University of Kentucky entomologist Michael Potter told Hogan. Cryonite is one of a new generation of bed bug treatments being used to kill these super bugs. Effectively used in Europe for years, Stern is one of a select number of companies able to offer Cryonite in the U.S.

Click here to watch a video clip of the program which shows bed bugs in action and Cryonite in use. (Click the CBS Call 12 for Action 5/12-Bed bugs title under the video player.)  For more information on bed bugs and Cryonite, visit the Stern website.

According to the New York Post the bed bugs have invaded the subway system; well they have been spotted on benches and the backside of a subway traveler by a city bed bug educator. Now you have a great excuse to take a limousine to work or build the helicopter pad on top of your guest house that you have been contemplating. Perhaps it’s a good time to forget the subway and saunter or sashay to work.

If you are going to bravely ride the New York subway, I strongly suggest you wear two sets of clothes and toss away the outer clothing before you enter your work place. I recommend you purchase a crate full of those inexpensive wear once and throw away Brooks Brother’s suits that come in a multitude of colors. Liz Claiborne is coming out with the “toss away to keep the bed bugs at bay” pantsuits (they only come in chartreuse and brown). 

What’s next? Perhaps we will learn that the bed bugs have invaded the Statue of Liberty or are living inside third base and attaching themselves to Yankees. 

If the bed bugs follow you home call Stern Environmental. We will spray some Cryonite on the bed bugs and they won’t be going back to the subway. 

Spring brings sunshine, warm breezes, blooming posies — and bugs. Insects are at their most prolific and most active when the weather heats up. Ants, bees, hornets, wasps, roaches and bed bugs are gearing up for summer and your home may be party central. If you’re not keen on sharing your domicile with a host of creepy-crawlies and their friends, you may need to call in a pest control professional to handle the evictions. How do you decide when to call and who to call? This week we’ll share tips on hiring a pest control company.

First you have to decide what’s eating you. The problem may be obvious. You may see a trail of ants across your kitchen floor. You may glimpse something scurrying under the fridge when you turn on the light. You may see fat bees buzzing around the eaves or spy a wasp nest under construction. But what if you suspect a problem, but can’t figure out the cause? Even worse, what if you wake up with itchy red welts? How do you figure out what’s biting you?

Try putting heavy-duty double-sided tape or glue traps on kitchen countertops, under sinks, and around windows, doors and headboards to see what sticks. Zip your catch into a plastic bag or dump that mystery bug into a small jar of rubbing alcohol. Take you catch to your local cooperative extension office or a pest control company for identification. They can tell you what you’ve got and how to get rid of it.

Hundreds of flighty Bee-listers swarmed the Upper East Side of Manhattan yesterday causing havoc at 75th and Second Avenue. But it wasn’t a low-budget film run amok that had people buzzing. This was a weird freak of nature more appropriate to the deep woods than a city sidewalk.

Frantic phone calls to 311 reported a cloud of bees swarming area bus shelters and creating general panic along sidewalks. Spectator Bill Orfanon described the noisy swarm “like debris, floating around in a whirlwind. It was pretty amazing.” 

Police contacted the Bronx Zoo for help which sent bee-keeper Jim Fischer to the rescue. Garbed head to toe in protective gear, the bee-buster arrived with a smoker box to calm and contain the bees. When finally under control, the tightly-packed colony covered the entire side of a newspaper box. “It’s how they reproduce,” Fischer explained. “Somewhere around here there’s another hive of bees. This one broke off and followed the queen.”

While bees are beneficial to nature, a swarm can pose a serious danger to humans. If bees are buzzing you, contact a pest professional for safe removal.

If you have noticed large black bees flying about your residence or boring holes in wood structures you may have been selected as the new resting and breeding place for carpenter bees. Typically they are noticed with the arrival of Spring. The males don’t have stingers but the females are equipped with one, however they rarely attack humans. They look like bumble bees but the upper portion of their abdomen is void of hair and is shiny black while the bumble bee has a harry stomach which features yellow marks. It should be noted that I have not actually inspected bee bellies.

Carpenter bees can be a big problem due to creating tunnels in wood items to lay their eggs. They prefer unpainted and weathered soft types of woods, particularly redwood, pine, cedar and cypress.

If you are searching for carpenter bee nesting locations make sure to inspect the eaves of the house, wooden shakes, window trims, decks and your outdoor furniture. The holes are quite round. If the site of the nest has been used for years, extensive damage can occur.

Prevention consists of painting wood surfaces. You may need to hire a professional pest control company to get rid of your carpenter bee infestation.

With spring come ants. The warm weather brings them out of their underground tunnels searching for food. You may find them swarming around the floor near your kitchen trash can or you may find them marching in a long line up your cabinets and onto the counter to finish off the maple syrup the kids left behind after breakfast. Most ants are a nuisance that can be controlled with bait traps and sprays, but carpenter ants can be destructive.

Larger than their kitchen-patrolling cousins, carpenter ants gnaw through wood. They typically build their nests and chow down on wet or damaged wood such as piles of lumber, hollowed trees and dead branches. But they’ll happily colonize your deck or porch, gnawing tunnels that can undermine the structure. 

Watch for blackish colored ants about 1/2-inch long. Winged ants indicate the establishment of a new colony. To protect your home, store firewood away from the house, remove stumps in the yard and keep tree limbs and shrubbery from touching the house. Once established, colonies can be difficult to treat as they burrow inside and outside your home. Professional pest control services will be necessary to rid your home and yard of carpenter ants.