Politicians attending the Democratic National Convention might encounter more than their typical supporters and policy naysayers while staying in Charlotte, North Carolina this year.  According to a report from the Washington Times on September 3, 2012, Democrats could be facing an itchy battle they were not expecting this week as nine of the ten hotels that are reserved for attendees of the Democratic National Convention have had reports of bed bugs living among the rooms in recent months.  According to the report, previous patrons of the hotels that are being used by the Convention have reported being bitten by the blood thirsty pests to the BedBugRegistry.com and BedBugReports.com.

The Washington Times article states that the  environmental supervisor for the Mecklenburg County Health Department has reported that “We did inspect all of the hotels and we do respond to complaints.”  He additionally said “We’re required to inspect them once a year, and we inspected them all after the start of the new fiscal year [July 1].”

In the world of bed bugs, inspecting hotels in July is great, but the reality is that a hotel can bed bug free on one day and infested on another due to the fact that any guest, hotel employee, delivery person, sales person, etc. can bring in bed bugs with them at any moment in time. Apparently, a search of Charlotte, North Carolina hotels revealed that there were more than 30 different hotels in the Charlotte area that had guests who had recently reported being attacked by bed bugs.

Politicians are just as susceptible to bringing home bed bugs as any other hotel guest that visits any hotel in the world.  As such, to remain bed bug free, they should follow strict bed bug protocol when traveling to a hotel.