Utrecht student residence infested by bedbugs

Most people are familiar with bedbugs, though they are creatures one would rather not encounter. The itchy bites eventually go away, but having bedbugs at home can have serious consequences that not everyone is aware of. UU student Sjoerd learned this the hard way. His troubles started when his housemate, Teun, sent him a message saying: “Guys, I have something to tell you. I think I have bedbugs.”

Sjoerd and Teun live in a house with ten other students. They all turned to the Community Health Service (Dutch acronym: GGD) to learn more about their unwanted cohabitants. “Bedbugs are egg-shaped insects about 5 millimetres long that are attracted to human scent. They are mainly active in the evening. During the day, they hide inside cracks in the furniture. They drink human blood and then leave itchy bumps behind,” the website informs. 

The page also explains that people often bring bedbugs home after a holiday, when the tiny creatures hitch a ride on suitcases and bags. It is therefore advisable to empty suitcases outside or in the bathroom and wash all clothes at 60 degrees before returning them to the wardrobe. Once someone has bedbugs in their home, they often have to call a pest control service, which can quickly become expensive.

Multiple nests
Sjoerd and Teun are fictitious names, as both students consider their story too sensitive to reveal their real names. Teun discovered traces of the bugs in his bed. Suddenly, his sheets had bloodstains and excrement in the form of small black dots. However, Teun didn't suffer from any itchy bites. He only noticed the traces after his friend started complaining. "As a result, we didn't realise we had an infestation until it was too late. There were already several nests in my room."

After reading the GGD website, Teun called a pest control company, which sprayed poison in his room that same day. Unfortunately, however, that wasn't the end of the story as the bedbugs had already nested deep in the cracks of Teun's room and bed frame. To make matters worse, bugs were also found in other rooms. The housemates then called the exterminator again to tackle one of the other rooms, at a cost of 400 euros. Once again, the poison was insufficient to eliminate the bugs. Sjoerd: ‘Then it dawned on us that the problem could not be solved by treating individual rooms. The bugs were in the entire house. Those creatures don't stick to the boundaries of a room."

Social isolation
Now, almost three months later, Sjoerd and Teun's student residence seems to be winning the battle against bedbugs. All the rooms on the top floors have been treated with poison three times. Four bed frames and a wardrobe had to be discarded. However, according to the housemates, the red bumps, the practical problems and the costs, which ran into thousands of euros, were not the worst part. The emotional consequences took a much heavier toll. The main thing that comes to mind when Sjoerd and Teun look back on the battle is the social disruption they faced and the tough choices they had to make.

The two students say that their housemates did not want to spread the bugs inside and outside the house, so they decided to stop inviting people over. Some of them left the house as little as possible. "This had a huge impact on our lives, especially because it lasted three months," recollects Sjoerd, who stayed at home a lot. ‘One of us even had someone point out to her on the street that there was a bug on her bag. It was a bedbug. That sort of thing makes you cautious." Teun did the opposite: he actually started going outside more often, though the caution required to do that cost him a lot of time. He checked his bag and clothes for bugs and eggs thoroughly every time he left the house. Needless to say, the bed bug problem had a significant impact on Teun and Sjoerd's social lives.

They also had a difficult time deciding who to tell about it. "People are quick to think it's disgusting, or they are afraid that you'll infect them," says Sjoerd. "It's so hard to decide who to tell and what to say, especially because not everyone is aware that this can happen to anyone."

Expensive choices
Additionally, the relationships between the housemates became strained. They distanced themselves from each other due to the infestation. They were faced with some difficult choices as well. "Suddenly, we were arguing about who had the most right to use the washing machine or the freezer," recollects Sjoerd, explaining that one has to wash their clothes at 60 degrees or put them in the freezer to kill the bugs and their eggs. The housemates started holding meetings to make bedbug-related decisions. "We also found it very unpleasant that one of our housemates had to get rid of his wardrobe. These are not things you want to ask of your roommates. Although these measures are necessary, they are unpleasant."

In addition to practical matters, the housemates argued a lot about who was to blame. Though the cause of the infestation remained unknown, it was easy to see that no one had been negligent. "It was clear that this could have happened to anyone," says Sjoerd, "so we decided to share the responsibility and costs."

The role of the landlord
Student housing provider SSH, from whom Sjoerd and Teun rent a room, is aware of the problems that bedbugs can cause. They are also aware that more student residences are affected. Tenants are responsible for paying the costs of treating infestations, but SSH helps students by covering the cost of detecting the infestation, a procedure that utilises traps to determine whether the bites are caused by bedbugs or not. The landlord hopes that this will enable any infestation to be quickly identified and dealt with. 

SSH website also provides a step-by-step plan with tips on how to combat an infestation. Sjoerd and Teun regret that the tips focus on practical aspects. In their view, SSH could offer more guidance on how to alleviate the emotional burden of an infestation. Some of the questions the housing provider could help students with include: When is it advisable to hold weekly meetings with housemates? Who should and should not be informed about the infestation? Can students still welcome guests in their homes or visit others? When should they consider throwing away furniture? "It is not SSH's responsibility, but they are in a good position to offer guidance to people who are dealing with an infestation like we did."

The number of SSH homes that suffer from bedbugs each year is not known to the landlord. "Keeping track of these numbers is one of the things we have on our list to implement in the future," says SSH spokesperson Joris van Eijck. "SSH is always open to addressing areas for improvement suggested by students.’

DUB's editors know Sjoerd and Teun's real names and address.