Photo: CTV News Kelowna General Hospital is used to dealing with medical outbreaks, but bed bugs are a different matter altogether. Castanet received information that KGH staff were dealing with an outbreak of bed bugs in a staff room in early September. A Home Health media spokesperson confirmed the recent outbreak in the staff room. “September 7th and pest control was done immediately and extermination was successfully completed,” said IH. Bed bugs do not travel directly to people, but attach to clothing, sheets or furniture and can even get into luggage. Because of this, people can spread bed bugs to others without even knowing it. Bed bugs are generally not considered a health hazard, although there has been at least one documented case of anemia. However, the itchiness they leave is a problem for patients. The Home Health representative tells Castanet that they called pest control, “the concern was limited to one area and there were no other problems.”
