LEBANON — A bedbug found by an employee last week led to the fumigation-caused illness of five employees at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.
On Aug. 19 at around 4:30 p.m., a single bedbug was reported in a patient room at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Audra Burns, a Dartmouth Health spokeswoman, said in a Monday email.
As a single bedbug can cause an infestation, the hospital moved to quickly seal off and treat the room.
Officials notified a third-party vendor, which began fumigation of the single room the next morning. The vendor, however, mistakenly used a fumigation product intended for well-ventilated, outdoor areas, Burns said.
The pesticide misapplication caused a few employees to feel ill, prompting five to receive treatment from DHMC’s emergency department and occupational medicine services, Burns said.
Common symptoms from pesticide exposure include headache, dizziness, muscular weakness and nausea, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Noticing an odor after the fumigation, staff members first alerted the occupational medicine services and then environmental services, Burns said.
As soon as environmental services heard about the issue, DH officials called the vendor to determine the fumigation product that was used — at which point the vendor discovered that the technician had incorrectly applied the pesticide, Burns said.
The room was then ventilated, cleaned and inspected — and operational at 1 p.m. on Aug. 20, Burns said.
The employees treated for fumigation illness have all since returned to work, Burns said. Burns did not respond to emailed questions about how long the employees were ill or how long they missed work.
The fumigation mistake caused no patient or patient care impact, Burns said.
Dartmouth Hitchcock has not had a spread of bedbugs in either its hospital or its clinics, Burns said.
In the past four years, since environmental services at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center took its current structure, there has not been any spread of bedbugs after an area was identified and treated, Burns said.
Bedbugs are common in hospitals, as people carry the insects in on their clothes or belongings.
A 2018 survey reported that 36% of pest control workers found bedbugs in hospitals during that year, according to the National Pest Management Association, a nonprofit organization that aims to support the pest control industry through education and policy work.
The bugs are not known to spread diseases to people, but their bites can cause itching and loss of sleep, according to the Center for Disease Control.