VIRGINIA BEACH -- Seven rooms at a Va. Beach motel are closed due to bed bug infestation, health department officials say.
Someone filed a complaint about MacThrift Motor Inn at the Oceanfront, so the city's hotel taskforce, which consists of representatives from the Health Department, Code Enforcement and the Fire Department,went out and inspected the hotel on Wednesday.
Seven of the motel's 52 roomshave beentaken offline due to bed bug infestation, said city spokeswoman CarissaFrasca.
Kelly Kennedy,who lives with her familyat the motel, says it's been a problem off and onfor the approximately two years she's lived at the motel.
'When Ifirst moved in, Inoticed that my daughter was breaking out a little bit, so Ifigured it was something like that,'she said. 'They're little black bugs crawling all over the bed and everything.'
The motel owner is required to have a pest control operator treat thoserooms before they can be used. Management had no comment when 13News asked about the situation.
There was one bed bug complaint filed earlier this year,butit wasn't substantiated andone complaint filed in September 2009 thatwas substantiated, confirmed Frasca.
She said there were no complaints for 2008 and one complaint per year in 2007 and 2006, but she didn't know whether those complaints were substantiated.
Bed bugs can easily travel on a person's clothing or luggage and can make homes anywhere.However, with proper treatment, they are easily removed, Frasca noted.
