Students in six residence hall rooms discovered they had bed bugs during finals week last quarter, prompting DU to replace their mattresses, treat the rooms with chemicals and launder the students’ clothes to rid the infestation.

Two of the infested  rooms were in Nelson Hall and four were in Centennial Halls.

This number is higher than in past years, when DU typically treated two or three rooms in dorms, said Mike Furno, associate director of Housing and Residential Education. 

The cost of bringing in a pest control service to apply chemicals in the rooms varies by unit size and building.

Spraying one unit costs $145, a floor costs about $825 and a whole building costs about $1,350.

The infested mattresses were thrown out and replaced with new ones. A new mattress costs $150.

DU covers these costs, as well as the cost of washing and drying the students’ clothes and linens.

The high heat of a dryer gets rid of the bed bugs, which cannot survive temperatures greater than 130 degrees, said Furno.

None of the students had to throw out any clothing or sheets, he said.

Students do not always see bugs in their beds, but if they have any bites they should tell their RA, tell the front desk or put a work order in, said Furno. 

“As long as they tell someone in housing, then we get moving on it,” he said.  “We go after it as much as we can.”

The bed bug infestation started in New York City and has spread through the country.

A symposium was held last week in Wheatridge on the nationwide bed bug infestation. Those attending called on federal funds to find new means for controlling the bed bugs.

Some apartment owners have said they have spent thousands of dollars annually to control bed bugs in rental apartments.