The latest local news, weather and high school sports from the Heartland

OTTUMWA, IOWA -- A fine powder lines the baseboards and the window sills of the Perez's home as bed bug repellent.

The Perez's live in an apartment complex on the northern side of Ottumwa, where they have lived since late May of this year. They are currently battling what other Midwesterner's have...an infestation of bed bugs.

"We started getting bites. We thought it was mosquitoes, we thought it was gnats, spiders...and it started getting to the point where it was just horrible. We were just scratching constantly," said resident Jean Perez.

An exterminator has been in the apartment but will be returning in seven days. The Perez's home is void of pictures on the wall and most furniture...including the couch.

“I had seen a little movement on the window sill…I was on the couch. And I can’t even explain it. You could barely see. If I didn’t see it moving, I wouldn’t have noticed it...what I’ve seen were the bigger ones we can actually see after they bite you. The more they bite you, I guess the bigger they get, the redder they get,” Jean said.

Their home is even void of a bed...

“When I took the sheet off and I went to sit up, there was a red bug right by where my head was laying,” Perez said.

KTVO spoke with the landlord, Roger Diveley about if he knew of the problem before the Perez's moved in.

“I knew I had a problem but I was taking care of it. And I thought I had it under control,” Diveley said.

When asked if he discussed the problem with his tenants...

“Actually I don’t remember discussing it with them,” Diveley said.

Ottumwa Public Health Director Jody Gates told KTVO on Friday morning that the city has spoken with Mr. Diveley about spraying, and he said that he is working on the problem.

Gates also expressed the dangers of curb shopping…or picking up furniture or other household items at the curbsides…and how easily and quickly parasites like bed bugs can spread.

Lynelle Diers is the Clinical Director of the Wapello County Public Health Nursing Services.

“They spread very quickly, they reproduce very quickly. And adult bed-bug can live up to almost a year without being on a human being. So they are very difficult to kill. The best methodology is to contact a professional exterminator. Do not try to take care of it yourself," Diers said.

Diers added that over the last six weeks, her department has received calls from around the area regarding bed bugs. She said the parasites have migrated from the East Coast to the Midwest over the last two years.

Heat is the best deterrent...such as washing clothes in hot water if you have been exposed to the parasites, or leaving them wrapped in a bag to heat in the sunlight for hours.

“For the last two nights I have slept in this chair at the kitchen table. I wouldn’t come where the carpet was. And my husband slept in the car in the parking lot. And we don’t sleep very much,” Perez said.

As far as finding the Perez's another home?

“I was going to consult with somebody on that but I haven’t been able to get a hold them so I just wasn’t sure on that,” Diveley said.

“I’m probably going to have to move. And then that’s another thought because I don’t want to move into somewhere thinking that I’m taking it with me. So that’s always going to be on my mind no matter where I move now,” Perez said.

“I’m working on the problem right now trying to get it resolved,” Diveley stated.

“I want people to know that there really are bed bugs. I’m 46 years-old and always thought it was like a fairy-tale type of thing. They’re out there. And I don’t want it to spread. That’s why I called City Hall to make sure the furniture was disposed of properly," Perez added.