One of the members of Connor’s Pest Protection’s K-9 team gets a bath. Image from their Facebook page.

Bed bugs have infested the Washingtonian media: headlines crawling with news of infestations in D.C. apartment buildings and even government offices. And while D.C. has not yet been taken over by an infestation as large as New York City’s, we definitely have a problem. Before you panic, though, we thought we’d cut through the myths and hysteria with some real information from a specialist in the bed bug business.

DCist spoke with Justin Shaffer, a NESDCA-certified handler in the K9 Bed Bug Detection Team at Connor’s Pest Protection and k-9 Pest Detectors for some information about the blood-sucking pests, how to detect them and what to do (and not do) to get rid them. Shaffer has also graciously offered to answer any follow-up questions DCist readers have.

[Ed. note: Normally, we close our comments on interviews, but since Mr. Shaffer has graciously offered to field follow-up questions from our readers, we figured it’d be easiest to keep them open. Fire away on all your bed bug questions, folks!]

For some general information on how to detect and deal with bed bugs, check the EPA’s bed bug site and Bed Bug Central, which has some helpful videos and podcasts. There’s also the Bed Bug Registry, where people track outbreaks in hotels and residences, and Bedbugger.com, which covers an assortment of bed bug news.