The mother of a three-year-old girl in Bermondsey – who is allergic to bedbugs but has had to live with the blood-sucking parasites for more than a year – has said she feels like she is hitting her head against a brick wall.
Cheryl Green lives with her three-year-old daughter and three other children under the age of twelve on the Rennie Estate on Rotherhithe New Road.
She first realised she had bedbugs in her council flat in summer 2020 and called Southwark’s pest control team for help. Since then, she said, council workers have been to the property four times to eliminate the parasite infestation, but with little success.
Cheryl said the most recent time council workers came round, one told her that they would be coming back in two weeks in case there were any eggs that hadn’t hatched yet and would need to be caught. Unlike bedbugs, the eggs can be invisible to the naked eye.
But Cheryl said that this worker was the first person who suggested coming back for a follow-up visit, despite it being the fourth time the pest control team had been round – suggesting council staff may have missed opportunities to get rid of the bedbugs much earlier.
As a result of the bedbug bites, her little daughter’s arms have been swelling up, and her skin has been flaring up and getting very itchy. Cheryl called the doctor, who said that her daughter was allergic to bedbug bites. She has been treating her with antihistamines, which was the doctor’s advice.
But Cheryl said she was worried her daughter could have an even more serious reaction to the bites. “If they bite her in the wrong place what’s going to happen?”, she asked. Anaphylaxis, a very severe kind of reaction that can be deadly, is a rare but possible consequence of bedbug allergies, according to the NHS.
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Meanwhile Cheryl’s ten-year-old son is also suffering, she said. He is autistic and suffers from anxiety. He struggles to sleep knowing that there are bedbugs in the flat that could bite him.
The whole ordeal has taken its toll on Cheryl as well. “It’s messing with my mental health,” she said. “I feel like I’m going to cry. I feel like I’m hitting my head against a brick wall now. I just want them to sort out the problem.”
She said she has asked the council to move her and her family into temporary accommodation, but had been denied.
Southwark Council was contacted for comment but did not respond by the time of publication.