Bedbug treatment set for Ronald Reagan Building

Two areas of the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center infiltrated by bedbugs will be treated by pest control experts on Tuesday, five days after the critters were found, according to officials.

Juvenile bedbugs were found Thursday in an office tower occupied by the U.S. Agency for International Development and a nearby closet, the agency said. Pest control experts inspected the affected areas on Friday and planned to treat them with an aerosol, steam and liquid mixture.

USAID and the building's owner, the General Services Administration, did not say why they are waiting until Tuesday to treat the affected areas.

Workers will be able to reoccupy the affected offices four hours after they are treated, and pest control experts will reinspect the area with specially trained dogs in three weeks, USAID said.

Employees learned of the bedbugs and treatment plan in an e-mail Thursday.

The Reagan Building is in downtown Washington and is one of the largest federal installations in the country. It also houses offices of the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Those offices are bedbug-free, agency representatives said.

Bedbugs are bloodsucking insects that can cause allergic reactions and infections.