Family Returns Home After Bird Mite Invasion

Fayetteville, N.C. — After tons of chemicals and weeks spent in a motel, a Fayetteville family's battle with bird mites is finally over.

The problems for the Kounas family began when chimney swifts nested in a smokestack. Bird mites are tiny bugs that can infest people's homes when birds build their nests nearby.

Michelle Kounas said she and her two children were covered in bites. They threw out 75 percent of what they owned, ripped out carpet and launched a mini-chemical war against the pests by putting Borax on the floors.

"It was pretty much a nightmare," Kounas said.

After weeks of torture for Kounas and her kids, entomologists at N.C. State sought advice from experts around the globe. They came up with a treatment plan that finally worked.

Professionals doused all the floors of the house with a different kind of pesticide, used a chemical bomb on the entire second floor and attic, then sprayed an enzyme cleaner over everything.

Michelle Kounas said spending two weeks in a motel did not hurt either.

"Bird mites need human blood to lay eggs, so while we were gone, they couldn't multiply," she said. "We haven't been bit or had any other problems."

Adult mites are only a half-millimeter long. They are white until they feed on blood, then appear red. They commonly infest bedrooms and bathrooms and are most active at night.

Kounas' husband, Andrew, was home from Iraq on emergency leave to help with the bugs. Now, he's was back at war. The family has been living out of plastic bags, just in case the nasty bugs came back.

On top of the family's troubles, they say All American Services, the company initially hired to remove the bugs, never finished the job. Now the Kounas' are out $2,000. No one from the company returned WRAL's phone calls.