ABOVE: Ban Don Thong Sub-district Health Promoting Hospital, Thailand.

A hospital in Thailand is one of the latest success stories for Xterm, the termite baiting solution from Sumitomo Chemical. Despite the hospital having a long history of termite infestation, Xterm effectively removed the termites within just six weeks. Ms Metra Rungsang, director of Ban Don Thong Sub-district Health Promoting Hospital, explained the challenges hospital staff faced with termites before Xterm. “We found termites destroying the storage cabinet containing medical patient profile records, the medicine cabinet and medical equipment cabinet in the examination room, and our built-in cabinet in the waiting room.

Ms. Metra Rungsang (center), Director of Ban Don Thong Sub-district Health Promoting Hospital.

“The hospital is about ten years old and was built in 2009. It was alarming to deal with the termite infestation. We used termiticide powder back in 2017 but termite problem still persisted. Therefore, we switched to a termite bait and used it until June 2018. Despite that, it was still not effective in eliminating termites completely.

In 2019, thanks to First Pest Service Thailand and Xterm, we were finally able to solve the termite problem that had been bothering us for a long time within just six weeks. “We were very satisfied with Xterm because it eliminated the entire colony. We saw how the bait was shared with other termites. With this, the hospital management does not have to pay for termite control every year.

It is effective in removing termites without leaving any residue and no drilling is required. We would recommend Xterm to others.”

The effective termite solution

Ms Chiraratch Thanyawatcharoen,
Manager of First Pest Service Thailand
Co., shared her experience of the job.

How were termites affecting the hospital?
The termite infestation was found in a few locations across the hospital. The medical patient profile records storage cabinet, the medicine cabinet, the examination room equipment storage cabinet and the built-in cabinet in the waiting room. The termite infestations started in 2013. The hospital had termite challenges for six years.

How long had Xterm been applied before there were signs of successful results?
We checked the bait station seven days after installation and opened it up for the hospital staff to observe Xterm in action. A large number of worker termites were eating almost the entire bait. The sounds of termites knocking within the cabinets were gone in a month. There were no signs of termites. We took about a month and a half to completely eliminate the termites.

How does Xterm work?
Xterm is a termite bait that includes both in-ground and above-ground (AG) systems. In this case, we installed an AG bait system. Although there were other food sources nearby, the termites were attracted to the bait. Xterm contains an insect growth regulator
(IGR), which affects termite moulting. The IGR could be transferred to other termites in the colony, including the queen and/or king termite, thus eliminating the colony from within.

Originally published in Termite Professional magazine ASEAN Edition 2022