Here is something I received at work:
>BEDBUG RESURGENCE - UK, USA
>************************
>A ProMED-mail post
><
http://www.promedmail.org/>
>ProMED mail is a program of the
>International Society for Infectious Diseases
http://www.isid.org/
>
>Date: 15 Apr 2004
>From: Dr. Alfonso Rodriguez <arodriguezm@SaludFMV.org>
>Source: The Scotsman Newspaper, Scotland 14 Apr 2004 [edited]
><
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/health.cfm?id=419522004>
>
>
>Bed bugs find warm reception on their return to the West
>---------------------------------------------------------
>Bed bugs are staging a big come-back in developed countries around the
>world, including Britain, it was claimed yesterday.
>
>Once common, the blood sucking insects were virtually driven out of
>bedrooms by the 1980s. But since 1995 there has been an unexpected
>increase in reports of bed bug infestation in Britain, the United
>States, and other developed countries. Experts say one theory is that
>the creatures may be developing resistance to pesticides.
>
>The bed bug's return is revealed this month by the Institute of
>Biology.
>
>Clive Boase, of the Haverhill-based company Pest Management
>Consultancy, wrote in the Institute magazine Biologist: "Data from some
>sources indicate that, since the mid-1990s, the numbers of reported
>infestations has almost doubled annually, although numbers are nowhere
>near those of pre-war levels."
>
>Bed bugs, which measure up to 5 mm across, thrive in warm surroundings,
>making their homes around mattress seams, in bed frames, behind
>headboards
or
>skirting boards, and within furniture and electrical fittings. Even
>when deprived of blood, individual bugs can survive a year or more,
>allowing infestations to persist in empty properties or stored
>furniture.
>
>In heated premises with an adequate food supply, a small starting
>population of bed bugs can develop into several thousand within a year.
>
>Various theories have been put forward to explain the return of bed
>bugs in countries which had previously banished them, said Mr Boase. It
>had been suggested that previously bed bugs had suffered "collateral
>damage" caused by broad-spectrum insecticide sprays used against other
>pests such as cockroaches and ants. Now, specific targeting of pests
>using bait products was allowing the bugs to "escape". However, Mr
>Boase said it was unlikely that kitchen-focused spray treatments would
>have ever held bed bugs in check.
>
>An alternative theory was that the bugs were becoming resistant to
>pesticides. Recently, a study from East Africa had shown an
>association between the use of pesticide-treated mosquito nets and the
>growth of resistance in bed bugs. The pesticide involved, a pyrethroid,
>was a type widely used in bed bug sprays in developed countries.
>
>--
>ProMED-mail
><promed@promedmail.org>
>
>[The original article by Clive Boase was published in the Biologist
>(see refs below), a publication of the British Institute of Biology.
>The British media picked up the story and it was aired on the BBC News
>on 14 Apr 2004, and summaries printed on the same day in several
>newspapers including The Times and The Independent as well as in the
>The Scotsman, who incidentally misspelt throughout their report Mr
>Boase's name as Bose.
>
>The 2 common bedbug species that feed on humans are _Cimex
>lectularius_, widely distributed in tropical and non-tropical
>countries, and _Cimex hemipterus_, commonly called the tropical bedbug,
>is essentially a species of Old and New World tropics, although it is
>found in warm areas of some non-tropical countries such as Florida in
>the USA.
>
>It is true that since about 1995 bedbugs seem to have increased not
>just in the UK, but elsewhere in Europe and in the USA.
>
>Several decades ago during slum clearance in inner cities in the UK,
>people who were rehoused in newly built homes were again soon pestered
>by bedbugs, because they took them with them in their beds, mattresses,
>and other furniture, and to a lesser extent in hand-baggage such as
>suitcases.
>
>Although hepatitis B surface antigen can exist for about 6 weeks in
>bedbugs and be passed out with the feces, thereby seemingly posing the
>danger that it may be scratched into skin lesions, there is no evidence
>that such transmission is important, or even occurs. Similarly HIV can
>survive on bedbug mouthparts for about an hour, but there is no
>evidence that HIV is transmitted by the bugs. Nevertheless, repeated
>feeding by large numbers of bedbugs have been reported as causing
>anemia in infants, while their persistent biting can cause sleepless
>nights, and in some people also severe allergic reactions. Bedbugs
>also feed on pigs and poultry; _C. lectularius_ sometimes becomes a
>pest of commercial poultry in North America and Europe, causing anemia
>in the birds
>
>Bedbugs have developed resistance to several insecticides including, as
>reported in the press releases in some areas, to pyrethroid
>insecticides. For example, in Tanzania, there have been reports of
>resistance to alphacypermethrin and permethrin, insecticides commonly
>used for impregnating bed nets for control of anopheline vectors of
>malaria.
>
>References:
>
>Boase, C.J. (2001) Bedbugs - back from the brink. _Pesticide Outlook_,
>12, (4) 159-162.
>
>Boase, C.J. (2004) Bed-bugs - reclaiming our cities. _Biologist_ 54 (1)
1-4.
>
>Myamba, J., Maxwell, C.A. and Curtis, C.F. (2002) Pyrethroid resistance
>in tropical bedbugs (_Cimex hemipterus_) associated with use of treated
bednets.
>_Medical and Veterinary Entomology_, 16, 448-451
>-- Mod.MS]
>
>[see also:
>1996
>----
>Mechanical transmission by mosquitoes (10) 19960417.0736]
>..................ms/pg/jw
Yes, I've been quite itchy for the last couple of days since this first became a topic! Trust me, I'm the winner of the biggest bug phobia award! I told my DH I will not sleep well on our trip to WL for the first few nights! He said we could stop at the store and buy some Saran Wrap for me to use at night! LOL
