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The panic is on! Bedbugs, a flat, brown bug 2-4mm long that feeds on human blood are crawling into America's bedrooms at an alarming rate. It's like the H1N1 flu panic last year. People don’t go to the movies after bedbugs were found in the seats of a movie theater in Times Square, at CNN offices, a Victoria’s Secret store, and the offices of Elle Magazine. But beyond the bites and the itching, it has become a social disease. Fear and suspicion has grown. If you scratch or have insect bites that others can see, people walk away. You don't get the job or the party invitation and friends do not visit. Health officials have been bombarded with bedbug reports. A US Pest Management study shows that outbreaks are up 81% nationwide since 2000.
This sudden rise in the USA (formerly a bedbug-free nation) has surprised the medical experts, pest-control industries, and millions of Americans who now use expensive and toxic chemicals to kill bugs that can live anywhere without eating for up to a year. They feed at night, doubling in size as they suck. Bedbugs were once a rare site but are back due to the ban on the use of DDT. The bugs do not carry disease but they bite and itch and can hitch rides on clothing, and use furniture like bus stops waiting for the next ride - and they are traveling fast these days.
Bedbugs are also known as Cimex lectularius, and University of Florida entomology professor Philip Koehler says, "America's bedbug problem has reached epidemic proportions. It's getting worse and there's no end in sight. Especially in the Northeast, bedbugs are becoming a common part of everyone's lives" A bedbug epidemic in Ohio grows so severe that the Environmental Protection Agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and even the Defense Department have been brought in to consult. It is infesting homes, stores, offices, hotels, hospitals, vehicles, schools, theaters, and restaurants. Did you ride home in a car, bus or train? You might have been feeding bedbugs while sitting in your seat. Professor Koehler has even seen bedbugs infesting deluxe retirement condos and VA-hospital waiting rooms, crawling out of purses and backpacks, and pouring by the thousands from wheelchairs whose paralyzed riders could not feel the bites.
Almost any environment under 120 degrees Fahrenheit can support bedbugs. A single pregnant stowaway on a sleeve, say, or in a thrift-shop cushion could chase you out of your home. So - sleep tight, and don't let the bedbugs bite!
