Travel Tips

Bed Bugs And Public Health Concerns

Bed bugs have probably been bothering people for ever, particularly in warmer countries. In fact Aristotle wrote about them in 400 BC, but they were not common in the United Kingdom until after the Great Fire of London in 1666. People deduced that bed bugs lived in wood because the bed bug plagues only started after 1670; they believed that the bed bugs that had come in with timber imported to reconstruct London.

They have been there ever since, except for about fifty years between the 1940′s and 1995. A similar pattern can be seen in most of the developed Western world, because after the Second World War there was a determined effort to clear out the old bomb-damaged city slums and start again. As they went through the cities clearing and cleaning they spread tons of DDT which virtually wiped out bedbugs and some other widespread household pests.

The authorities in the United States also went on the rampage with DDT with a similar result. Then something occurred and we can be quite specific about the date: in 1995 reports of bedbug infestations started flooding in again.

One area of London reported infestations of bedbugs doubling every year from 1995 to 2001 and the US National Pest Management Agency reported a 71% rise in bedbug incidents between 2000 and 2005. A pest control company in North Carolina said that a quarter of the hotels it surveyed between 2002 and 2006 had a bedbug problem.

Bedbugs feed by inserting two tubes into the host’s skin, one squirts in a sort of saliva containing anticoagulant and anaesthetic and the other sucks blood. This saliva can result in irritation in some individuals in the form of lumps, which may or may not itch. Having lots of bites can result in anaemia.

The main risk most people run is secondary infection from scratching with unclean finger nails. In 2008, the World health Organization gave the opinion that there was some evidence that bedbugs may cause asthma and that being bitten repeatedly may make the victim more susceptible to other diseases.

Bedbugs have all the right equipment and behavioural patterns to be able to spread diseases, but there have been no known instances to date. However, knowing that there are bedbugs around can cause some people to obsess about them, which often results in insomnia and irritability.

If you find bedbugs in your motel, you should report it to the manager and if you live in rented accommodation you should advise the landlord. If it is your own home you should seek guidance from the local Environmental Health Agency attached to the council, because bedbugs can proliferate from one house to the next very rapidly.

Many old terraced houses are not completely sealed off from one another enabling bedbugs to roam and establish new colonies and bedbugs can be taken home from hotels in your suitcase or clothing. Bedbugs are a matter for public concern, but they are not life-threatening.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently concerned with bed bugs spray. If you are interested in this, please visit our website now at Picture Of Bed Bugs for further details.

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