What's causing the rise in bedbug infestations?
What's causing the rise in bedbug infestations?
Present-day bedbug infestation and how the global transportation system and other modern technologies have contributed to the problem.
© MinuteEarth (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Transcript
This is a female Cimex lectularius. In the quiet of night, she crawls from her hiding place toward the carbon dioxide gas and warmth emanating from your body. When she reaches a patch of exposed flesh, she uses her small, sharp beak to pierce your skin and slurp up six times her weight in blood, leaving behind an itchy welt. After returning home to the underside of your mattress, a series of up to seven males violently mate with her.
If this sounds like a bad dream, count yourself lucky. For tens of thousands of people worldwide, it's a nightly reality. These tiny parasites, better known as bedbugs, have spread across Los Angeles, New York, and London over the past 20 years, infesting the homes and hotels of rich and poor alike. They've crept into the cushions of movie theater seats and executive offices and hitched rides in library books and subway cars.
In the world of pests, bedbugs may be the greatest invaders in all of history. Or, more specifically, the greatest re-invaders, because bedbugs have actually been harassing humans since the Stone Age. The problem worsened when we crowded into towns and cities and became terrible when we invented central heating, which helped bedbugs thrive year round virtually everywhere.
Until World War II, that is, when humans discovered a class of synthetic insecticides that were ultimately strong enough to drive bedbugs from the US and Europe for half a century. However, not only are many of those chemicals now banned, but hardy bedbug individuals also survived and multiplied, meaning that now bedbug populations are resistant to many of our weapons against them. Meanwhile, increased global travel has made pretty much any bed in the world just a short flight away, both for human jet setters and their bedbug stowaways.
The one-two punch of insecticide resistance and global transport has allowed bedbugs to go from nightmare to modern reality, the ultimate comeback kid of the pest world. Except that in a way, we've brought them back. And this time around, they won't go down so easily. So sleep tight, and don't let the bedbugs bi-- actually, we're kind of screwed.
If this sounds like a bad dream, count yourself lucky. For tens of thousands of people worldwide, it's a nightly reality. These tiny parasites, better known as bedbugs, have spread across Los Angeles, New York, and London over the past 20 years, infesting the homes and hotels of rich and poor alike. They've crept into the cushions of movie theater seats and executive offices and hitched rides in library books and subway cars.
In the world of pests, bedbugs may be the greatest invaders in all of history. Or, more specifically, the greatest re-invaders, because bedbugs have actually been harassing humans since the Stone Age. The problem worsened when we crowded into towns and cities and became terrible when we invented central heating, which helped bedbugs thrive year round virtually everywhere.
Until World War II, that is, when humans discovered a class of synthetic insecticides that were ultimately strong enough to drive bedbugs from the US and Europe for half a century. However, not only are many of those chemicals now banned, but hardy bedbug individuals also survived and multiplied, meaning that now bedbug populations are resistant to many of our weapons against them. Meanwhile, increased global travel has made pretty much any bed in the world just a short flight away, both for human jet setters and their bedbug stowaways.
The one-two punch of insecticide resistance and global transport has allowed bedbugs to go from nightmare to modern reality, the ultimate comeback kid of the pest world. Except that in a way, we've brought them back. And this time around, they won't go down so easily. So sleep tight, and don't let the bedbugs bi-- actually, we're kind of screwed.