This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Rather than being a poverty problem, bedbugs are actually everyone's problem. In findings recently published in Parasites & Vectors, Virginia Tech's Warren Booth cites evidence that bedbug infestations can affect anyone regardless of income, housing type or location.
Working alongside Cari Lewis, a postdoctoral research associate at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, Booth examined the relationship between the geographic distribution of bedbug infestations and demographic data across metropolitan areas in Illinois, Oklahoma and Ohio. "A key finding of the research was the identification of reservoir populations: bedbug populations that persist over time and contribute to the spread of infestations beyond communities in which they are established," said Booth, associate professor of urban entomology. "Importantly, these reservoirs of bedbugs occur across the socioeconomic spectrum, challenging the misconception that bedbugs are primarily a problem of disadvantaged communities." The researchers believe the findings indicate bedbug management strategies should evolve beyond individual residences to a more coordinated, community-level approach.
Booth, also an affiliate of the university's Invasive Species Collaborative, Center for Emerging, Zoonotic, and Arthropod-borne Pathogens, Fralin Life Sciences Institute and Global Change Center, shared more insights about this work and the unpopular pest. "Rather than spreading simply between nearby locations, these populations are connected through networks of human movement and the transport of personal belongings, similar to the models used to examine disease transmission within populations." "As with mosquito bites, not all people who get bitten by bedbugs react to them. As such, some only know that they have an infestation when they start seeing black spots appearing on their white bed sheets.
That's because they feed and then defecate and a little blood comes out," Booth said. "Besides the gross-out factor, there can also be a substantial economic burden, as the cost to effectively treat a home infestation is high. If you live in a multiunit building, it's likely they will spread from you to your neighbors through wall voids and from there onward.
At that point, control can be difficult, emphasizing the importance of early detection," he said. "Increased travel, delayed detection, multiunit housing, insecticide resistance and even greater public awareness help explain increases in bedbug reports. However, higher reporting does not always mean there are more infestations.
Reports often increase during late summer and after major travel periods when people return home from vacations. Large sporting events, concerts, conferences, holidays and vacation travel create more tourism opportunities for bedbugs to hitchhike between locations. Infestations often go unnoticed until populations grow large enough to be detected," Booth said.
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