The Week: Most Recent Epidemics

Detecting bugs: Why humans have body hair

By The Week Staff — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:25:00 -0500

Why is the human body covered in tiny, nearly-invisible hairs? New research from the University of Sheffield in Britain suggests that the fine hairs help the skin detect bloodsucking parasites — including bedbugs. Here's what you should know:

We're covered in tiny, nearly-invisible hairs?
There's body hair and then there's body hair. At first glance, seemingly smooth portions of the human body appear hairless. But that's not the case at all. "Per square centimeter, human skin has as many hair follicles as that of the other great apes," notes The Economist. "The difference," really, isn't...

Inbreeding: Why bedbugs are so hard to kill

By The Week Staff — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 13:47:00 -0500

Why are bedbugs so difficult to get rid of? One of the keys to the annoying resiliency of the bloodsucking, parasitic insects may be their ability to produce healthy offspring even when they mate with close relatives, according to a new study from North Carolina State University. Here's what you should know about the irritating insects' "secret weapon":

Bedbugs are inbreeders?
Yes. Researchers studies three large apartment buildings in New Jersey and North Carolina, and found that the bedbug populations in each had extremely low genetic diversity. The insects were essentially all...

Can bedbugs give you a killer infection?

By The Week Staff — Fri, 13 May 2011 07:30:00 -0400

The bad news keeps coming on the bedbug front. The blood-sucking mattress dwellers are typically thought of as a major nuisance, not a public health threat, but a new study has found that they might help transmit disease. Here, a brief guide:

What did the study find?
Researchers found bedbugs that were carrying staph "superbugs" on three patients at a hospital in a poor area of Vancouver. Five bedbugs were collected and found to be carrying two types of drug-resistant bacteria. While there's no evidence that the bedbugs were spreading the germs, the researchers couldn't rule that out. That makes...

12 high-profile NYC bedbug scares

By The Week Staff — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 15:06:00 -0400

Some of New York City's most iconic buildings have faced attacks by the dreaded cimex lectularius, commonly known as the bedbug and more threatening, in its insidious way, than King Kong. Confirmed bedbug infestations in the Big Apple rose from 82 to 4,084 in the years 2004-2009, and unlucky apartment dwellers are not the only victims. Swank locations like the Waldorf-Astoria hotel and Lincoln Center are also dealing with bedbug reports. Here, a rundown of the pests' more major conquests:

1. The United Nations
Are bedbugs seeking world dominance? According to an October 28 National...

Are tourists overreacting to New York's bedbug scare?

By The Week Staff — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 15:52:00 -0400

With New York City's bedbug sightings spreading to landmarks such as the Empire State Building, Bloomingdale's, and Lincoln Center, tourists are canceling vacations at the height of the coming holiday season. Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office is worried the panic will hurt the city's $30 billion tourist industry at a time when the local economy can't afford to take another hit. Is this just a result of media-fueled "bedbug hysteria," or are these tiny pests really a good reason to avoid New York?

The bedbug threat is way overblown: Bedbugs are just the trendy "annoyance/epidemic/infestation" of 2010...

The next 'biblical' bug invasion: Stink bugs

By The Week Staff — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 08:00:00 -0400

Cities across the U.S. are in the throes of bedbug hysteria, but the mid-Atlantic is bracing for a different infestation: Stink bugs. This year, the population of these pests has exploded, wreaking havoc on farms throughout the region. And, with the weather getting cooler, the bugs are seeking warmth, crawling into urban office buildings and suburban homes. "I have never seen anything like this in my career," Tracy Leskey, a USDA scientist, tells the Washington Post. Here is a concise guide to America's infestation du jour:

Are they really smelly?
Yes, when the bugs feel threatened, or when...

What happens at a 'Bedbug Summit'?

By The Week Staff — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 12:44:00 -0400

This week, Chicago's Hyatt Rosemont hosted the 2010 North American Bed Bug Summit, a two-day conference that brought together entomologists, pest-control gurus, government officials, and other experts on America's growing bedbug menace. More than 360 people paid the $450 admission fee to trade tips, attend lectures, and debut inventive new ways to combat the newly ascendant pest, which has been invading homes and businesses at an alarming rate. Here's a brief guide to what went down: (Watch an AP report about the bedbug summit)

What were the summit's main attractions?
The conference featured a...

The bedbug epidemic: How much of it is paranoia?

By The Week Staff — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 12:34:00 -0400

The "bedbug panic" is at an all-time high, writes Eliza Barclay at Slate. And the recent "flurry of high-profile infestations at prominent movie theaters, retail shops, and hotels" is making it worse. The fear of these disgusting pests only grows once they've taken sanctuary in your mattress and gulped your blood at night. I know. After I summoned a "pest management technician" to banish them from my home with a trio of invasive chemical treatments, I grew paranoid. When I next found a suspect insect, my exterminators assured me it was a bedbug and I prepared to endure the ordeal again, until...

The latest Tweets about the 'Bedbug epidemic'

By The Week Staff — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 06:03:00 -0400

America's bedbug invasion: By the numbers

By The Week Staff — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 14:50:00 -0400

The country is slowly being invaded by the determinedly vexing cimex lectularius, commonly known as the bedbug. Infestations in the U.S. have been on the rise since the mid-90s, thanks to an increasingly mobile population and the critters' growing resistance to pesticides. (Watch a local report about bedbug infestations.) Though particularly acute in New York, the problem is spreading quickly across the country. Here are some alarming stats:

57
Percent increase in the number of calls to bedbug exterminators nationally since 2005

82
Number of confirmed infestations in NYC six years ago

4,084
Number...