This is an interesting article discuss’s how humans are loosing the battle against bed bugs! Seems like humans whould be more pro-active! Here’s the article:
“The war on bedbugs was winnable, experts say.
When the flesh-eating insects began their U.S. resurgence in the late 1990s and early 2000s, we humans had our chance. Brought into airports and hotels by international travelers, a focused attack could have eradicated the pest not seen in such great numbers since the mid-20th century.
But no one talked about bedbugs then. And by the time the widening epidemic was noticed by the general population in the late 2000s, it was too late.
Now, according to Richard Cooper, one of New Jersey’s foremost experts on bedbugs, humans are in for a long, entrenched war whose progress will be measured in years.
“I think we had that opportunity and missed it,” Cooper said.
New Jersey is in the heart of the Northeast’s bedbug outbreak. Located between two major urban infestations — New York City is No. 1, according to a 2011 Terminix ranking of the most infested U.S. cities; Philadelphia is No. 5 — reports of bedbug problems are increasing in the Garden State as the pest makes its way from city centers into the suburbs and their public spaces.
In the past two months, the tiny, reddish insects were found in schools in Lakewood and Woodbridge. Bedbugs have been reported in public buildings, theaters, jails, hospitals and school buildings throughout New Jersey.
“Bedbugs are very small, and they can hide very well,” said Changlu Wang, a Rutgers University entomologist who studies bedbugs and other urban pests. “You may think you’ve killed them all, but you miss a few. Those few can survive and restart the problem.”
The last time the U.S. experienced a bedbug problem of this magnitude was the 1940s and 1950s, experts say. That infestation was handled effectively with pesticides, primarily DDT. But half a century later, in the late 1990s, bedbug reports began to resurface — this time linked to international travelers who picked up the insects in South America, Africa and Asia, and brought them back to American shores in luggage and clothing.
At that point, heightened awareness could have helped stop bedbugs from gaining a new foothold in the U.S. But bedbugs carry with them a stigma — they’re dirty. People and places with bedbugs are labeled unclean, messy and unsanitary.”
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