Bedbugs in Britain
August 5th, 2009 | by lucy |
The natural habitat of Cimex lectualrius is furniture and matresses. Better known as the bedbug, this insect has been living with humans since pre-historical times, when it shifted its attentions from bats to cave-dwelling people. It largely disappeared from British lives after the Second World War, due to widespread use of synthetic insecticides. But in the last couple of decades it’s been enjoying a resurgence. The modern day bedbug takes advantage of our globe-trotting society and is not selective, hitching a ride in suitcases or rucksacks, and staying in 5 star hotels or backpacker hostels.
Clearly visible to the naked eye, the bedbug is about the size of an apple pip and reddish-brown in colour. Hidden during the day, it hunts at night, armed with two tubes: one for injecting anticoagulants and anaesthetic (so you don’t notice it at work), and the other for sucking up blood. Dauntingly, an adult bedbug can stay alive for a year without feeding. Reactions to the bites vary greatly.
If a house is infected, it’s best to get professional help immediately.
Bedbug curiosities
According to Frank Cowan, author of Curious Facts in the History of Insects (1865):
“The original English names of the C. lectularius were Chinche, Wall-louse and Punaise (from the French); and the term Bug, which is a Celtic word, signifying a ghost or goblin, was applied to them . . . most probably because they were considered as “terrors of the night”.
Cowan describes how in the 17th and 18th centuries, hospitals would try to contain their infestations of bed bugs, fleas and lice in one room, hiring beggars for the parasites to gorge on. Today pest controllers follow the same premise, strongly advising sufferers not to abandon an infected bedroom. As long as the bedbug is warm and well-fed there is more chance it will stay put and not spread to other rooms.
A contemporary curiosity is that that the bedbug could act as inadvertent crime evidence. Its content of human blood could give crime investigators a source of DNA.
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