Cimex Lectularis L., aka Bed bugs, have been plaguing humans for most of all recorded history. Just as well, remedies and treatments to eradicate them go back thousands of years. Many early attempts were lethal to the bug but just as dangerous to humans. It is said that with the invention of central heat and air Bed bugs found their new environment just as comfortable as humans and the population exploded in the early 1900’s. Things soon changed in a big way.
Bed bugs for the most part were rare thing in American households shortly after World War II with the discovery of DDT and hydro carbon sprays that were quite effective at reducing this once prominent bug to just a footnote in American history. As a pest professional of over 35 years, I don’t remember a single class, reference or even one case of bed bugs until sometime around the late 90’s. Now, there’s hardly a day that goes by without my e-mail buzzing with bed bug alerts, classes that are available or equipment manufacturers wanting me to purchase some new tool or product specifically for Bed bugs.
Why the sudden surge?
As mentioned above, our homes and businesses suddenly became more hospitable than our early caves, tents and log homes. However, for the same reason bed bugs came to America in the first place is the main reason they’re making their huge come back. Man has become more and mobile than ever before by air, auto and sea and can literally travel the world in short order. The Bed bug is just doing what it always has, hitching a ride.
The old saying “sleep tight don’t let the bed bugs bite” wasn’t coined in the U.S. but did you know the early settlers used the
saying not as the cliche it is today but as actual advice. Their beds were suspended by ropes and saggy ropes allowed for more bed bugs while tight ones might mean a few less bites. Now while these early residents had to deal with new pests they’ve never seen before in their new land, bed bugs were something that they were already familiar with. These bugs travelled with them by “hitching” a ride and this is still how Bed bugs are spreading today. With so many visitors coming in and out of America on a daily basis and our citizens traveling the world like never before, the bed bug has again ‘hitched a ride’ and in just a few short years re-infested what was once forbidden territory.
Are there other factors?
Bed bugs were believed to become resistant to early products such as DDT in the 50’s. Resistance is still a major concern and there is evidence of the same with todays chemicals. Something curious to me is that some lay at least partial blame at the feet of the move to discontinue unnecessary chemical treatments indoors. While for years it was completely responsible, reasonable and professional to treat a home with a handheld sprayer, over a short period of time that was no longer acceptable. The theory goes that since there was no residual in this favorite hiding and trafficked area the Bed bug, they quickly built up with no barrier there to keep them in check. Now homes that had been receiving a service all along were just as infested as those that had not. Regardless the factors involved Bed bugs are sure to be around for a very long time, in fact I’ll go out on a limb and say they’ll never be eliminated in our land again. As long as ‘we the people’ are still allowed to explore this big planet with just so much as a suitcase and a passport we’ll always have this dreaded pest among us.