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Do we have illegal aliens to thank for reintroducing bedbugs to the U.S.?
Bedbugs Aren’t Just Back, They’re Spreading
by NPR Staff
August 21, 2010
A bedbug enjoys the the ectoparasitic life.
August 21, 2010 Bedbugs are spreading.
At first, they appeared in places that you might expect: dense city centers such as New York, where officials may seek a bed bug czar, and San Francisco, which is trying landlord-education programs to keep the pests away.
But now, there are reports of bedbug infestations in homes and hotels from Ohio to Texas.
The stories are downright creepy. Exterminator James Self, who owns Ameritex Pest Control in Beaumont, Texas, says he was called out to one bedbug-riddled site that was like a scene from a horror movie.
“There were spots all over the walls, and I didn’t know what that was,” Self recalls. “I thought maybe it was some wallpaper decoration or something. But as I approached it, it was totally covered in bedbugs — more than I’ve ever seen. And that’s the one where we had to rip up the carpet, throw away all the furniture. It was terrible.”
‘You Should Be Worried’
This business of feeding on other people… I think we all know some people like that do that, don’t we now? …Maybe bedbugs aren’t so awfully different than somebody we know.
– Michael Raupp
Infestations like that are popping up across the country at an alarming frequency.
“You should be worried — very, very, very worried,” says Michael Raupp, an entomologist at the University of Maryland who spoke with NPR’s Audie Cornish about the bedbug resurgence. Raupp runs a website called “Bug of the Week,” and this week’s star is — you guessed it — the bedbug.
“They’re really not just for bedrooms anymore,” he warns. “They really have become widespread almost in any kind of establishment where people live and sleep, throughout both small and large cities.”
Raupp says bedbugs go where the food is. And for these critters, the “food” is sleeping human beings.
“The problem is, as people go about their daily act of going to an office or going to a movie theater, for that matter, the probability that they are going to bring bedbugs with them increases,” he says. “As people move about,” Raupp says, “they are unwittingly bringing bedbugs with them.”
There was a time in American history when bedbugs were just accepted as a part of life, he notes.
“Prior to the First World War, prior to the DDT era and the time of our synthetic/organic pesticides, bedbugs were commonplace,” Raupp says. “That old rhyme, ‘Goodnight, sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite,’ harkens to the colonial era in the U.S., when bedbugs were commonplace in taverns and inns.”
It seems they could achieve that same ubiquity in the U.S. once again.
Borderless Bugs
“We’re now in the era where people travel everywhere,” Raupp says. “They just don’t go to major cities like London or Paris. We have people going to second world countries and third world countries where, frankly, bedbugs are commonplace. And these guys are real troopers — they’re hitchhikers and stowaways.”
“Whenever we travel, there’s always a possibility that we can bring bedbugs home with us,” Raupp says. “And bedbugs don’t discriminate. This is not a matter of poor sanitation or poor housekeeping or uncleanliness.”
So how do people know if they’ve got a bedbug infestation? Raupp says your skin can tell you.
“One of the first symptoms that you’ll see of a bedbug infestation is unusual bites,” Raupp says. “And these bites aren’t going to be on your ankles, where the mosquitoes usually bite you, or on your arms. These bites could be on your neck, they could be on your shoulders, they could be down on your legs somewhere. They could be anywhere on your body.
“These are gonna be small, itchy red welts — unusual bites,” he adds, noting that people should call in professionals if they see these warning signs. “This is not one that you’re going to want to tackle yourself,” Raupp says.
In spite of the distress bedbugs bring, Raupp says he’s still a fan.
“I find all bugs mysterious, wonderful. These ones I tend to find a little bit despicable. But they’re fascinating in their own regard.
“This business of feeding on other people — the ectoparasitic life — I think we all know some people that do that, don’t we now? And maybe bedbugs aren’t so awfully different than somebody we know,” he says. “So, there’s a little bit of us in them, perhaps.”
We can already thank illegals for Multi-drug-resistant-Tuberculosis, Whooping cough, Leprosy, and many other long lost diseases!
How many ways can they find to make us as third world as they are!?!?
@George L,
Yes, they have leper colonies in Arizona.
Lepers that crossed illegally in from Mexico.
The colonies are there to try to keep Leprocy from spreading.
Best answer:
Answer by Reality has a Liberal Bias
No. Nothing in the article even suggests that.
Add your own answer below.
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Yes, and the reappearance of tuberculosis and other disease as well.
Yes, they are, they don’t bath as often as Americans do. I am not prejudice, but other countries do not shower daily ot twice a day, like we do, they go for weeks. So immigrant workers, take themselves and their crews from hotel to hotel, and guess what? they are spreading bugs. Also European travelers are the same way, they are not accustomed to showering daily, bugs, bugs, bugs.
Yes. Just because the article doesn’t say this means NOTHING. EVERY loyal American knows how pro illegal alien invading border criminal the news media really is.
The article suggests that American travelers to foreign countries picked them up and brought them back to the states.
But, some people feel the need to blame illegals for everything, in fact, the light bulb burnt out in my bedroom yesterday, and I am sure they are to blame somehow!
Look at it like this illegals from Mexico move around from one home to the next.99% of these homes are shared with 5-10 other families who all have came from other homes that were overcrowded with to many people living in them and these families are in and out homes so often. Where people come and go every week to every month.They tend to live in low rent districts where problems of bedbugs, lice are very common. When you have so many different people bedbugs become very common.Bear in mind a lot of illegals who paid money for their beds,sofa’s, etc,etc are not willing to throw away them as they see this as losing money on their investment.
Wow – those darn illegal aliens – all of them or just the ones from Mexico or maybe it’s the African-Americans, or maybe it’s the Jews or maybe it’s the Arabs or maybe it’s the Koreans or Vietnamese. It is all those non-white folks sneaking into our country.
Our wonderful first world country where people who are in the middle class income bracket don’t have health care – and won’t even though Congress wasted a year created the Health Reform Act, that wonderful country where there is so much hatred that we are, on our own, becoming a third world country, our own country where our children grow up illiterate because parents are too busy to be involved – after all, they are chasing the American nightmare.
We are going to be our own undoing in this. We are creating this ourselves.
I doubt many illegals use the hotels I use. Out of curiosity, has anyone here ever actually seen a leper?
No , we have Obamabam to thank for not securing the border .
What I’ve read is that we can thank the increasing frequency of bedbug infestations to the bedbugs getting resistant to the insecticides which have been used against them.
Nothing in the article indicates any particular group of people is responsible for it. I would highly recommend to learn to research facts, not just interpret everything in the light of what you want to hear…
by the way leprosy can these days be easily cured as long as the patient can afford the treatment which is a mix of antibiotics. I don’t believe there is a single leprosy colony in Arizona, unless you show credible proof it’s obviously made up.
Yes. Illegal aliens carry filthy diseases with them. They have no business being in the U.S.A.
OH yeah, and Obama is the Anti-Christ Bush was the second coming of Jesus, oops looks like we missed him. Muslims are out to get you. Democrats are socialists who hate America. Reagan was God. History is not needed, misguided misinformed assumptions are the law of the land. And completely misinterpreting a written text or spoken address is totally the way to go. Don’t forget to blame Liberals for everything!!
/ SARCASM
Ironically speaking, you forgot to blame white Europeans for smallpox. And America for countless food borne illnesses such as E.Coli thanks to the failure to regulate our meat-packing plants.