This article was originally published by Knowable Magazine.
The stories have become horribly familiar: houses so overrun by bedbugs that the bloodsucking insects pile an inch deep on the floor. An airport shutting down gates for deep cleaning after the parasites were spotted. Fear and loathing during Fashion Week 2023 in Paris, with bedbug-detection dogs working overtime when the insects turned up in movie theaters and trains.
For reasons that almost certainly have to do with global travel and
The bedbugs are on the march. Since an unprecedented outbreak of the blood-sucking parasites in France at the end of last month, experts have warned it was only a matter of time before they made their way to the UK.
On Monday, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said the spread of bedbugs was a ‘real source of concern’ and he had contacted French officials to find out what advice they had to slow down the parasites.
This followed a number
Bedbugs may be able to acquire and transmit methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), according to a recent study published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases.
MRSA is a type of bacteria found on people’s skin that can cause serious infections. In some cases, it can lead to sepsis or even death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“Our findings provide the first experimental support for the hypothesis that bedbugs may contribute to the transmission of MRSA in
