NEW YORK — Bedbugs are sometimes called the vampires of the insect world — hiding during the day and coming out at night to feast on human blood. Don’t let the bedbugs bite.”
Generations of children have been told: “Sleep tight.
Well, bad news: Bedbug infestations are increasing. This is the time of year when they tend to be at their worst. And some scientists think the reviled pests might be capable of spreading an antibiotic-resistant infection called MRSA . “And if you’re unaware, if you’re not on top of your game, it’s easy to bring them into your home. Bedbugs are reddish-brown bloodsuckers about the size of an apple seed. Some researchers estimate they date back to the time of the dinosaurs, but they are best known for their unfortunate ability to live with — and prey on — humans. He was brought to a hospital emergency department in a Paris suburb where he was diagnosed with dementia — and with anemia caused by a longstanding loss of blood. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency offers do-it-yourself guidance for getting rid of the pests, but it’s labor-intensive, involving sealing hiding spaces and treating infested items.
It told of a 70-year-old man who lived by himself in an apartment and fainted on the street one day. But University of South Dakota researchers in 2023 published the results of an experiment — using blood capsules with an artificial skin — that demonstrated bedbugs could acquire MRSA during one feeding and spread it during a later one.
“They certainly are out there,” said Christopher Hayes, a North Carolina State University assistant professor who has been bitten by bedbugs more than 50 times in the course of research. Follow-up research is needed to really prove bedbugs actually are spreading MRSA to people, said one of the study’s authors, Jose Pietri, who is now at Purdue University. But “it changes the perspective of what bedbugs do, in terms of public health,” Pietri said.
