William Atkins
Wednesday, 01 April 2009 19:29
Science -
Biology
Page 2 of 3
The two Mississippi researchers stated in their abstract:
“Original accounts or investigations of bed bugs, clinical responses with sufficient detail of cause and effect between the bed bug bite and clinical response, and convincing evidence of substantiated presence of bed bug exposure. For pest control, documentation that an eradication measure quantitatively decreased bed bugs.”
They stated that in the 53 articles they and others evaluated only two clinical trials
“concerning bed bugs were identified and tested the ability of pest control interventions to eradicate bed bugs.” [Abstract]
Little information was presented in this data to show there were is any effective way to
“eradicate bed bugs or prevent bites.” [Abstract]
They stated that even though many reactions were noted from bed bugs in humans:
“Although transmission of more than 40 human diseases has been attributed to bed bugs, there is little evidence that they are vectors of communicable disease.”
The April 1, 2009 Scientific American article
Bed Bugs Transmit Bites and Angst, But Not Disease, Study Says,
“It's impossible to tally the number of people who get bitten, Goddard says, but estimates about half of them suffer hives and itching.”
Goddard states in the SA article
"When [bed bugs] feed, they're spitting saliva in there. There's proteins in that and people can become sensitized."
They concluded,
“Treatment options for cutaneous and systemic reactions from bed bug bites have not been evaluated in clinical trials and there is no evidence that outcomes differ significantly from those receiving no treatment.”
Page three provides more conclusions of the bed bug study.
