ENTOMOLOGY

CHAPTER XXVIIIThe Bedbug and Other Bloodsucking Bugs: Diseases Transmitted,Biology and Control IW. Dwight PierceProbably no species of bloodsucking insect is better known throughoutall the world than the bedbug, Cimex lectulariu8 Linnaeus. Thisspecies and its congener, C. hem;"ptoroS Fabricius (rotwndatua) Signoret,live in the beds of man and suck human blood. There are a number ofrelated species, among which C. boueti Brumpt, in French Guinea, is alsosaid to suck the blood of man. The other species are bird and bat para.­sites.On account of the habit of the bedbug of sucking the blood of man,but hiding by day in houses and vehiclea, this species has many opportunitiesof transmitting diseases, provided that its methods of life conformwith the requirements of the disease organisms. Girault has pointedout that the bedbug will feed on mice, living or dead. This is a. veryimportant point in considering its a,bility to transmit disease.Any disease which should be shown to be spread exclusively by thebedbug will undoubtedly have a localized distribution, and ·is very likelyto be confined to certain buildings or groups of buildings, but on theother hand may be spread long distances by travelers carrying thebugs in their baggage and on their clothes. 'It will never be possiblefor a disease carried by bedbugs to spread :r:apidly like a fly-borne 01mosquito-borne disease. As bedbugs have been found in houses withouthuman occupants for two years or more, we must assume that they obtainblood from rodents, and it is possible that in this wayan infection mightbe maintained in a dwelling. There is some very interesting literature onthe possible disease-transmitting role of bedbugs and this has been briefedand arranged below in the same manner that the discussions of diseasestransmitted by other insects have been arranged in preceding lectures.Certain other blood-sucking bug~ are included in the discussion.S This lecture was presented November 18, ]918, and distributed January 25. 1919,391