© Abet Tonny, 2016
Unlike
all other domestic pests and parasites that infringe the general wellbeing of
man, bedbugs are some of the
hardest pests to eradicate once they invade homes, hospitals, learning
institutions and hotels. This results from factors not limited to their
inherent nature of fast development of resistance to insecticides, feeding
regiments in that they can go for days without feeding so may not be exposed to
contact chemicals whenever that service provider sprays and their body
structure which allows them hide deep in cracks and crevices of wall or wood
that the chemical may not penetrate.
Bedbugs are exclusively blood sucking insects that bite and feed
on man amongst other warm blooded animals. A typical adult bedbug sucks 0.5ml
of blood to get engorged each night it attacks the victim posing a great risk
of anaemia for occupants of heavily infested premises.
Bedbugs and their bites present huge psychological torture
commonly portrayed as illusionary parasitosis, an unsettling situation where
one frequently and involuntarily senses an insect crawling or biting him even
when nothing like that is transpiring (at least 70% of students in an infested premise
in uganda’s Makerere area experience this condition).
Clinical risks like transmission of drug resistant bacteria (i.e methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and
vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus
faecium (VRE)) and a
parasite called Trypanosoma cruzi which causes Chagas disease (American
sleeping sickness) which affects the heart among other effects on man. Research
is being conducted to assess the potential of bedbug in harboring or
transmitting other Trypanosoma species found in Africa especially those that
cause (African) sleeping sickness. Over 40 microorganisms that cause diseases
to humans have been detected in bedbugs. The bites also potentiate secondary
infections like Hepatitis B Virus (an infection that accounts for over 70% of
liver cancer cases) from their feces or when an infected bedbug raptures on ones
skin in its feeding event.
As mentioned earlier, anemia has been reported in the elderly and
very young in cases where homes are heavily infested. Asthma has also been
linked to the presence of bed bugs in homes.
The public health impacts of toxic pesticides
often massively applied indoor have not been well assessed either but it must
be accounting for a good portion of your hospital visits in that exposure to
these toxic chemicals have direct short term or long term effect of lowering
the efficiency of your body organs and immune system.
Economically, the firms consulted in Uganda confessed
to be experiencing over fivefold the call for bedbug infestation control which
inversely predicts over fivefold revenue increment to this firms and fivefold
increase of financial loss by the local citizen on managing bedbugs which are
often not successful. A lot of fund is being wasted
by the local citizens in multiple failed attempts to control the bedbugs either
due to use of fake chemicals found in consumer market (i.e. via do it yourself
pest control) or by hiring untrained pest control service providers who in
addition are ever doubling their service bill as the demand shoots up despite
the little or no eradication stories accompanying most of their activities. Many
untrained and unqualified players still continue to dominate the pest control
service sector and rob the locals through extreme charges for their services,
use of fake or expired chemicals in spraying amidst exposing the clients to
those extra toxic chemicals specifically indicated for outdoor application. The
government has not directly streamlined her stand and funding to curb this public
nightmare despite the early alarm by the vector control department of the
ministry six (6) years before the major explosion in the country, as an
entomologist at the unit placed it. Outside the continent, America’s CBS reported in 2010 that more than US $
250 million a year is spent fighting bedbugs in United State of America and was
then projected to continue rising sharply as the explosions spread across the
states.
Bedbug infestation is socially believed to be
an infestation of the in-hygienic and the poor, thus for bedbug to be spotted
on once dress, shirt or possession especially in public is a massive
embarrassment with due reduction in self-esteem to the victim.
Having
bed bugs may restrict the social lives of people. Sufferers avoid visiting
friends and family and often throw away belongings, at great cost, and minimal
benefit.
Tenant-landlord disputes over who is
responsible for breeding them hence battles can be damaging to both parties. The
infestations of bedbugs also have direct impact of lowering residential and
accommodation markets. A study conducted at Makerere, Kampala showed highly
infested premises either having unrented rooms or charging 30-50% less than the
“bug-free” residences.
Hotels,
apartments and tourism sector even have a better side of the experience with
bedbug as it can become a very negative contributor of clientele turnover rate.
