Bed bugs in Africa

© 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.