Blood Sucking Bed Bug: A Vector of Disease?

Health, Medicine
[caption id="attachment_23698" align="alignright" width="480"] Bedbug mouthparts - Image by Janice Haney Carr, courtesy of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention[/caption] Everyone hates the buzzing mosquito. Then too, people fuss when they find a tick burrowed in their skin. What about itching? Chiggers are the King of Itch. Worse, however, than any of the aforementioned is an infestation of Cimex lectularius, the bed bug most common to North America. This blood-sucking varmint is very difficult to control and even harder to eradicate. Pests as Vectors of Disease Beyond being simply annoying, some blood-feeding insects can pose serious human health risks. So how do these four pests compare when it comes to transmitting disease-causing organisms? Both mosquitoes and ticks are legendary vectors for disease. Mosquitoes, for example, spread some serious,…
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