Since then, the bed bug population has made a worldwide comeback, nourished in part by a marked increase in international travel. But New Yorkers, Philadelphians and all those who obsessively inspect the seams of their pillowcases can take solace in one important fact: Unlike many of the pests that have run rampant throughout historyfrom the rats that unleashed the Black Plague on 14th-century Europe to the mosquitoes that continue to infect millions with malaria each yearbed bugs are more annoying than hazardous.
The Last Slave Ship Survivor Gave an Interview in the 1930s. It Just Surfaced
Worlds Oldest Known Beds Repelled Bugs
On the other hand, ample evidence from other parts of the world suggests that humans have been battling the critters for millennia. In the 1990s, archaeologists found fossilized bed bugs while excavating a 3,550-year-old site in Egypt. They appear in several plays by the ancient Greek writer Aristophanes, who died in 386 B.C., and in the Jewish Talmud, among countless other literary sources. Though generally considered as much of a nuisance in ancient times as today, they were sometimes prized for their supposed medicinal properties: The Roman philosopher Pliny wrote in 77 A.D. that bed bugs could heal snakebites, ear infections and other ailments.
That golden era for Americas mattresses came to a halt, however, when the Environmental Protection Agency outlawed the chemical for its health and environmental effects. Other insecticides that had helped quell the bed bug epidemic, including chlordane and diazinon, were banned for similar reasons in the 1980s.
By submitting your information, you agree to receive emails from HISTORY and A+E Networks. You can opt out at any time.
At this time we are unable to complete your subscription.This email address has been previously opted out from receiving any emails from A+E Networks. If you changed your mind,please contact usand indicate that you would like to subscribe to HISTORY emails.
These cities are all plagued by a massive resurgence of Cimex lectularius, the speck-sized insect that loves to infiltrate the mattressesand haunt the dreamsof its human hosts. In the last decade, bed bug calls to exterminators have nearly tripled, according to a survey by the National Pest Management Association and the University of Kentucky. Experts have also noticed that the pests, which are usually associated with residential areas, are venturing into new terrain, cropping up in stores, movie theaters, offices and other public spaces.
Theyre Back: A Bed Bug History
If a recent report is any indication, many New Yorkers arent sleeping too tight these days. On August 24, a major pest control company gave the Big Apple top billing on a list it released of U.S. cities with severe bed bug infestations. The runners-up included Philadelphia, Detroit, Cincinnati and Chicago.
If you completed your subscription and still have not received an email,please contact us.
If you completed your subscription and still have not received an email,please contact us.
This 21-Year-Old College Student Designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
How Queen Victorias Matchmaking Helped Cause World War I
As the bed bug population proliferated, so did methods for eradicating the bloodsucking creatures. Early techniques included smoking them out with peat fires, sterilizing furniture with boiling water and scattering plant ash. In the1920s, cyanide fumigation for bed bug management resulted in numerous human deaths, according to Snetsinger, author of The Ratcatchers Child: The History of the Pest Control Industry. And then, in the 1940s, along came DDT, a pesticide used to kill typhus and malaria carriers during World War II, which proved so effective against bed bugs that their numbers dwindled for almost 30 years.
We know you love history. Sign up for more!
Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present.
© 2018, A&E Television Networks, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
You will soon receive an activation email. Once you click on the link, you will be added to our list. If you do not receive this email,please contact us. To ensure delivery to your inbox,add us to your address book.
At this time we are unable to complete your subscription.This email address has been previously opted out from receiving any emails from A+E Networks. If you changed your mind,please contact usand indicate that you would like to subscribe to HISTORY emails.
At this time we are unable to complete your subscription.This email address has been previously opted out from receiving any emails from A+E Networks. If you changed your mind,please contact usand indicate that you would like to subscribe to HISTORY emails.
You will soon receive an email with a direct link to your profile, where you can update your preferences.If you do not receive this email, pleasecontact us.
You will soon receive an activation email. Once you click on the link, you will be added to our list. If you do not receive this email,please contact us. To ensure delivery to your inbox,add us to your address book.
At this time we are unable to complete your subscription.This email address has been previously opted out from receiving any emails from A+E Networks. If you changed your mind,please contact usand indicate that you would like to subscribe to HISTORY emails.
Ever the opportunists, bed bugs thrived in the New World, particularly after the advent of the railroad. In the days before cars and airplanes, many salesmen and other business travelers would stay in rundown hotels near train stations that essentially became distribution centers for the spread of bed bugs to homes, said Snetsinger.
This is not the first time America has seen an unwelcome surge in one of its peskiest populations. Probably, most ships of the 17th century and before harbored bed bugs, and the colonists and their belongings brought them to America, said Robert Snetsinger, a professor emeritus of entomology at Penn State University. But because the bed bug family comprises many species, he added, we dont know whether it was Cimex lectularius or one of its many cousins that hitched a ride across the Atlantic. According to Lou Sorkin, an insect expert at the American Museum of Natural History, there is no record of a Native American word for bed bugs, yet another indication of their colonial origins.
New Cockroach Species Arrives in New York
By submitting your information, you agree to receive emails from HISTORY and A+E Networks. You can opt out at any time.
Scientists Decode Genome of Deadly Tsetse Fly
Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present.
There have been no studies that positively demonstrate that our common bed bug, Cimex lectularius, transmits disease to people, said Sorkin. There have been various disease organisms isolated from bed bugs, but these organisms are not viable and have not been transferred between hosts by the bed bug.
You will soon receive an email with a direct link to your profile, where you can update your preferences.If you do not receive this email, pleasecontact us.