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Bed Bugs
Published in Jerome Goddard, Public Health Entomology, 2022
Houses heavily infested with bed bugs may contain literally thousands of specimens under and within the bed and in the mattress seams. There may be black layers of bed bug excrement on the mattress, thousands of cast skins, and eggs several millimeters thick. Infestations like this can lead to anemia in affected individuals due to blood loss.11 The most common bite reactions are pruritic maculopapular, erythematous lesions at bed bug feeding sites, one per insect (Figure 16.4). Bite lesions may be intensely itchy, but if not abraded, and usually resolve within a week or so.12–14 Due to hyper-sensitization, the size and pruritis associated with these common reactions may increase in some individuals who experience repeated bites.15–17 Some people display more complex cutaneous reactions, including pruritic wheals (local urticaria), papular urticaria, diffuse urticaria,18–22 and even bullous lesions.22–25 There are a few reports of systemic reactions from bed bug bites, including asthma, generalized urticaria, and anaphylaxis.24,26,27 One patient staying in a hotel awakened during the night with severe itching and urticaria on his arm and neck; bed bugs were found in the room.28 He developed angioedema and hypotension, was hospitalized, and showed transient anterolateral ischemia on electrocardiogram. Eight months later, after an experimental bed bug bite, he developed a wheal at the bite site and generalized itching that required epinephrine to resolve his symptoms.
Animals amusing and assisting humans
Published in Clive R. Hollin, An Introduction to Human–Animal Relationships, 2021
Bed bugs are not the only small creatures that cause problems for humans and which we need to find for a variety of reasons. In some countries termites, including drywood, powderpost, and dampwood termites, cause costly damage to buildings. Brooks, Oi, and Koehler (2003) reported that trained detector dogs were highly reliable at detecting termite infestations. In various parts of the globe, sniffer dogs also contribute to the detection of threats to agriculture such as the red fire ant (Lin et al., 2011), the red palm weevil (Suma, La Pergola, Longo, & Soroker, 2014), and the redbay ambrosia beetle (Mendel et al., 2018). Sniffer dogs are also used to detect potentially invasive insects within cargo at border crossings (Moser, Brown, Bizo, Andrew, & Taylor, in press).
Basic dermatology in children and adolescents
Published in Joseph S. Sanfilippo, Eduardo Lara-Torre, Veronica Gomez-Lobo, Sanfilippo's Textbook of Pediatric and Adolescent GynecologySecond Edition, 2019
Kalyani Marathe, Kathleen Ellison
While bedbugs (species Cimex lectularius) are not known to transmit disease, their bites can produce very itchy and urticarial reactions in humans. Bedbugs are brown insects that live in furniture, floors, walls, and the cracks and joints of beds. They feed on human blood at night while their host is sleeping. When a bedbug bites its host, it injects saliva that acts as an anticoagulant, which allows the bug to feed. Proteins in the bug's saliva can induce an allergic response, leading to itching and formation of an urticarial red papule. While it can be difficult to capture a bedbug to confirm diagnosis, bedbug bites classically present in a linear grouped configuration, known as the “breakfast, lunch, and dinner” sign (Figure 10.15). While no treatment is necessary for bedbug bites, a topical steroid such as hydrocortisone 2.5% or desonide 0.05% can improve the symptoms of pruritus. Eradication of bedbugs with a professional pest control service is recommended. For outbreaks at hotels or public spaces, contact with the local government or Department of Health is recommended.33
Housing Satisfaction Among Older Adults Living in Low-Income Seniors’ Housing
Published in Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 2023
Christine L. Sheppard, Noorin Pattni, Tharsiga Gunasegaran, Andrea Austen, Sander L Hitzig
Tenants cited issues with cockroaches, bedbugs, mice, and pigeons. Tenants described “cockroach infestations throughout the building” (T995, Female) and discussed how “bugs and rats [are] around most of the times in common areas.” (T1, Female). Persistent bedbug infestations were the most common; tenants were concerned that they were not “seeing or hearing any mention about the problem” (T345, Male) from housing staff and called for “more attention to the bug problem,” (T181, Male) including building-wide approaches to pest management. As one tenant described, “pest control treatments performed throughout the building, on a regular schedule, instead of on a spot basis after requests by individual tenants might improve effectiveness.” (T2, undisclosed)
There’s No Harm in Talking: Re-Establishing the Relationship Between Theological and Secular Bioethics
Published in The American Journal of Bioethics, 2020
Michael McCarthy, Mary Homan, Michael Rozier
For example, imagine a clinical ethics consultation centered on the question of an organization’s obligation to continue treatment of an oncology patient. Simple respect for autonomy might say there is an obligation to honor the patient’s wishes, or raising other questions about payment and reimbursement. However, this consultation was not whether or not a patient should be treated, but how to remediate an ongoing bed bug problem, in particular, how to transport them to treatment when transportation services previously declined to assist because of the bed bugs and how to provide the patient clothes without them feeling insulted. What a patient wants/needs is immediately confronted by complex social structures. The question shifts from what ought we do, to what is our responsibility to bring about a good outcome for both the individual and the common good. The common good, becomes a more urgent question and requires special consideration from the perspective of those pushed to the margins of society (and our clinics).
Harms to Consumers of Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities in the United States: An Analysis of News Articles
Published in Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 2018
Morgan C. Shields, Hailey Reneau, Sasha M. Albert, Leeann Siegel, Nhi-Ha Trinh
Unsafe built environment. In addition to access to ligature points and tools for self-harm, poor sanitation was a commonly mentioned environmental hazard. For example, articles reported on incidents in which spiders were found in food served in facilities, and facilities were infested with bed bugs, such as at the Center for Adolescent Treatment Services in Pembroke Pines, Florida. Media reports about the latter incident cited that the facility itself was dirty and that some patients were not allowed to bathe while on their menstrual cycles; that bed bugs would frequently bite patients, and that food was served containing hair (Swenson, 2014).