Until now, it was known that mosquitoes can transmit germs that cause malaria to humans. Now there are bedbugs with dangerous bacteria resistant to many antibiotics – Canadian researchers alerted in Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Bed bugs feed on the blood of warm-blooded animals and humans, but there is no known one that could transmit pathogenic microorganisms. Dr. Marc Romney, a microbiologist from St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver says he and his team found five such infected insects in three patients at one of the local hospitals.
Canadian researchers are not yet sure whether it was the bedbugs that transferred the bacteria to the sick, or the opposite – the insects were infected by the patients. They also do not know if these microbes were only on their bodies or if they penetrated into the body.
Scientists emphasize that these are only preliminary research results. But the mere emergence of bedbugs with germs is already worrying. The more so because drug-resistant strains of staphylococcus aureus, a common cause of nosocomial infections, were discovered in three bedbugs. These are the so-called supercatteries (MRSA) that are ineffective by beta-lactam antibiotics, such as penicillin, cephalosporins, monobactams and carbapenems.
In two bedbugs, slightly less dangerous strains of bacteria belonging to enterococci, but also resistant to antibiotics, in this case to the so-called last-line drugs such as vancomycin and teicoplanin. These microbes (VRE) also cause nosocomial infections such as sepsis. In healthy people, they can be found on the skin or in the intestines without posing any threat. They usually attack sick or immunocompromised people, which is why they are often found in hospitals. According to Wikipedia, in the United States, one in four enterecococcus strains in intensive care is resistant to last resort antibiotics.
Bedbugs with superbugs were discovered in a district in Vancouver (Downtown Eastside) plagued by these insects. Canada is no exception. Bed bugs have been spreading in Europe and the USA for 10 years, because they are more and more resistant to the pesticides with which they were almost exterminated in industrialized countries years ago. In the same Vancouver district, an increase in nosocomial infections caused by superbugs was also observed.
Gail Getty, an entomologist at the University of California at Berkeley who specializes in urban insects, told Time that he knew of no case of bedbugs transmitting disease to humans. Earlier studies have only shown that these insects can harbor hepatitis B viruses for six weeks. However, it cannot be ruled out that bed bugs can transmit germs from one person to another.
Dr. Marc Romney says bedbugs cause skin irritations in humans when bitten. Man scrapes these places, which makes the skin more susceptible to bacteria, especially in sick people.
Wall lice, as bedbugs are also called, suck blood every few days, but without a host they can survive for months or even longer. In the absence of a host, they can go into hibernation. Then they lower the body temperature to 2 degrees C.
Bed bugs are most commonly found in apartment joints, couches and wall crevices, as well as under picture frames, on upholstered furniture, curtains and shades. They can be recognized by their characteristic scent, reminiscent of the scent of raspberries. (PAP)