![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brdgt
Should We Build a Dinosaur?
By John Tierney, The New York Times, April 14, 2009
When I endorsed the idea of resurrecting a Neanderthal from DNA, I was a little surprised at how many indignant comments it inspired. I’m not sure how representative that reaction was — there could be a selection bias for indignation when posting comments — but I’ll assume there are a fair number of people who don’t like the idea of recreating extinct hominids.
Then how about Jack Horner’s scheme to build a dinosaur?
No, this is not a Jurassic Park fantasy involving some recovered bit of prehistoric DNA. Dr. Horner, a paleontologist at Montana State University (and, incidentally, a consultant for the “Jurassic Park” movies), is one of the scientists who have detected similarities between dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus Rex and the modern chicken. By biochemically manipulating a chicken embryo to “awaken the dinosaur within,” researchers at McGill University are already studying ways to get the embryo to grow a dinosaur’s tail. Eventually the scientists hope to see a “Chickenosaurus” hatch with tail, teeth and forelimbs instead of wings.
Dr. Horner explains this project in a new book, “How to Build a Dinosaur: Extinction Doesn’t Have to Be Forever,” co-written with James Gorman, the deputy science editor of the Times. The contrarian in me would love to come up with a reason to oppose any project favored by my editor, but after my build-a-Neanderthal advocacy I’m having a hard time coming up with a decent reason not to build Chickenosaurus. Perhaps some Lab readers could give me cause for indignation. But before you do, consider a couple of pre-emptive answers to some commons objections, as provided by Dr. Horner:
Suppose you hatch a Chickenosaurus? What good is it?
It would get a lot of attention if you walked it on a leash, and it would be better than a slide show for demonstrating evolution.
In terms of research value, in order to turn a chicken into Chickenosuarus we would have to reverse evolution. That can teach us a tremendous amount about how evolution works. It would show how small changes in the development of an embryo can make for big changes in what the adult looks like.
But is there any practical benefit? Why not spend money on cancer research instead of turning chickens into dinosaurs?
Research is unpredictable. Finding out the structure of DNA and how genetics works has taught us a lot about disease and promises to revolutionize medicine. The goal of the researchers was to answer basic questions about biology.
But we already have some idea of how this might be practically useful. The growth of the tail is tied into the problem of the spinal cord, and spinal cord birth defects in human are a major medical problem. Learning more about what prompts and stops tail growth could give us important insights about serious human birth defects.
Whatever practical spinoffs there might be from this project, to me it seems worthwhile simply for the value of reviving and observing extinct creatures. But as I say, I’m open to causes for indignation. You can read more details of Dr. Horner’s plans at Discover magazine. Or you can wax eloquently right away.
18 and Under: Another Awkward Sex Talk: Respect and Violence
By PERRI KLASS, M.D., The New York Times, April 14, 2009
Not long ago, in the clinic, a fellow pediatrician and mother asked whether we were still teaching our sons old-fashioned elevator etiquette: stand back and let the ladies off first.
We all protested that we don’t particularly like it when men pull that elevator stunt — hospital elevators tend to be packed, and the best thing to do if you’re near the door is get out promptly — but we had to admit we thought our adolescent sons should know the drill.
Once you start asking about whether there are special lessons that should be taught to boys, people jump pretty quickly from elevators to sex (or maybe that’s just the crowd I run with). Sex, after all, is a subject on which pediatricians give plenty of advice. And it becomes very tricky to formulate that advice without making some unpleasant assumptions about adolescent sexuality.
It has never been easy for adults to deal with young teenagers honestly and sensibly on this subject, and it isn’t easy now. We live with an endless parade of hypersexualized images — and a constant soundtrack of adults lamenting children’s exposure to that endless parade. There’s increasing knowledge of dating violence, including well-publicized celebrity incidents. And there’s always a new movie to see about how adolescent boys are clueless, sex-obsessed goofballs.
Stir it all together, and you may get an official worldview in which boys are viewed as potential criminals and girls as potential victims.
William Pollack, a psychologist at Harvard Medical School who wrote “Real Boys: Rescuing Our Sons From the Myths of Boyhood” (Owl Books, 1999), argues that the way we talk to boys and young men about sex often stereotypes them and hurts their feelings.
“One boy said, ‘They treat us like we’re perpetrators — we have sexual needs but we also have other needs,’ ” Dr. Pollack told me.
Somehow, there has to be a way to talk about sex and relationships beyond the anatomical details, and a way to discuss what happens in school and what happens on the cover of People magazine.
My friend Dr. Lee M. Sanders is associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, where he takes care of many adolescent boys. “Six or seven years ago,” he told me, “a mother said to me: ‘Listen, there’s no dad in the home and I’m worried about the way I see my son treating other girls. Will you talk to him about it?’ ”
Over time, Dr. Sanders incorporated this conversation into his regular exam room routine, starting with boys around age 12: “We’ll talk about respect, about whether they feel they are respected in their own families, the respect they have for their mothers, the respect they see other men paying to their own mothers or sisters — do you think that applies to other girls that you meet?
“At first it was a very awkward conversation for them to have,” he went on. “But now I’m used to having it with them, and they’re used to having it with me.”
So are we teaching our sons any special lessons? The psychologist Michael G. Thompson, the author of “Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys” (Ballantine, 2000), says it isn’t a question of girls and boys, just a question of well-behaved kids and not-well-behaved kids; everyone should learn the same lessons about care and consideration and even about giving up a seat on the subway.
“I think manners get you very far in a rather uncivil world,” Dr. Thompson said. “A simple respect for adults goes a long way in this day and age.”
There is a special lesson for boys in deploying their good manners, he continued. “I would teach boys that there are many adults who are scared of boys, who have fears of boy aggression, and I think politeness is the surest way that a boy can reassure the adult world that he is O.K. and trustworthy.”
Dr. Sanders thinks that a double standard is legitimate here — “maybe because I have two girls and no boys of my own.”
“Girls need to be treated with more respect,” he said. “We need to focus more on empowering girls in relationships, particularly relationships with the opposite sex. I think of myself very much as a feminist.”
As a pediatrician with two sons and a daughter, I acknowledge the need to emphasize manners and respect as boys maneuver into adolescence and adulthood, and to help them understand the implications and obligations of their increasing size and strength. And I acknowledge that for their own protection, boys need to understand that there are people — male and female — who will see them as potential predators, and judge them automatically at fault in any ambiguous situation.
But I am enough of an old-fashioned feminist to want to teach daughters the same fundamental lessons I teach sons: err on the side of respect and good manners; understand that confusion, doubt and ambiguity abound, especially when you are young; never take advantage of someone else’s uncertainty; and, just as important, remember that adolescence should be a time of fun, affection, growth and discovery.
It’s too bad that one side of teaching our children about sex and relationships means reminding them that there are bad people in the world; stay away from them, stay safe, speak up if someone hurts you or pushes you. But everyone needs that information, and that promise of adult support. We have to get that message across without defining some of our children as obvious perpetrators and others as obvious victims, because that insults everyone.
And speaking of insulting everyone, I would offer everyone the even less-palatable lesson that sometimes people make dumb decisions. Sometimes you decide to do something and then you wish you hadn’t done it, and that doesn’t necessarily make you bad or good, though it may make you sadder and wiser.
Got that, boys and girls? Now, if you would all please get out of the way, I would like to get off the elevator.
Really? The Claim: Nasal Irrigation Can Ease Allergy Symptoms
By ANAHAD O’CONNOR, The New York Times, April 14, 2009
THE FACTS
Pollen forecasters are predicting a heavy season this year, so allergy sufferers may be struggling to find relief.
For some, the neti pot, a nasal irrigator that resembles a small teapot, has become an alternative remedy. While it is not nearly as convenient as popping a pill or using a spray, several recent studies have found that nasal irrigation can reduce symptoms of allergies and other nasal problems.
One benefit is that irrigation can clear nasal passages without dryness or “rebound” congestion, which occurs when overuse of decongestants leads to dependence and irritated tissue.
In one independent study in 2008, researchers examined a group of children with severe allergies. They found that regular nasal irrigation with a mild saline solution significantly eased symptoms and helped reduce the need for steroid nasal sprays. A 2007 study at the University of Michigan looked at 121 adults with chronic nasal and sinus problems. Over two months, the scientists found that those treated with nasal irrigation reported greater improvements than those treated with a spray.
Other research, including an analysis of studies in the Cochrane database in 2007, found that it can be an inexpensive adjunct to medication: most neti pots are about $10.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Studies suggest that nasal irrigation can reduce sinus and allergy symptoms.
Personal Health: Keeping Those Bed Bugs From Biting
By JANE E. BRODY, The New York Times, April 14, 2009
Throughout my early childhood I was tucked into bed with a gentle admonition: “Good night, sleep tight. Don’t let the bed bugs bite.” Not that my parents or I had ever seen a bed bug or known anyone bitten by one.
But these days this old saying has resonance for many more people than in years past, including those who sleep in expensive homes and four-star hotels. Last month, a family living in a $3 million private house in Brooklyn discarded rooms’ worth of furniture, the cushions carefully slashed and notes attached saying the pieces had bed bugs and were not safe to take.
Had this been the case 40-odd years ago when I became a New York homeowner, I might have had a hard time furnishing my rooms; most were decorated with foundlings, including cushioned chairs. In those days, street scavengers like me had little reason to worry about bed bugs.
But the bed bug problem has become so widespread in 21st- century America that The Journal of the American Medical Association published a clinical review in April, “Bed Bugs and Clinical Consequences of Their Bites,” by Jerome Goddard, a medical entomologist at Mississippi State University, and Dr. Richard deShazo, an allergist at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.
A Growing Problem
Although this blood-sucking parasite has been around for thousands of years, it was mainly associated with impoverished dwellings and fleabag hotels. Now, as the authors pointed out, “international travel, immigration, changes in pest control practices, and insecticide resistance” have ganged up to create “a resurgence in developed countries,” including the United States.
“Bed bug infestations have been reported increasingly in homes, apartments, hotel rooms, hospitals and dormitories in the United States since 1980,” they wrote. Reported infestations in San Francisco doubled from 2004 to 2006; telephone complaints in Toronto rose 100 percent in six months during 2002; and the number of bed bug samples sent to authorities in Australia was 400 percent higher from 2001 to 2004, compared with the previous three years.
The critters can move easily from apartment to apartment through cracks in walls and floors. In the last fiscal year in New York City, a densely populated international destination with many people living in multifamily dwellings, bed bug complaints to the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development rose to 8,840, nearly 2,000 more than in the previous fiscal year. And chances are, most residents of infested households, especially those in single-family dwellings, co-ops and condominiums, never complained to this agency.
There is some good news about bed bugs. The journal authors reported that although the insects have been blamed for transmitting more than 40 human diseases, “there is little evidence that such transmission has ever occurred.”
The bad news is that even if bed bugs don’t spread hepatitis or AIDS, they can engender feelings of shame and disgust, and they are difficult and often costly to eliminate.
Know the Enemy
Adult bed bugs are easy to see, but only if you look at the right time — during the night on or near a human target. They do most of their feeding around 4 a.m.
The insects resemble ticks. Before a blood meal they are about three-eighths of an inch long, reddish brown, with a long nose tucked under a pyramid-shaped head and chest. After feeding, they may grow to more than half an inch. But you are more likely to see their remains in the morning: tiny black specks of excrement or perhaps a blood stain on the sheet if the sleeper happened to land on a well-fed bug.
During the day, bed bugs remain in the dark, hidden in mattress cords, cracks and crevices of box springs or seams of upholstered furniture, in the backs of headboards or joints of wooden bed frames, under loosened wallpaper, or even behind picture frames over a bed — but almost always near where people spend the night.
Most people who are bitten by bed bugs do not react. Of the 30 percent or so who do, many mistake the small, pink, itchy bumps for mosquito bites, although people may become more suspicious and more sensitive with repeated bites.
People who are highly sensitive react with intense itching that prompts scratching and can lead to infections. One Brooklyn family did not know they were sharing quarters with bed bugs until a sensitive relative visited and woke in the morning with very itchy bites.
Still others may experience more extreme reactions, including asthma, generalized hives, and even a life-threatening allergy (anaphylaxis) that requires emergency treatment with epinephrine.
But most bed bug lesions can be treated with an anti-itch product like calamine lotion or a topical or oral corticosteroid and antihistamine. If bites become infected, a topical or oral antibiotic may be needed.
Prevention and Elimination
There is no effective repellent against bed bugs, so avoidance is the best protection. Resist the temptation to pick up discarded mattresses, sofas, cushioned chairs and similar furnishings that could harbor the bugs. If you can’t pass up clothes left out for the taking, carry them away in a plastic bag and then either wash them as soon as possible in very hot water, place them in a hot dryer or have them dry cleaned.
The journal authors advise that “items purchased at garage sales and resale shops, especially mattresses, box springs and bedding, be carefully inspected for bed bugs before they are brought into homes.”
It also helps to rid the house of clutter that can provide hiding places for the bugs. When traveling, check the bed for evidence of bugs before you get in. And when you return home, check your luggage for bugs that may have come along.
Home remedies — usually ineffective — are legion. One family tried standing the legs of their beds in dishes of mineral oil, which stained the floor but did not deter the bugs. The family ended up hiring a professional exterminator, which is often a more cost-effective strategy than do-it-yourself methods. After repeated treatments to the family’s apartment and the neighbors’, the exterminator now does routine maintenance.
Pesticide sprays are not recommended for use on bedding. More effective, though no bargain, is to encase the mattress and box spring in covers like those used against dust mite allergy. (They can be found for around $50 for a twin bed.)
Other remedies include high-suction vacuuming or heat or steam treatments of infested furniture, also best done by licensed professionals. If space and time are available, furniture suspected to harbor bed bugs can be placed in the sun for several days or out in the winter cold for about two weeks. The bugs can survive indoors for a long time without feeding, but when they are exposed to temperature extremes outside and have no food source, they die off or disappear.
By John Tierney, The New York Times, April 14, 2009
When I endorsed the idea of resurrecting a Neanderthal from DNA, I was a little surprised at how many indignant comments it inspired. I’m not sure how representative that reaction was — there could be a selection bias for indignation when posting comments — but I’ll assume there are a fair number of people who don’t like the idea of recreating extinct hominids.
Then how about Jack Horner’s scheme to build a dinosaur?
No, this is not a Jurassic Park fantasy involving some recovered bit of prehistoric DNA. Dr. Horner, a paleontologist at Montana State University (and, incidentally, a consultant for the “Jurassic Park” movies), is one of the scientists who have detected similarities between dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus Rex and the modern chicken. By biochemically manipulating a chicken embryo to “awaken the dinosaur within,” researchers at McGill University are already studying ways to get the embryo to grow a dinosaur’s tail. Eventually the scientists hope to see a “Chickenosaurus” hatch with tail, teeth and forelimbs instead of wings.
Dr. Horner explains this project in a new book, “How to Build a Dinosaur: Extinction Doesn’t Have to Be Forever,” co-written with James Gorman, the deputy science editor of the Times. The contrarian in me would love to come up with a reason to oppose any project favored by my editor, but after my build-a-Neanderthal advocacy I’m having a hard time coming up with a decent reason not to build Chickenosaurus. Perhaps some Lab readers could give me cause for indignation. But before you do, consider a couple of pre-emptive answers to some commons objections, as provided by Dr. Horner:
Suppose you hatch a Chickenosaurus? What good is it?
It would get a lot of attention if you walked it on a leash, and it would be better than a slide show for demonstrating evolution.
In terms of research value, in order to turn a chicken into Chickenosuarus we would have to reverse evolution. That can teach us a tremendous amount about how evolution works. It would show how small changes in the development of an embryo can make for big changes in what the adult looks like.
But is there any practical benefit? Why not spend money on cancer research instead of turning chickens into dinosaurs?
Research is unpredictable. Finding out the structure of DNA and how genetics works has taught us a lot about disease and promises to revolutionize medicine. The goal of the researchers was to answer basic questions about biology.
But we already have some idea of how this might be practically useful. The growth of the tail is tied into the problem of the spinal cord, and spinal cord birth defects in human are a major medical problem. Learning more about what prompts and stops tail growth could give us important insights about serious human birth defects.
Whatever practical spinoffs there might be from this project, to me it seems worthwhile simply for the value of reviving and observing extinct creatures. But as I say, I’m open to causes for indignation. You can read more details of Dr. Horner’s plans at Discover magazine. Or you can wax eloquently right away.
18 and Under: Another Awkward Sex Talk: Respect and Violence
By PERRI KLASS, M.D., The New York Times, April 14, 2009
Not long ago, in the clinic, a fellow pediatrician and mother asked whether we were still teaching our sons old-fashioned elevator etiquette: stand back and let the ladies off first.
We all protested that we don’t particularly like it when men pull that elevator stunt — hospital elevators tend to be packed, and the best thing to do if you’re near the door is get out promptly — but we had to admit we thought our adolescent sons should know the drill.
Once you start asking about whether there are special lessons that should be taught to boys, people jump pretty quickly from elevators to sex (or maybe that’s just the crowd I run with). Sex, after all, is a subject on which pediatricians give plenty of advice. And it becomes very tricky to formulate that advice without making some unpleasant assumptions about adolescent sexuality.
It has never been easy for adults to deal with young teenagers honestly and sensibly on this subject, and it isn’t easy now. We live with an endless parade of hypersexualized images — and a constant soundtrack of adults lamenting children’s exposure to that endless parade. There’s increasing knowledge of dating violence, including well-publicized celebrity incidents. And there’s always a new movie to see about how adolescent boys are clueless, sex-obsessed goofballs.
Stir it all together, and you may get an official worldview in which boys are viewed as potential criminals and girls as potential victims.
William Pollack, a psychologist at Harvard Medical School who wrote “Real Boys: Rescuing Our Sons From the Myths of Boyhood” (Owl Books, 1999), argues that the way we talk to boys and young men about sex often stereotypes them and hurts their feelings.
“One boy said, ‘They treat us like we’re perpetrators — we have sexual needs but we also have other needs,’ ” Dr. Pollack told me.
Somehow, there has to be a way to talk about sex and relationships beyond the anatomical details, and a way to discuss what happens in school and what happens on the cover of People magazine.
My friend Dr. Lee M. Sanders is associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, where he takes care of many adolescent boys. “Six or seven years ago,” he told me, “a mother said to me: ‘Listen, there’s no dad in the home and I’m worried about the way I see my son treating other girls. Will you talk to him about it?’ ”
Over time, Dr. Sanders incorporated this conversation into his regular exam room routine, starting with boys around age 12: “We’ll talk about respect, about whether they feel they are respected in their own families, the respect they have for their mothers, the respect they see other men paying to their own mothers or sisters — do you think that applies to other girls that you meet?
“At first it was a very awkward conversation for them to have,” he went on. “But now I’m used to having it with them, and they’re used to having it with me.”
So are we teaching our sons any special lessons? The psychologist Michael G. Thompson, the author of “Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys” (Ballantine, 2000), says it isn’t a question of girls and boys, just a question of well-behaved kids and not-well-behaved kids; everyone should learn the same lessons about care and consideration and even about giving up a seat on the subway.
“I think manners get you very far in a rather uncivil world,” Dr. Thompson said. “A simple respect for adults goes a long way in this day and age.”
There is a special lesson for boys in deploying their good manners, he continued. “I would teach boys that there are many adults who are scared of boys, who have fears of boy aggression, and I think politeness is the surest way that a boy can reassure the adult world that he is O.K. and trustworthy.”
Dr. Sanders thinks that a double standard is legitimate here — “maybe because I have two girls and no boys of my own.”
“Girls need to be treated with more respect,” he said. “We need to focus more on empowering girls in relationships, particularly relationships with the opposite sex. I think of myself very much as a feminist.”
As a pediatrician with two sons and a daughter, I acknowledge the need to emphasize manners and respect as boys maneuver into adolescence and adulthood, and to help them understand the implications and obligations of their increasing size and strength. And I acknowledge that for their own protection, boys need to understand that there are people — male and female — who will see them as potential predators, and judge them automatically at fault in any ambiguous situation.
But I am enough of an old-fashioned feminist to want to teach daughters the same fundamental lessons I teach sons: err on the side of respect and good manners; understand that confusion, doubt and ambiguity abound, especially when you are young; never take advantage of someone else’s uncertainty; and, just as important, remember that adolescence should be a time of fun, affection, growth and discovery.
It’s too bad that one side of teaching our children about sex and relationships means reminding them that there are bad people in the world; stay away from them, stay safe, speak up if someone hurts you or pushes you. But everyone needs that information, and that promise of adult support. We have to get that message across without defining some of our children as obvious perpetrators and others as obvious victims, because that insults everyone.
And speaking of insulting everyone, I would offer everyone the even less-palatable lesson that sometimes people make dumb decisions. Sometimes you decide to do something and then you wish you hadn’t done it, and that doesn’t necessarily make you bad or good, though it may make you sadder and wiser.
Got that, boys and girls? Now, if you would all please get out of the way, I would like to get off the elevator.
Really? The Claim: Nasal Irrigation Can Ease Allergy Symptoms
By ANAHAD O’CONNOR, The New York Times, April 14, 2009
THE FACTS
Pollen forecasters are predicting a heavy season this year, so allergy sufferers may be struggling to find relief.
For some, the neti pot, a nasal irrigator that resembles a small teapot, has become an alternative remedy. While it is not nearly as convenient as popping a pill or using a spray, several recent studies have found that nasal irrigation can reduce symptoms of allergies and other nasal problems.
One benefit is that irrigation can clear nasal passages without dryness or “rebound” congestion, which occurs when overuse of decongestants leads to dependence and irritated tissue.
In one independent study in 2008, researchers examined a group of children with severe allergies. They found that regular nasal irrigation with a mild saline solution significantly eased symptoms and helped reduce the need for steroid nasal sprays. A 2007 study at the University of Michigan looked at 121 adults with chronic nasal and sinus problems. Over two months, the scientists found that those treated with nasal irrigation reported greater improvements than those treated with a spray.
Other research, including an analysis of studies in the Cochrane database in 2007, found that it can be an inexpensive adjunct to medication: most neti pots are about $10.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Studies suggest that nasal irrigation can reduce sinus and allergy symptoms.
Personal Health: Keeping Those Bed Bugs From Biting
By JANE E. BRODY, The New York Times, April 14, 2009
Throughout my early childhood I was tucked into bed with a gentle admonition: “Good night, sleep tight. Don’t let the bed bugs bite.” Not that my parents or I had ever seen a bed bug or known anyone bitten by one.
But these days this old saying has resonance for many more people than in years past, including those who sleep in expensive homes and four-star hotels. Last month, a family living in a $3 million private house in Brooklyn discarded rooms’ worth of furniture, the cushions carefully slashed and notes attached saying the pieces had bed bugs and were not safe to take.
Had this been the case 40-odd years ago when I became a New York homeowner, I might have had a hard time furnishing my rooms; most were decorated with foundlings, including cushioned chairs. In those days, street scavengers like me had little reason to worry about bed bugs.
But the bed bug problem has become so widespread in 21st- century America that The Journal of the American Medical Association published a clinical review in April, “Bed Bugs and Clinical Consequences of Their Bites,” by Jerome Goddard, a medical entomologist at Mississippi State University, and Dr. Richard deShazo, an allergist at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.
A Growing Problem
Although this blood-sucking parasite has been around for thousands of years, it was mainly associated with impoverished dwellings and fleabag hotels. Now, as the authors pointed out, “international travel, immigration, changes in pest control practices, and insecticide resistance” have ganged up to create “a resurgence in developed countries,” including the United States.
“Bed bug infestations have been reported increasingly in homes, apartments, hotel rooms, hospitals and dormitories in the United States since 1980,” they wrote. Reported infestations in San Francisco doubled from 2004 to 2006; telephone complaints in Toronto rose 100 percent in six months during 2002; and the number of bed bug samples sent to authorities in Australia was 400 percent higher from 2001 to 2004, compared with the previous three years.
The critters can move easily from apartment to apartment through cracks in walls and floors. In the last fiscal year in New York City, a densely populated international destination with many people living in multifamily dwellings, bed bug complaints to the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development rose to 8,840, nearly 2,000 more than in the previous fiscal year. And chances are, most residents of infested households, especially those in single-family dwellings, co-ops and condominiums, never complained to this agency.
There is some good news about bed bugs. The journal authors reported that although the insects have been blamed for transmitting more than 40 human diseases, “there is little evidence that such transmission has ever occurred.”
The bad news is that even if bed bugs don’t spread hepatitis or AIDS, they can engender feelings of shame and disgust, and they are difficult and often costly to eliminate.
Know the Enemy
Adult bed bugs are easy to see, but only if you look at the right time — during the night on or near a human target. They do most of their feeding around 4 a.m.
The insects resemble ticks. Before a blood meal they are about three-eighths of an inch long, reddish brown, with a long nose tucked under a pyramid-shaped head and chest. After feeding, they may grow to more than half an inch. But you are more likely to see their remains in the morning: tiny black specks of excrement or perhaps a blood stain on the sheet if the sleeper happened to land on a well-fed bug.
During the day, bed bugs remain in the dark, hidden in mattress cords, cracks and crevices of box springs or seams of upholstered furniture, in the backs of headboards or joints of wooden bed frames, under loosened wallpaper, or even behind picture frames over a bed — but almost always near where people spend the night.
Most people who are bitten by bed bugs do not react. Of the 30 percent or so who do, many mistake the small, pink, itchy bumps for mosquito bites, although people may become more suspicious and more sensitive with repeated bites.
People who are highly sensitive react with intense itching that prompts scratching and can lead to infections. One Brooklyn family did not know they were sharing quarters with bed bugs until a sensitive relative visited and woke in the morning with very itchy bites.
Still others may experience more extreme reactions, including asthma, generalized hives, and even a life-threatening allergy (anaphylaxis) that requires emergency treatment with epinephrine.
But most bed bug lesions can be treated with an anti-itch product like calamine lotion or a topical or oral corticosteroid and antihistamine. If bites become infected, a topical or oral antibiotic may be needed.
Prevention and Elimination
There is no effective repellent against bed bugs, so avoidance is the best protection. Resist the temptation to pick up discarded mattresses, sofas, cushioned chairs and similar furnishings that could harbor the bugs. If you can’t pass up clothes left out for the taking, carry them away in a plastic bag and then either wash them as soon as possible in very hot water, place them in a hot dryer or have them dry cleaned.
The journal authors advise that “items purchased at garage sales and resale shops, especially mattresses, box springs and bedding, be carefully inspected for bed bugs before they are brought into homes.”
It also helps to rid the house of clutter that can provide hiding places for the bugs. When traveling, check the bed for evidence of bugs before you get in. And when you return home, check your luggage for bugs that may have come along.
Home remedies — usually ineffective — are legion. One family tried standing the legs of their beds in dishes of mineral oil, which stained the floor but did not deter the bugs. The family ended up hiring a professional exterminator, which is often a more cost-effective strategy than do-it-yourself methods. After repeated treatments to the family’s apartment and the neighbors’, the exterminator now does routine maintenance.
Pesticide sprays are not recommended for use on bedding. More effective, though no bargain, is to encase the mattress and box spring in covers like those used against dust mite allergy. (They can be found for around $50 for a twin bed.)
Other remedies include high-suction vacuuming or heat or steam treatments of infested furniture, also best done by licensed professionals. If space and time are available, furniture suspected to harbor bed bugs can be placed in the sun for several days or out in the winter cold for about two weeks. The bugs can survive indoors for a long time without feeding, but when they are exposed to temperature extremes outside and have no food source, they die off or disappear.
