AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011 - 36

FLYWELL

BY DR. JONATHAN M. SACKIER

Sleep tight

S

leep tight…and don’t let the bedbugs bite! This old expression is said to originate from the use of ropes to support a mattress; if tight, sound

to trouble them. See what we’re up against? In fact, check out their mating habits—males achieve insemination by piercing the female abdomen. This demonstrable lack of lovemaking tenderness begs the question: Is it any wonder they are happy to torture us? The best treatment is prevention. Never stay at a hotel without checking Internet sites that list complaints (such as www.bedbugregistry.com). Most hotels now have a bedbug eradication protocol, repose ensued. Regardless, nobody wants bedbugs sometimes using dogs to detect these unwelcome to bite. Pilots travel frequently so hotels feature freeloaders. Said to smell of cilantro (just like the Dr. Jonathan M. prominently in our lives and bedbugs are an escanewest American invasion, stink bugs) there would Sackier is a lating problem. For once, as author of this column have to be a lot around to create that aroma, so surgeon and don’t mistake fancy cooking for an infestation. I don’t just have sympathy, I have empathy; after private pilot living a New York hotel layover, I was bitten by the bug. Because they congregate in crevices and hide from in Virginia. Actually, lots of bugs. light, remove sheets and mattress covers in the dark Bedbugs are tiny parasitic insects grandly using a flashlight to search for live bugs, eggs, disnamed Cimicidae, that get their jollies feeding on warm carded bug skins, or blood or bug poop stains. Delightful. Keep mammalian blood. Like mine. No reservations or table man- luggage off the bed until you’re sure you are safe. Remember, ners. Unlike pilots they cannot fly, so let’s be grateful for small movie theaters, dorms, and libraries are not immune. mercies. Although first described in 400 B.C., they were just a If you awake with telltale bites, try to find the culprit, or bad memory until the 1990s, having been obliterated by DDT. one of his cousins; trap him in a container (such as the miniTheir resurgence may be because of increasing travel, allow- shampoo amenities hotels provide) or on adhesive tape; and ing afflicted people to spread bugs, pesticide resistance, or inform management to prevent other guests from enduring infested yard-sale purchases. And they have returned with a this misery. If the hotel is uncooperative, call local health authorities—it’s the right thing to do. As soon as possible vengeance. These oval-shape nocturnal nemeses live in mattresses, have a hot shower somewhere free of bugs and when you get couches, and other furnishings, When young they are small home, package clothes and luggage in a plastic bag for later and almost transparent, but mature adults are brown, one- processing or disposal. Do not let your cat or dog greet you quarter-inch long and half that across, the size of an apple enthusiastically or remaining bugs may jump ship, sneaking seed. Dormant until you crawl into bed, one chemically signals into your house. to others: “Hey, guys, fresh meat has arrived!” If attacked, you Once a dwelling is infested, seek professional help. Bugs will awake with red spots and welts giving new meaning to should be vacuumed and pesticides or heat treatment used, the word itchy. Usually bites are treated with steroid or anti- disposing of older or damaged soft furnishings. As noted, pespruritic ($100 word for “anti-itch”) creams, or, if severe, oral ticide resistance is growing dramatically and although spiders, antihistamines and a course of steroids. Avoid scratching the ants, and cockroaches enjoy dining on bedbugs, and some itch to limit secondary infection, which might otherwise recommend peat fires or various plants and herbs to deter need antibiotics. Allergic reactions may amplify symptoms invaders, such remedies might repel the humans even more and some psychological impact is possible. Although a range than the bugs. of organisms capable of causing human illness have been French naturalist Jean-Étienne Guettard recommended found in Cimicidae, there is no clear evidence they can trans- bedbugs to treat hysteria, and other odd medicinal uses have been proposed. I view bugs as a cause of hysteria, rather than mit disease. These are hardy monsters and, while they enjoy feeding a remedy. In 1996, the Matthew Skoller Band recorded Bad Bed every few days, can go without a meal for up to a year and Bugs on their Bone to Pick with You album so maybe that is a can endure extreme cold to minus 26 degrees F—so cooler fitting way to bid you good night: “Bad bedbugs don’t care who Wisconsinites should be fine. At chilly temperatures they des- you are, a nobody or a movie star. Bugs over there, bugs over sicate, take a snooze, rehydrating and getting back to work here, bad bedbugs are everywhere. Bad bedbugs, Bad bedbugs, when things warm up. At the other end of the scale it is not Lord, bad bedbugs. When you go to bed tonight, don’t let the until 115 degrees F that they roll over, so Nevada, you are good bedbugs bite.” to go. Although carbon dioxide is not their gas of choice, they can handle it and a pure nitrogen environment does not seem Email the author at jonathan.sackier@aopa.org. 36 • NOVEMBER
2011

AOPA PILOT •
http://www.bedbugregistry.com
AOPA Pilot Magazine - November 2011

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