Acute Illnesses Associated With Insecticides Used to Control Bed Bugs-Seven States, 2003-2010

The common bed bug, Cimex Lectularius, is a wingless, reddish-brown insect that requires blood meals from humans, other mammals, or birds to survive. Bed bugs are not considered to be disease vectors, but they can reduce quality of life by causing anxiety, discomfort, and sleeplessness. Bed bug infe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association 2011-11, Vol.306 (18), p.1974
Main Authors: Jacobson, James B, Wheeler, Katherine, Hoffman, Robert, Mitchell, Yvette, Beckman, John, Mehler, Louise, Mulay, Prakash, Schwartz, Abby, Langley, Rick, Diebolt-Brown, Brienne, Prado, Joanne Bonnar, Newman, Nicholas, Calvert, Geoffrey M, Hudson, Naomi L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Health risk assessment
Illnesses
Insecticides
Medical records
Toxicity
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Summary:The common bed bug, Cimex Lectularius, is a wingless, reddish-brown insect that requires blood meals from humans, other mammals, or birds to survive. Bed bugs are not considered to be disease vectors, but they can reduce quality of life by causing anxiety, discomfort, and sleeplessness. Bed bug infestations often are treated with insecticides, but insecticide resistance is a problem, and excessive use of insecticides or use of insecticides contrary to label directions can raise the potential for human toxicity. Here, details assessing the frequency of illness from insecticides used to control bed bugs, relevant cases from 2003-10, sought from the Sentinel Event Notification System for Occupational Risks-Pesticides program and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, are discussed. Among other things, a CDC editorial note is included.
ISSN:0098-7484
1538-3598