I’ll try to share you with you what I’m reading from time to time.
You may have heard of the Report of the Committee on The Eradication of Bed-Bugs?
Report No. 72, UK Ministry of Health, 1933. (Not to be confused, I suppose, with the UK Medical Research Council’s Bed-Bug Committee and its annual reports, 1935-1940.)
The 1933 report is the source of this oft-repeated historical nugget about bed bugs in Britain:
It is estimated that in many areas practically all the houses are to a greater or less degree infested with Bed-bugs.
I am struck by the evergreen difficulties of controlling bed bugs.
Perhaps you may agree that the following bits and pieces in this report have that certain air of sad familiarity:
On contact insecticides and sprays:
It is a relatively easy matter to devise a mixture of chemicals which will kill Bed-bugs when sprayed directly on to them. If insecticides are capable of nothing more than this, there is ample justification for the view expressed by Dr. Gunn that they are in no wise superior in efficacy to soap and water.
On the need for education:
The responsibility ot the Local Authority as landlord and as guardian of the Public Health should not end with the fumigation of furniture and disinfestation of bedding on removal to the new house. Sustained effort is necessary to prevent reinfestation, and a judicious use of educational propaganda will undoubtedly contribute more than any other measure towards a solution of the problem.
On the need for research:
In the course of our enquiries we have been struck with the extreme paucity of information on many important points in the physiology and life history of the Bed-bug. Experience has shown that no insect pest has been successfully combatted until its complete life history and reactions to environment have been worked out.
On the need for training of inspectors (okay, of sanitary officers and health visitors):
In our opinion it is of the first importance that sanitary officers and health visitors should be thoroughly conversant with the signs of infestation by Bed-bugs, and be able to recognise infestation in its early stages.
And I leave you with:
As an immediate measure we think that a circular letter should be addressed to Local Authorities calling attention to the urgency of the problem and indicating the lines upon which action may most profitably be taken.
(Emphasis added.)
You can access a copy of the 1933 Report on the Bed-Bug from the Armed Forces Pest Management Board’s Defense Pest Management Information Analysis Center Literature Retrieval System. Enter this search term accession:1021 and enjoy.
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