Bed Bugs Limited (UK) has completed a bed bug survey project that should provide powerful insights on the way bed bug infestations spread within cities. We hope that the findings, to be presented on December 15, will spur a smart and coordinated response to bed bug infestations in London.
Bed Bugs Limited asked all London councils, under a Freedom of Information Act request, to supply 5 years’ worth of data on reported bed bug infestations. The infestations were identified by postcode sector.
This is how postcodes work: for example, SW8 5AB is Bed Bugs Limited’s postcode—South West London, 8th postal district in SW London, 5th postal sector in the 8th district. The letters identify the individual street.
Bed Bugs Limited mapped infestations reported to London councils pooled with Bed Bug Limited’s own bed bug treatments data.
At the postcode sector level, SW8 5 in the preceding example, Bed Bugs Limited achieved a map resolution of “approximately half a mile.”
What if we knew exactly where bed bugs were spreading in our cities? If we had such fine-grain information in real time then we could direct resources—pest control, education, support—to those areas and we could stop the spread. This is the essential argument for public investment in tracking bed bug infestations, in accurate bed bug statistics and maps. Find out where the bed bugs are and you stand a chance of actually getting rid of them.
Additional benefits come quickly to mind, like opportunities for researchers to work in areas of heavy or intractable infestation, test interesting hypotheses on the causes and mechanisms of the spread, and study the effectiveness of control products and protocols plus the impact of bed bug infestations on hosts.
It is very heartening to see a bed bug control firm engaged in advancing the public understanding of this pest.
David Cain, managing director of Bed Bugs Limited, explained why he undertook this project, “We decided to invest the funding to conduct the study because we felt that without a deeper understanding of the urban spread we were missing a vital piece of information that helps explain why bed bugs are making such a voracious come back.”
We can’t wait to see this map in December and talk to David Cain about it. Stay tuned!
You can read the press release here. All manner of interesting suggestions in it but we’d rather not speculate, so we’ll wait, a bit impatiently, true, but then bed bug stats are rather high on our list of interests!
David Cain has been a great friend and counselor to New York vs Bed Bugs. Check out our interview back in May here.
These pages may be of related interest:
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