In a blog post about the recent BBC radio report about bed bugs in NYC (the online article is available here—it features an in-the-field interview with John Furman whom we’ve also interviewed, via unexciting email however), Consumer Reports does this:
Essential information: Visit The Journal of Americans Medical Association Web site after 4 p.m. ET on March 31 to read about a study that examines the consequences of bedbug bites.
Now… never mind.
Not even the name of the authors or anything! Yes, yes, I checked the JAMA site, nothing yet.
Well played, CR.
It’s not like there’s a lot of bed bug bites research. I had been planning a mini-review of what’s available. A new paper on this subject is definitely an event. Tomorrow! 4 p.m. — did you catch that?
These pages may be of related interest:
The Jama article has a release date of April 1st, but it is available online by subscription.
The authors Godddard & deShazo reviewed published studies & concluded that bed bugs are unlikely to transmit disease.
Here is a link to the abstract
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/301/13/1358
Yes, I know. And here I thought — and was excited about a new research paper on bites — and it’s just… Dr. Goddard with the usual, and as far as I can see from early reports, with the same dismissive remarks. What disappointment.
Yes, bed bugs do not transmit disease. Didn’t we know that already? I’m pretty sure Dr. Goddard himself has been telling us this forever.
The public health importance of bed bugs does not derive from their potential to vector disease, but from their absolutely deleterious impact on our society. This is so elementary.
Anyway… thanks for stopping by.
Here is a link to Dr Goddard commenting on the study
http://www.thejamareport.com/wmPlayer.php?daFile=files/vids/JAMA_REPORT_SHORT_03_31_09.wmv&fim=1165&par=153
“The public health importance of bed bugs does not derive from their potential to vector disease, but from their absolutely deleterious impact on our society. This is so elementary.”
Well stated, I agree completely.
Thanks, Doug. I’m going to write about this paper. There’s actually a couple of interesting things in it, and there’s a disconnect between what it says and the public statements being said. And, more important, it’s not news. Everything that was true yesterday is true today.
There’s actually another bed bug bite paper out too, a short one, problematic but interesting. I’m finishing reading them and will write about them both.
Meanwhile, we still do what we have to do, back to work and all that. The world didn’t stop and the bed bug situation, intolerable, risky, worrying, is still what it was yesterday.