Interesting about the slat. Blood-sucking insects are capable of some weird stuff, though. My bet is on them. (I had to look up pigeon eggs to picture the size of some of these blisters.)

Renee. You are a national treasure and we’ll miss you. Best of luck.

I’d already seen the journal document, and it definitely described my bites. I brought it, along with my photos to my doctors, who just shook their heads yes. I have a return scheduled to the dermatologist to remove stitches. I don’t think he will be any more helpful. if I get any more bites I would use a different doctor.
Looking at the images in the Atlas, I’d say my bites looked like the carpet beetle ones, once they start to deflate. I had almost all single bites…and then a cluster, which, along with the new knowledge of the neighbor below me having bb, convinced me they were bedbug bites. That night I found the bug on my bed…and saved it for the exterminator.
Having found a bed bug, may be coincidental to my “bites”, which did seem to stop once I’d cleaned the bed and floors etc….killing any carpet beetle larve that was there. I may never really know, unless I find someone who can unequivocally tell from my photos what the bites are from.
In the meanwhile, I have to debug my apt. and all my belonging, incase there are leftover bb or their eggs.

For a 2006 article about bullous reactions to bed bug bites, with photographs, see this.

For a photograph of a blister-like (contact) reaction to carpet beetles, see this page of a pediatric dermatology atlas. You can consult your doctor about contact dermatitis and carpet beetles. But I’m sure next time you see a bug you will trap it and have it identified if you are not sure what it is. Your doctor should also be able to show you photographs of bullae. I would ask your doctor to be more helpful.

In any case, I hope the source of the reactions is now clear.

And thanks… (feel free to link to your photos if you like)

A review of 93 studies concerned with the
possible role of bedbugs in transmission of
human diseases revealed that several successful
laboratory experiments led certain investigators
to the conclusion that bedbugs transmit leprosy,
oriental sore, kala-azar, 0 fever, relapsing
fever, and brucellosis in nature. Actual trans-
mission, however, has not been scientifically
proved.

scary stuff

This review is problematic for me for different reasons. I have no qualifications to evaluate the disease transmission studies, or any studies, but I believe that this review misrepresents one study about bed bug bites. I have an interest in bite reactions and I know their review of one particular article is incomplete and misleading. Also, I really strongly dislike Goddard for his public statements about bed bugs. His “spin” when this review article came out was stomach churning. But he’s an eminent medical entomologist. Anyway, sorry, I get carried away when I think of him, as you will see, there are plenty of studies. With the consensus that they don’t spread disease, however, perhaps it’s unlikely that there will be much additional research, but we’ll see. The remaining scenario is the dirty needle scenario. Which would be very hard to detect. I don’t understand this too well, to be frank.

Some think there may be evolutionary reasons for bed bugs not spreading disease. Happy reading.

Hmm, I guess we’ll find out — as you say, more and more people have bed bugs, but I think it’s also a question mark whether any effects could be detected. Who’s looking? Doctors still don’t even know to think “bed bugs” when patients present with bites.

I should say, of course, because often these discussions are misconstrued, that I’m relieved that bed bugs are not known to spread disease. We’d be totally ****** if they did.