Well, maybe one more history post.
The papers say the city is ready to do battle, more on what that might mean later.
Of course bed bugs have always been a big deal. Eradicating them, a big production. We had a brief respite there in the 20th century with a succession of various effective and cheap (and therefore widely deployable) control methods. Now we get to spend incredible amounts of cash killing bed bugs, and be grateful for it. And the organizational logistics of eradication? Again comparable to what they once were?
All of which is to say, let’s have any excuse to look at some photographs from a bed bug disinfestation protocol at Camp Lee (now Ft. Lee), Virginia in 1943.1
Photos copyright Dr. Eugene J. Gerberg, used with permission, all rights reserved.
Soldiers’ gas masks were “often severely infested.”
Inspections were conducted to determine the extent of the problem (and whether local control efforts instead of fumigation would still be effective).
Bedding was disinfested in a high-pressure steam chamber. The metal beds were dipped in a vat—and altogether reconsidered, wooden bedsteads replaced, and the cracks in a remaining 4 x 4 wood support filled with putty and painted.
Hydrogen cyanide fumigation:
And finally, one of my favorite photos:
Allow none to pass.
An educational program on bedbug control should be arranged. Posters are helpful in pointing out methods of detection and eradication.
Photos copyright Dr. Eugene J. Gerberg, used with permission, all rights reserved.
I read once, in PCT, that there were congressional hearings in the 40s about army personnel and bed bugs. I’ve never been able to find the records. If anyone knows more, I’d be grateful for the details.
- “Bedbug control by fumigation with hydrocyanic acid gas discoids,” private photo album, EJ Gerberg (1943). [↩]
These pages may be of related interest: