Anti-bug conscience
How did they do it? The numbers of bed bug infestations fell significantly in the inter-war years in Britain. Well before DDT. The answer, it turns out, is in the wholesale reorganization of housing for the poor.
Tag: stigma
Serious social stigma (c. 1980)
“Minerva” of the British Medical Journal, July 1980: Council estates are becoming more popular with rats, cockroaches, and bedbugs, reports “Roof,” SHELTER’s housing magazine (14 July 1980). This is apparently due to early occupation by the vermin, which move in … Continue reading
Bed bugs, poverty and filth – Part I
Bed bugs are intricately linked in history and in our imagination with poverty and filth. Continue reading