Continuing our unintentional creepy-crawly theme on Scope today (fruit flies, spiders and bedbugs), I've just come across a rather comprehensive look at bedbugs on NYU's Clinical Correlations. It's, honestly, a subject that completely grosses me out, but the entry was reviewed by NYU faculty and it is worth reading if you want to know more about the scourge of second-hand mattresses:
Cimex lectularius, commonly known as the bedbug, had been a pest of yesteryear, until recently. Reports of bedbug infestation in hotels began to emerge at the turn of the millennium.[1] Soon after, bedbugs spread like wildfire across major cities in the country, infesting apartments, private houses, college dormitories, nursing homes, and even hospitals.[2] New York City was no exception; in 2008, the city’s 311 hotline received almost 10,000 bedbug complaints, a 34% increase from the year before. [3] New York has a bedbug epidemic, and there is no relief in sight.
