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Last update - 06:53 24/07/2008 After 40 years, Israel braces for return of the bedbug By Ofri Ilani Tags: DDT, Israel, Bedbugs Those living in Israel in the 1950s and preceding decades are likely to understand the significance of the phrase "swarming with bedbugs." Back then, the pest was a familiar, if unwelcome guest, in many an Israeli bed. In the past several decades the bedbug has been virtually eliminated from the country, and indeed most other Western countries, thanks to aggressive extermination measures. Advertisement In recent years, however, bedbugs have begun returning to the United States and Europe, and experts have been predicting the pest's return to Israel as well. "All of the adults among us are familiar with the bedbug from childhood. It was one of the most common parasites in the world," says Dr. Kosta Y. Mumcuoglu, the head of the Medical Entomology and Acarology Laboratory at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. "Everyone who has had bedbugs at home knows their particular smell - they have a strong stench that they emit to communicate with each other. Whoever has smelled this stench will not mistake it for anything else," he says. During and after World War II many governments used massive quantities of the deadly extermination agent DDT on infected individuals, homes and even entire residential areas. Many parasites were eliminated entirely through these methods, and the bedbug remained prevalent only in the Third World. "The bedbug was apparently extremely sensitive to DDT and other pesticides," adds Dr. Mumcuoglu. "We thought bedbugs had disappeared. That's why I was surprised to see them again in Israel." DDT treatment was successful in dramatically lowering several insect-borne diseases in the West, but the substance was itself responsible for catastrophic health and environmental damage. Once it entered the food cycle, DDT caused significant harm to wild animal populations, and through them is believed to have led to rising cancer rates in humans. DDT was banned in the U.S. in 1972, and then in other countries around the world. Other similar substances were also banned in favor of more sophisticated, selective treatments. "In recent years, people are using fewer sprays against ants and cockroaches, and are instead using more selective cockroach traps which are designed to cause less damage to the environment, but which are also not as effective," says Dr. Mumcuoglu. Moreover, he adds, household pests like bedbugs have begun developing immunity to the new pesticides. The result has been an abundance of reports of bedbug sightings in North America and Europe. "In the last ten years, bedbugs have become a problem in the developed world. Today, we are coming across bedbugs in the United States more than we had for the past forty years," he says. He attributes the phenomenon partly to foreign tourism. "Bedbugs have even begun to appear in prestigious areas in New York," he adds. "In workshops that I run, exterminators have told me that they have seen bedbugs in a variety of places, including prisons. One said saw them in Eilat, among tourists who had arrived from Jordan." Often, Dr. Mumcuoglu says, bedbugs are confused with fleas. "Fleas are very common pests, especially in homes with dogs. There are a million dogs and cats in Israel, some of which sift through garbage bins and transfer fleas from place to place. But bedbugs are something else," he says. He reminds us that bedbugs are still a rare sighting in Israel, and a plague has not yet descended on the country. Nevertheless, their growing prevalence in other countries should motivate Israeli authorities to a state of readiness. "We need to raise awareness so that we don't arrive at a situation in which it is difficult to get rid of them," he says. Bookmark to del.icio.us   West Bank drought Palestinian Water Authority calls on Israel to rethink its water policies. Death of an artist Egyptian filmmaker's controversial work earned him international recognition.   1.   Et tu, brut...?... We can`t take this... 07:17  |  Esther 24/07/08   2.   Night, night..... 10:00  |  Clickfool 24/07/08   3.   Welcome back `pishpushim` 10:12  |  Chanalau, Tova 24/07/08   4.   Hope that tourists 12:28  |  the roach 24/07/08   5.   What about prevention? 13:49  |  Raoul 24/07/08   6.   Steam cleaning against bugs 14:35  |  Raoul 24/07/08   7.   Quick to say: they came from Jordan 14:38  |  Albert 24/07/08   8.   Bed bugs 15:04  |  Naomi Halpern 24/07/08   9.   It`s the occupation 15:44  |  Dutch 24/07/08   10.   America has Israel and Israel has bedbugs 15:57  |  Natallie Durson 24/07/08   11.   Israel has bedbugs and the US has Durson 16:14  |  Erich 24/07/08   12.   bedbugs 16:44  |  pik botha 24/07/08   13.   Bed bugs. 16:58  |  David Nigel Braham 24/07/08   14.   Hey Ducsh - this is pure Karma 18:23  |  Dr Noam 24/07/08   15.   "Reconditioned" mattresses, hotels, boarding and rooming homes 18:38  |  Sara 24/07/08   16.   Anti-Semitic bedbugs? 20:44  |  Libnanee 24/07/08   17.   Lebnony 21:39  |  Dr Noam 24/07/08   18.   Bed bugs return to USA via 3rd world visitors 21:44  |  itsbeenbugging me 24/07/08   19.   Durson 21:53  |  Mike 24/07/08   20.   Dr Naom # 17 22:10  |  Libnanee 24/07/08   21.   Dutch 23:28  |  Reemo 24/07/08   22.   Durson Der Sturmer: Jews as Vermin 00:14  |  Ovadiah ben Avraham 25/07/08   23.   Durson 01:35  |  THE TEACHER/INSTRUCT 25/07/08   24.   Ofer Dickel & Bedbugs. 03:15  |  BamBoo 25/07/08   25.   The return of the bedbugs 04:47  |  Rachel 25/07/08   26.   They Got Jewish Blood All Over them. 05:28  |  BamBoo 25/07/08   27.   Bedbugs are everywhere 05:55  |  Conroy 25/07/08   28.   #16 Anti-Muslim bedbugs? 06:00  |  Conroy 25/07/08   29.   #2 Clickfool don`t tell me you`re glad Israel has bedbugs 06:19  |  Conroy 25/07/08   30.   The moment of truth - Durson and others 13:02  |  Raoul 25/07/08   31.   For Tovale #3 16:15  |  Esther 25/07/08   32.   These bedbugs have Jewish blood on their many hands 18:30  |  Liquidate them! 25/07/08   33.   TO # 3 Tova 19:29  |  THE TEACHER/INSTRUCT 25/07/08   34.   Tourists? More like "squatters" 21:19  |  Global Citizen 25/07/08   35.   Zionists? More like squatter! 04:07  |  esprit du-corps 26/07/08   36.   Re #33 08:40  |  Esther 26/07/08   37.   beds bugs in jerusalem 01:23  |  robert 28/07/08

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