There’s a little bed bug consciousness-raising going on in this post from Megan McArdle on her Atlantic.com blog, and even more in the active discussion which follows.
MacArdle writes:
Craigslist springs up to facilitate low cost transactions between individuals: good!
The market for used furniture booms, allowing people to furnish their houses more nicely/cheaply, while giving a little extra cash to those parting with unwanted furnishings: good!
The boom in used furnitures spreads bedbugs, leading to a quasi-epidemic in some areas: eeeeeeeeeeeeeek!
McArdle suggests that due to used furniture alone, the more the economy bites, the more the bed bugs bite.
Well, bed bugs were doing just fine spreading before the recent market plunges. After all, they also get to spread nicely when we spend lots of money to travel and stay in hotels, hostels, and rental houses, ride on planes, trains and buses, or go to college and home again.
Still, I don’t doubt for a minute that the recession can indeed help bed bugs in so many ways (we go for secondhand furniture and other items, we can’t afford treatment or encasements, and so on). We have commented on the potential (and reported) spread of bed bugs via Craigslist, freecycle, and other methods before.
The comments thread is even more interesting than the post itself, IMHO. I was glad to see all of this happening in the mainstream blogosphere.
I encourage you to check it out!
Similar Posts:
- Round, round, get around, bed bugs get around all the time
- Pest Control Technology’s Aug. 2009 bed bug supplement
- Bed Bugs hit Johnson City Fire Station
- Bed bugs continue to multiply in Winnipeg
- Bed bugs in the media: David Cain on British radio, Dr. Susan Jones in the Plain Dealer
