Thanks for your comments.

David is correct that the man needed some kind of assistance. Of course, I agree 100%. Whether he had body lice, or any other kind of pest on him, he needed help. I hope he got it. (It is not clear to me that just because he was removed from the train, he did not get assistance. In fact, I understand the MTA has designated workers who do outreach to people who are apparently sleeping rough (or have similar issues).

I definitely hope he got help both with the pests and any other social service needs.

David also said,

“If the individual reported on the subway system did in fact have such a heavy case of bed bugs that in desperation for food they had become a human borne colony it is most likely that there would have been an alarming number of nymphs because all good young reside as close to food as possible.”

That makes total sense.

But I guess my question for entomologists is, how long would translucent, unfed first instar bed bug nymphs hang out on a person before feeding?

One Friday afternoon many years ago I got a call while out working. The summary was that a hospital out patient had been sent home because there were fleas crawling all over them. Long story short after some detective work we managed to track down an address and at about 5pm I arrived.

I did not need to enter the property to tell that it was a miss diagnosis as I had to kill about 10 bed bugs on him before I stepped across the threshold. Luckily I had my first digital camera with me at the time and although poor resolution compared to what I now use it allowed me to capture one of the last pictures on my gallery. The caption reads “If left untreated Bed Bugs will simple multiple at an alarming rate. This property had been untreated for a very long time and is one of the more extreme cases we have treated. It is however by a long stretch not the worst we have dealt with” the whole room was covered. I doubt there was a batch of wall greater than 3 inches square that did not have either a live bed bug, faecal trace or a cast skin on it.

The bath was filled with a good 2,000 – 3,000 bed bugs trapped trying to walk out.

I asked to get the revisits on the property but the job never came back on my rota so I have no idea how it ended.

If I knew what I do today back then it would have been handled completely differently but it was truly one of those stunning infestations to walk into.

If the individual reported on the subway system did in fact have such a heavy case of bed bugs that in desperation for food they had become a human borne colony it is most likely that there would have been an alarming number of nymphs because all good young reside as close to food as possible.

The crime that I feel has been committed is to let the person go back out into society without this issue being investigated and assistance given.

Simply put how can we all stand around scratching our heads as to why bed bugs have come back so quickly when we simple let a massive infestation risk pass back into public space.

It may be that this person does not have a bed bug issue but I hope that someone with some authority in public health realises that this one person could be the key to the infestations of literally hundreds if not thousands of people. It should therefore be one of their highest priorities to get out into the field and find that person so that if it is bed bugs then it can be dealt with.

If it is not bed bugs then have the humanity to help this person deal with whatever the issue is.

Infestations like this are out there, I see about one per month and invariably they involve a non bite responding occupant often shamefully let down by society.

David Cain
Bed Bugs Limited