Comments on: Bed bugs spread when no one who can pay for treating them is responsible for treating them

By: Beth M

Beth M — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:07:03 +0000

Yep, you are so right. Thanks for posting this interesting article.

By: DougSummersMS

DougSummersMS — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 20:32:15 +0000

Cilecto

You raise a really interesting point, but I think we should give Dr Doggett the benefit of the doubt here….

Doggett is suggesting an evidence based risk analysis …. I do see your point….. The results of an objective analysis could still be twisted into ethnic discrimination… in practice by others….. Suggesting the analysis is a reasonable action for a scientist …. How that data is translated into practice is the public policy issue that has some clear pitfalls with regard to demographics like race, economic / social status or country of origin.

Let’s say a large group of firefighters (24 infested fire stations) from Cincinnati are visiting a hotel in Australia. If evidence based observation demonstrated that most of their rooms are now infested…. Would it be unreasonable to expect that they would be isolated in a proper fashion & processed in accordance with the Doggett’s published protocol …. to control the spread of a known parasitic infestation?

In a scientific context, I think analysis is a proper action in terms of understanding the etiology of the infestation….. “Accommodation industries….. who are seriously affected by bed bugs, should undertake a risk analysis of past infestations …… If clear patterns emerge, then the high risk groups should be kept separately from the low risk groups. This may help to contain infestations to certain rooms and to a certain area of a facility.”

Would it be acceptable, for example, to isolate commercial flight crews…. if we observed that their rooms were 700% more likely to become infested than other guest rooms?

At the same time, one could see how such policies could be misapplied to justify social discrimination that would be completely unrelated to the control of bed bug infestations….

The issue would seem to be… How do we practice aggressive infestation control without compromising important public policies that mandate social non-discrimination?

By: cilecto

cilecto — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 05:51:00 +0000

Hate to say it, but even supposed “gurus” like Australia’s Steve Dogget offer veiled suggestions of ethnic profiling: “18.1.14. Risk Assessment and Management
Those in the accommodation industry, who are seriously affected by bed bugs,
should undertake a risk analysis of past infestations. Rooms afflicted should be
analysed to see where the past guests have come from, whether they be from a
local region or from overseas. If clear patterns emerge, then the high risk groups
should be kept separately from the low risk groups. This may help to contain
infestations to certain rooms and to a certain area of a facility.”
– Doggett, Stephen L., “A Code of Practice For the Control of Bed Bug Infestations in Australia, 2nd Edition, November 2007″

The more this spreads, the more “racial profiling” we’re likely to see, based on facts, or speculation. I fear that the whole concept of “urban” life will be, once again, deprecated.