Although bedbug infestation is not a new public health problem, it is one that is becoming more alarming among healthcare professionals, public health officials, and ethicists given the magnitude of patients who may be denied treatment, or who are unable to access treatment, especially those underserved populations living in low income housing. Efforts to quarantine and eradicate Cimicidae have been and should be made, but such efforts require costly interventions. The alternative, however, can further exacerbate the already growing problems of (...) injustice, i.e., unfair treatment of patients, inaccessibility of needed resources. In the following paper, I examine the ramifications of denying access to medical care, among other healthcare justice dilemmas surrounding bedbug infestations. I also explore the value of health, and how healthcare professionals and public officials often feel as though bedbugs are not a priority because they, themselves, are not diseases, regardless of the fact they cause physical and mental problems that affect a person’s health. I propose recommendations for improving the health and well-being of those vulnerable populations who are facing a difficult and growing public health problem that is currently being ignored in medical and public health ethics literature, regardless of increased media attention and unusual habitats of localized infestations, e.g., Statue of Liberty, New York City. (shrink)

Many health care professionals (HCPs) are understandably reluctant to treat patients in environments infested with bedbugs, in part due to the risk of themselves becoming bedbug vectors to their own homes and workplaces. However, bedbugs are increasingly widespread in care settings, such as nursing homes, as well as in private homes visited by HCPs, leading to increased questions of how health care organizations and their staff ought to respond. This situation is associated with a range of ethical considerations (...) including the duty of care, stigmatization, vulnerability, confidentiality, risks for third parties, and professional autonomy. In this article, we analyze these issues using a case study approach. We consider how patients whose living environments are infested with bedbugs can receive care in the community setting in a manner that supports their well-being, is consistent with fairness in care provision, and takes into account risks for HCPs and third parties. We also discuss limits and obstacles to the provision of care in these situations. (shrink)

Bedbugs are tiny, wingless insects which feed on mammal blood and leave behind painful, itchy sores. Although they can live in other settings, they are most commonly found in warm, dark places inhabited by humans, like beds. After being absent in the United States for over 60 years, thanks to powerful pesticides, bed bugs, have returned in force and are present in every state and nearly every city. For reasons not entirely understood, bed bugs have developed resistance to traditional (...) pesticides such as Permethrin and are therefore difficult to control. Although commonly believed to be associated with dirty housekeeping and associated with substandard housing, bed bugs are equally likely to be present in five-star hotels as they are in homeless shelters. (shrink)

Drawing on Roberto Esposito’s conceptualization of ‘affirmative biopolitics’, this article examines the relationship between bedbugs and humans in the Glasgow neighbourhood of Govanhill. Through an analysis of ethnographic field notes and interviews with people who live in the area, this article traces their experiences from first encounters. The trajectory of this experience shows a shift from a desire to immunize their homes through total annihilation of the creatures to the more pragmatic position of learning how to live with them (...) through an orientation toward ‘shared vulnerability’. This case study raises interesting questions for biopolitical theory: how can we conceive of affirmative biopolitics when the limitations of species being are evident, and is it possible to conceive of a multi or even interspecies munus or obligation? (shrink)

Buddhist texts generally prohibit the killing of all sentient beings. This is certainly the case in vinaya texts, which contain strict guidelines on the preservation of all human and animal life. When these vinaya texts were translated into Chinese, they formed the core of Buddhist behavioural codes, influencing both monastic and lay followers. Chinese vinaya masters, such as Daoxuan?? and Yijing??, wrote extensive commentaries and accounts, introducing Indian concepts into the Chinese environment. In this paper, we focus on an often (...) neglected aspect of inflicting harm on sentient beings: namely, the injury that may be caused to some of the world’s smallest animals — insects. Some insects produce economically valuable products, such as silk and honey; others, such as mosquitoes and bedbugs, are annoying or dangerous; and still others are innocent victims of essential human activities, such as earthworms that are killed when farmland is tilled. Yet, all of these are sentient beings that — according to Buddhist principles — should not be harmed or killed. What this implies for Chinese vinaya masters, and especially the highly influential Daoxuan, is the core question of this paper. As we will see, their responses are mixed, but they always attempt to remain true to the basic principles of Buddhism. (shrink)

At all biological processes, we see a variability of the individuals. The problem is, to find out the valuation of the different reactions. Size and form of the variation dependend upon the environment. That has been demonstrated in fig. I on the second moult of the bugBagrada picta. In overcrowded populations most of the individuals are retarded, but the first moulting individuals not so much as the later ones. In cultures of bedbugs bread at 34° C, the moultings of (...) the individuals with a bad physiological constitution take place — from generation to generation — much later than those of the best individuals. The variability is also changed with the mortality, as has been demonstrated in fig. 3. Some generations ofPicris brassicae depend upon temperature in a different kind . Fig 5 demonstrates, that the lower and the upper limit of the variability ist fixed. These examples make evident, that their is a physiological difference between the biological reaction of the individuals. Therefore, their average depends also upon the environment and in comparing we will get rules only, but in regarding the highest possible efficiency of the species or race, we will get laws. This highest efficiency is given for insects by the shortest times for the development, by the lowest mortality and by the highest production of healthy eggs in each combination of temperature and humidity. The curve in fig. 4 and the lower curve in fig. 5 are mathematical catenary curves, which represent, therefore, a real biological law for the influence of temperature. The knowledge of this character of the variability is important both for the theoretical and for the applied biology.Chez tous les réactions de la vie, nous trouvons une variabilité des individus. C'est une problème de trouver la valeur des différentes réactions. La grandeur et la forme de la variation dependent des conditions des environs. Fig.i montre la deuxième mue de la pentatomideBagrada picta. Dans les populations avec beaucoup d'individus il y a une rétardation, mais la rétardation des premiers individus n'est pas si grande que celle des derniers. Des punaises toujours cultivées à 34° C montrent la mème phénomène, mais encore plus distinctement dans les générations succédents. La variation est changée aussi avec la mortalité . Fig. 4 montre, que la même réaction de plusieurs générations duPieris brassicae est hétérogene. Fig. 5 fait voir que les limites de la variabilité sont fixées.Par ces exemples, il est évident, qu 'il y a une différence physiologique entre les réactions des individus. La moyenne arithmétique ne suffit pas pour une comparaison et conduit seulement aux règles; mais nous trouverons les lois biologiques avec les individus, qui montrent les réactions les mieux posibles pour une espèce ou une race. Chez les insectes ce sont p. ex. la dévéloppement la plus vite, la mortalité la plus petite, la plus grande nombre d'oeufs bien portants. Fig. 4 et 5 montrent des courbes caténulaires pour la dévéloppement la plus vite. Elles représentent la loi biologique pour l'influence de la température. Le savoir du charactère de la variabilité est très important pour la biologie théoretique de même que pour la biologie pratique. (shrink)