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Article: Bedbugs and healthcare-associated dermatitis, France.(LETTERS)(Report)
- Article from:
- Emerging Infectious Diseases
- Article date:
- June 1, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 U.S. National Center for Infectious Diseases. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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To the Editor: Bedbugs (Cimex lectularius) are hematophagous insects. Adults are 4-6 mm long, flattened, oval and wingless, and brown to brownish-red (Figure, panel A) (1). They may feed in the wild on birds or bats (2), but they are mainly associated with human dwellings and can be found on furniture and clothing (3). Because bedbugs are nocturnal and feed painlessly only in the dark, while humans sleep, initial bedbug proliferation usually goes unnoticed until several weeks later when the patient discovers a pruritic cutaneous eruption of unknown origin (4). Decades ago, bedbugs were frequently found worldwide, but reports of cases in industrialized countries have ...