A bedbug is a wingless insect with a flat reddish body that infests dwellings and bedding and feeds on human blood. The common human bedbug of temperate regions, Cimex lectularis, is largely nocturnal, spending the day in crevices in walls and furniture and in bedding. Its bite causes irritation in many individuals, but it is not known to transmit diseases.
In the developed world, bedbugs were largely eradicated as pests in the early 1940s, but have increased in prevalence since about 1995. The exact causes of this resurgence remain unclear; it is variously ascribed to greater foreign travel, more frequent exchange of second-hand furnishings among homes, a greater focus on control of other pests resulting in neglect of bed bug countermeasures, and increasing resistance to pesticides.
World Bedbugs Registry Database Map.
(thanks Cora)The Presurfer
