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Infestation by Hemiptera

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Arthropods and Human Skin

Abstract

Bugs (order Hemiptera) have been associated with man and his habitation since time immemorial. To the European this means the bedbug, Cimex lectularius, which has a cosmopolitan distribution, giving place in the tropics to a related species C. hemipterus (Patton and Cragg 1913). In the world as a whole, important as bedbugs are, this is a narrow view of bug infestation. Many other species, espeeially in the Americas, infest human dwellings or may attack man in other places. They cause great annoyance and some act as vectors of disease. A search of the literature, greatly helped by Ryckman and Bentley (1979), has revealed thatover 100 species of bug have been recorded as having attacked man in various parts of the world. Many of these records, whilst authentic, have not been followed up adequately. They have appeared in systematic surveys of geographic regions (Banks 1919; de Bergevin 1925; Bequaert 1925; Lewis 1958), in systematic entomological studies (Readio 1927; Usinger 1934; Wood 1941,1942a, 1953) or as listed species in books on medical entomology (Patton and Cragg 1913; Matheson 1950; Chandler 1955). Tables 6.1 and 6.2 list the less important ones, namely phytophagous bugs or occasionally waterbugs, with appropriate references. Tables 6.3 and 6.4 indicate reduviid bugs which have similarly attacked man.

Those who have been forced to sleep in a bed alive with hungry bed bugs know how interesting these parasites can make it and how active they become as soon as the light is extinguished

(Lugger 1896)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Glasgow, UK

    John O’Donel Alexander MB, ChB, FRCP (Glasgow) (Emeritus Consultant Dermatologist, Glasgow Royal Infirmary and Lately Honorary Clinical Lecturer in Dermatology)

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  1. John O’Donel Alexander MB, ChB, FRCP (Glasgow)
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O’Donel Alexander, J. (1984). Infestation by Hemiptera. In: Arthropods and Human Skin. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-1356-0_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-1356-0_6

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  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4471-1358-4

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