Monday, January 13, 2014 C9
HEALTH
WHENNATURECRAWLS Bed bug infestations are becoming more common, and the pest is difficult to eradicate, even with professional help, writes Jasper Moiseiwitsch
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or nine months, Ms He (full name withheld ) and her two children woke up every morning covered with excruciatingly itchy bite marks. When they realised they were caused by bed bugs – highly invasive, hard to eradicate pests – the mental torment began. “For the kids, it was a much more serious problem, because the bed bugs focus on the children. My daughter does not want to sleep on her own, and now all three of us sleep together [in the bottom bed of a bunk bed],” says He, a 40-year-old single mother. She and her six-year-old boy and 10-year-old girl live in a 70 sq ft subdivided flat in Kwai Chung. Hong Kong’s bed bug problem is growing. Statistics provided by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department show the number of complaints of bed bugs has been rising, from 29 in 2011, to 47 in 2012, and 79 in 2013 (as of November). Of those cases, 34 per cent came from Sham Shui Po, and just 5 per cent were from Hong Kong Island. William Hung, the chief executive of Johnson Group, a local pest control firm, says the volume of bed bugs cases he’s handled has risen sharply in the past five years. His firm handled 105 cases in 2009 and more than 500 last year. Bed bugs are a common problem for people living in public housing estates, because of the population density. The small wingless insects were once a major domestic problem worldwide. Their prevalence declined with the widespread use of DDT from the mid-20th century. But there seems to be a recent resurgence of the bloodsucking insect globally, says the department. International travel, immigration, changes in pest control practices, and insecticide resistance may have contributed to the resurgence in developed countries, say researchers from the University of Mississippi Medical Centre, who published a report in the journal JAMA on the health
The bugs attach themselves to clothing and bags, and then move from room to room, and home to home. Hung says 90 per cent of cases involve homes with maids who have stayed in hostels, which are often infested. Filipina helper Liz (not her real name) battled bed bugs in June 2012 in Tai Wong Street in Wan Chai. She says the pests covered the 500 sq ft hostel, which was home to 10 helpers. “They were on the walls, on my towels and on the carpet.” Travellers also The lifecycle, in days, spread the of the bed bug problem. Bed bugs are a bigger issue in hotels than the industry will admit. “People don’t talk about it because it’s taboo, but it’s definitely happening,” says Liz Lycette, a housekeeping consultant. She knows of lawsuits in the US where guests sued and medical effects of bed bugs, administered hotel owners for and control and eradication three separate letting them stay strategies. treatments. As in infected Swati Maheshwari, a PhD the bugs kept rooms. Lycette student at Baptist University, attacking, says hotel says bed bugs took over her life Maheshwari management for about three months last resorted to may use dogs to sniff out summer after she bought used desperate the bugs. The insects defecate furniture that was infested with measures, such as blood, leaving a distinctive the creatures. “It was seriously repeatedly soaking odour, likened to the smell of harrowing. I had marks and her mattress with insecticides won’t rotting raspberries. An infected welts all over my skin, arms and boiling water. Her kill the eggs, which have a room, and those adjacent, is my legs,” she says. solution in the end was 14-day lifecycle. People might closed for chemical treatment The bugs first appeared in to throw out the HK$14,000 think the problem has gone the bedroom of her domestic mattress. away only for fresh eggs to hatch. and heat cleaning of bedding and furniture. helper, and then spread to Bed bugs are difficult to treat Bed bugs live only on human The best way to check for bed her room and that of her because they live and lay eggs in blood and tend to feed on bugs is look at the sheets, Lycette 18-month-old daughter. She the cracks of bed frames and slumbering folks at night. Their says. If the sheets show a trail of and her husband hired a pest skirting panels on walls, and bites can be itchy for days and reddish-black dots, the room is control firm, which burrow inside mattresses. Most cause rashes. probably infected. Hung now has a ritual of checking each corner of a hotel room when checking-in, looking for faecal debris. He then sprays his rooms with a • Exposing bed bug-infested Battling bed bugs but can’t afford regularly, maintain non-humid repellent, and when he returns expensive pest control services? domestic environments, avoid use clothing or other small items home sprays his luggage with of second-hand furniture, promptly to freezing temperatures Here are some things you can do insecticide and leaves it out in that may help keep the bites at bay. replace loose wallpaper, and seal may be a viable control option, the sun for a spell. cracks and crevices. according to an article Many families with the published last month in the • Regular cleaning and vacuuming • Remove bedroom clutter where problem simply cannot afford of premises, thorough laundering bed bugs can hide, and wash bed Journal of Economic treatment, which can be about linens in hot water and heat-dry Entomology. The authors of bedding and clothing, and HK$10,000 for a 1,000 sq ft flat. recommend that the items be environmental sanitation them in a dryer, says Fang He’s monthly income is less management are essential for Zhu, a scientist from Washington placed in plastic bags and that than that and she thought she they remain in the freezer for prevention of bed bug infestation, State University. Fang is leading was lucky when a social worker says the Food and Environmental research on the identification of the two to four days, depending on arranged a free treatment. Hygiene Department. genes responsible for pesticidethe freezer’s temperature. Two days later, though, the bugs resistance in bed bugs. Jasper Moiseiwitsch • Inspect bedding and clothing were back. jasper.moiseiwitch@scmp.com
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It was seriously harrowing. I had marks and welts all over my skin, arms and legs SWATI MAHESHWARI, BAPTIST UNIVERSITY STUDENT
Let the battle begin
William Hung of pest controllers Johnson Group. Photo: Edmond So
Statins risk: the great unknown ................................................ David Wilson life@scmp.com Feed the word “statins” to Google and the three suggestions that roll up are “statins side effects”, “statins and diabetes” and “statins and memory loss”. The search engine’s negative take on the drug designed to tame your cholesterol levels is mirrored by controversy about statins in the medical community. Commenting on whether statins pose a risk, Jonny Bowden, a nutritionist and coauthor of The Great Cholesterol Myth, comments: “That’s precisely the problem – we don’t really know.” Statins in general are safe for many people, according to Bowden, who critiques the drugs in his book. “But they are also riddled with side effects, such as muscle pain, memory loss, loss of libido and loss of energy,” he says, adding that, in some studies, some statin-treated groups experience a troubling spike in diabetes. There are many conflicting studies, however. In a study published in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes in July last year, researchers reviewed data from 135 previous drug studies published between 1985 and early 2013. The tests involving nearly 250,000 patients evaluated the safety of the seven statins on the market.
They concluded “as a class, adverse events associated with statin therapy are not common”. They also noted a nine per cent increased risk of diabetes among statin users. But according to a previous landmark study, 250 patients need to be treated with a statin for one case of diabetes to be diagnosed. “I am concerned that patients may misunderstand this small increase in risk, and stop adhering to their medications,” says Huseyin Naci, the study’s lead author and research fellow at Harvard Medical School’s Department of Population Medicine. The proven ability of statins to significantly cut the rate of death and hospitalisation in patients who have heart disease outweighs the “small increase in diabetes risk”, he says.
New guidelines from the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology suggest that many more people should use statins to stave off cardiovascular disease. “While side effects can sometimes be troublesome it is important to also appreciate the very real benefits statins do provide,” says Britain’s National Health Service website. Statins do some good, says Bowden. They modestly benefit middle-aged men with existing cardiovascular sickness, because they thin the blood and are antiinflammatory. But he says they are being “wildly overprescribed” for populations – such as women, the elderly, and men with no existing heart disease – in which they’ve shown little to no benefit. Bowden adds that about 75 per cent of patients taking
Statins may be overprescribed, and may be a health risk to some groups. Exercise and stress reduction are alternatives. Photo: Corbis
statins “may experience no benefit whatsoever”. Further, long-term implications of taking statins is not known, he says. One early statin, Baycol, was pulled from the market because of increased mortality, says Dr Barry Sears, founder of the Inflammation Research Foundation in Massachusetts. Another statin, Warfarin, must be constantly monitored by blood test because of its potential to cause internal bleeding, he says. Lifestyle, genetics, food and environment all play a role in how a patient reacts to statins, says Australian nutritionist Cyndi O’Meara. “Studies have shown that, for every 60 patients treated with statins for an average of 4.3 years, only one will be protected from a single heart attack,” she says. Worse, taking statins indefinitely might fuel the complacent, delusional belief that a lifestyle defined by poor eating habits and no exercise is sustainable, she says. The alternative to statins, says Bowden, is to stay healthy through exercise, stress reduction, and an antiinflammatory diet low on sugar and starch but full of invigorating ingredients. He also recommends antiinflammatory omega-3 and magnesium, which relaxes the blood vessels. Also good are vitamin D, vitamin C, resveratrol – an antioxidant found in red wine – and curcumin, which is found in the spice turmeric.
LAB REPORT ............................................ Jeanette Wang jeanette.wang@scmp.com
Ethnicity could vary immunity Some people – particularly indigenous Australians and Alaskans – may be more vulnerable to infection by the H7N9 influenza virus, a study by the University of Melbourne suggests. Humans have no prior history with H7N9 and so lack antibodies against the virus. Previous animal and human studies suggest certain T-cells – white blood cells involved in immune responses – can diminish disease severity and may provide some protection against H7N9. The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, estimates between 16 and 57 per cent of the population have this pre-existing T-cell immunity. Among those who do not have it because of their genetic makeup are the indigenous people of Alaska and Australia.
Improper use of biocides may endanger public health Biocides used in the food industry may endanger rather than protect, public health by increasing antibiotic resistance in bacteria and enhancing their ability to form harmful biofilms, says a study in Applied and Environmental Microbiology. Researchers at the University of Leon in Spain exposed Escherichia coli bacteria to sublethal concentrations of sodium nitrite, sodium hypochlorite and trisodium phosphate. Exposure to sodium nitrite increased the resistance to 14 out of 29 antibiotics tested. E. coli cells also acquired tolerance to sodium nitrite and sodium hypochlorite, which improved the microbes’ ability to form biofilms. Sodium nitrite is a common ingredient added to processed meats and fish that helps preserve the food and prevent bacterial growth that causes botulism.