Bed bug, or Cimex lectularius, is a wingless, blood-sucking insect, parasitic on humans. It is a ?at, rusty-brown insect, 5 mm long and 3 mm wide, which has an o?ensive, never-forgotten smell and cannot ?y. The average life is 3–6 months, but it can live for a year without food. The bed bug remains hidden during the day in cracks in walls and ?oors, and in beds. It does not transmit any known disease. Eggs hatch out into larvae in 6–10 days, which become adult within about 12 weeks. A temperature of 44 °C kills the adult in an hour. Various agents have been used to disinfect premises, such as sulphur dioxide, ethylene oxide mixed with carbon dioxide, hydrogen cyanide and heavy naphtha, but insecticide is the most e?ective disinfecting agent.
a bloodsucking insect of the genus Cimex. C. hemipterus of the tropics and C. lectularius of temperate regions have reddish flattened bodies and vestigial wings. They live and lay their eggs in the crevices of walls and furniture and emerge at night to suck blood; although bed bugs are not known vectors of disease their bites leave a route for bacterial infection. Premises can be disinfested with appropriate insecticides.
Blood sucking hemipterans found in Latin America and which serve as vectors for Trypanosoma cruzi, the cause of Chagas’ Disease. These insects are also known as ‘cone nose bugs’, ‘assassin bugs’ or ‘triatomids’. They belong to the family Reduviidae and the genera Rhodnius and Triatoma, Panstrongylus amongst others.... reduviid bugs