Your health: Genomes could help beat bedbug's bite
Genomes could help beat bedbug's bite
They emerge from their hiding places at night, driven to slake their thirst for human blood.
Vampires?
No. Bedbugs.
These tiny insects have staged a global resurgence in the past two decades after being nearly eradicated in many regions, Reuters reports, but scientists recently unveiled a complete genetic map of the bedbug that could guide efforts to foil the resilient parasite.
“This is an enormous new tool for researchers interested in controlling this pest,” said George Amato, director of the Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
“Bedbugs are now very widespread in most major cities around the world, and they have increasingly become resistant to insecticides, making them harder to control,” American Museum of Natural History entomologist Louis Sorkin said.
The scientists identified genes responsible for their insecticide resistance, genes involved in mitigating the traumatic effects of their brand of copulation and anticoagulant genes useful for an insect that makes blood its exclusive source of nutrients and water.
These genetic traits may present vulnerabilities that could be exploited with future insecticides.
Cruise ship sickness is less common
Here's some good news for those who will be taking a cruise during Spring Break.
Health officials say cruise ship passengers are getting sick with a stomach bug less often, The Associated Press reports.
About 20 outbreaks are reported each year on ships that dock at U.S. ports, on average. Many draw media coverage.
But it's becoming less common for passengers to get sick, according to figures released recently by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Since 1990, the illness rate has fallen from about 29 to 22 per 100,000 passengers. Officials say cruise ship companies are doing more to disinfect ships and prevent outbreaks.
It wasn't a steady decline. Cases spiked in 2012 when a new strain of norovirus emerged. Norovirus causes most stomach illnesses on cruise ships.