philosophy
...s only a matter of time before the pest escapes from its shelter-based "reservoir" to infest nursing homes, hospitals, hotels, apartment buildings and "eventually detached single-family homes. Bedbugs may be a biological indicator of changing social conditions," the bulletin notes dryly, going on to predict that further "parasite" plagues could also be brought back as part of the surprising plague-haunted medievalism of the emerging global city. , as many entomologists have suggested, it's just because we no longer use strong enough chemical pesticides to keep traditional vermin down. The ecological caution that allows malaria mosquitoes to flourish has also made the world safer for less harmful but still disgusting bedbugs. But there is no question that the plague is on, with major outbreaks occurring all over the United States, from five-star hotels in New York City to hospital operating rooms in New Mexico and around the world. "This isn't just a Toronto problem. This is a worldwide resurgence in bedbugs. Both users and officials of the burgeoning hostels have been quietly dealing with the bedbug resurgence for two years, according to Captain Ken Percy of the Salvation Army, which operates a number of shelters in Toronto. "We've been fighting an ongoing battle," he said, washing all bedclothes, sheets and blankets daily and fumigating when necessary. The church officer in charge of the large Maxwell Meighen shelter on Sherbourne Street has spent close to $20,000 on pesticides over the past two years to curb a persistent bedbug infestation, according to Capt. Percy. The army is holding its own and even gaining in the battle, he insisted. But even an optimist can't deny the obvious limits on sanitation in homeless shelters, where the human tide that collects in the lowest gutters of a neglectful city surges through the grates twice a day, every day. Unfortunately some of the poor souls who come to us for aid may carry bedbugs," Capt. Percy said. The shelters have laundries -- hot water kills bedbugs -- but no means to enforce their use. "We can't force anybody to do anything," he said. "We're there to provide people with a bed for the night and that's it.But others, perhaps, can take more vigorous measures to stop the spread of bedbugs out of the shelters and throughout the city as a whole. Although it will probably take an embarrassing incident at an expensive hotel to force a proper response, the U of T bulletin has certainly caught the attention of local public-health officials.Before the report was released, health department spokesmen insisted that bedbugs were "not a public-health issue." Mr. Myles disagreed, criticizing the lack of public-health response to the problem in his report. By week's end, senior officials of the department had joined an ad hoc committee to deal with the shelter infestations. "We acknowledge that it can be a significant personal-health issue," said Dr. Karl Kabasele, associate medical officer of health. Moreover, "it's not a problem that's confined."All agree that repeated bites from bedbugs induce insomnia, anxiety, even trauma in those whose sleeping quarters are infested. Bites turn i...