BEDBUG: THE BITE OF POVERTY

Bedbug, the bite of poverty!

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Honestly, every bite of a bedbug, is a bite of poverty. Sincerely, the bite of a bedbug, is a bite of poverty in all its ramifications!

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Let me illustrate:

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Now, I grew up at my village, Udochi which is a very peaceful Community under the South Uneme Clan in the Etsako Central Local Government Area of Edo State. It is predominantly an agrarian and fishing Community, tucked away peacefully and beautifully between Osomegbe in the Ekperi Clan, Etsako Central Local Government Area, Edo State to the West, Agenebode in the Weppa Wanno Clan, Etsako East Local Government Area, Edo State to the North and she is bordered by River Niger to the East, and Onyedega in the Ibaji Clan of Kogi State as a border community across the River Niger to the East.

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These are the beautiful Communities that are bordered by my peaceful Community, Udochi and if anyone ever needs a peaceful and serene, natural, and friendly environment for one to hide one’s head from the bustling nature of city life, this is the place to be and this is where I grew up with all the sound morals, ethical and religious values that anyone can ever desired or cherished.

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Sadly, I grew up too with the presence of bedbugs, perhaps to teach me the other lessons and essence of life!

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Bedbug by biological or scientific classification is an insect of the family of Cimicidae and the common bedbug is classified as the Cimex lectularius.

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Further, bedbugs are classified as parasitic arthropods and they are typically less than 1cm in length and reddish brown in colour and they can be found in furniture, beds, or other small spaces, most commonly in areas of clutter.

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An adult bedbug, in general is said to be about the size of an apple seed (5-7mm or 3/16-1/4 inch long), long and brown with a flat, oval-shaped body when not fed recently or balloon-like, reddish-brown, and more elongated when fed recently.

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They are small, brownish insects that feed solely on the blood of animals or humans. Although the common bedbug (Cimex lectularius) prefers feeding on humans, it can also bite other warm-blooded animals, including dogs, cats, birds, and rodents.

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In Africa and some other parts of the world, bedbugs have lived and continued to live with man according to its name of classification.

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It is a known fact therefore that bedbugs can come into our homes come from other infested areas or from used furniture. They can also hitch a ride in luggage, purses or other items placed on soft or upholstered surfaces. Humans can even act as its transporter and they can travel between rooms in multi-unit buildings, such as apartment complexes and hotels.

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In reproduction, bedbug eggs hatch in about 6-10 days and the nymph bedbug will go out to find its first blood meal to molt to the next stage. Each nymph stage usually lasts about a week (longer if a bedbug cannot find a live host to feed on).

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The adult bedbug life span usually last between 6-12 months.

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Incredible!

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By way of feeding, bedbugs can bite any part of one’s body, but they will usually bite areas of skin that are exposed while one sleeps, such as one’s face, neck, arms, and hands.

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The first sign of a bedbug’s bite may be red, itchy bites on the skin, usually on the arms or shoulders and it tend to leave straight rows of bites, unlike some other insects that leave bites here and there. And in some cases, the bites may develop into fluid-filled blisters.

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Similarly, the bites from bedbugs are often itchy, red and in a line and these bites usually disappear with time. Other signs and symptoms of bedbug bites could be a burning painful sensation, a raised itchy bump with a clear centre, a red itchy bump with a dark centre and a lighter swollen surrounding area.

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These are some of the characteristics of this tiny insect of less than 1cm in length, yet very deadly and devilish.

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However, one of its terrible characteristics, is its foul smell when crushed to death, a smell strong enough even to wake up the dead.

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It is that terrible a smell!

Bedbugs are mostly or commonly found in crevices or cleavages or edges like beds (iron or wooden), mosquito nets, corals of shirts, etc where it could hide from the prying eyes of humans so that it could unleash its painful biting spree on its victims.

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Here, I recall one sad experience that I had with this tiny, but devilish insect.

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Over a period, I was experiencing a continuous biting itching on the lower part of my belly (stomach) just below my navel area and these biting itching were so serious and continuous that one day I decided to carry out an experiment by keeping my eyes on that spot to observe what was causing these terrible biting itching and as I kept my eyes fixed on this part of my body, suddenly I observed a movement, but before I could react, it was out of my sight, hence I decided to remove my belt and painfully, I discovered a group of reddish bedbugs hidden perfectly inside the head of my belt where they were launching their dangerous bites of attacks on me over a period of time and in utter anger, I dipped the head of the belt inside a bowl of kerosene and within seconds, hundreds of bedbugs were floating on the surface of the kerosene, helplessly.

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These were the little evils that have caused a continuous embarrassment to me in the public for several weeks and months where I was always ashamed to scratch that part of my body in the public so that onlookers would not assume that I was doing that because I was dirty because I do not take my bath regularly.?

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Kerosene, though very expensive now, is one of the instant killers of bedbugs, but in the rural areas and because of abject poverty, not everyone could afford this luxury of life to be used in the killing of these evil and tiny insects, hence they resort to other methods.

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One of such methods, is to display the items that have been infested by bedbugs in the heat of the sun for heat to do its wonders because scientifically, bedbugs usually cannot survive past temperatures between 114°F (45°C) and 115°F (46°C), however, our people of Udochi, South Uneme Clan in Etsako Local Government Area, Edo have this proverb that says that ‘bedbugs will always tell its younger ones to be patient that there is nothing that is so hot that it will never cool down.’

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Funny as this proverb is, it is true because no matter the heat of the sun, the bedbugs will always survive it because when the object infested with it would have been returned to the house from the sun in the nightfall, the bedbugs will resurface again to effect, in anger, more dangerous bites because they always dream of the darkness of the night.

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Sincerely, bedbugs dream too, it dreams big, it dreams of night fall so that it can carry out its nefarious activities of blood sucking and blood licking. What poverty can cause!

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Truly, poverty dey suffer man! E dey yab man, badly!

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Honestly, poverty is not and never an easy experience; its atmosphere could be very suffocating. Wealth has its own difficulties too, but poverty has its worst difficulties, and the presence of bedbugs is one of such difficulties.

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Another effective way of disposing of bedbugs from an infested object is to dump or soak such an object into a pool of water, preferably a river.

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Funnily, but sadly, I recall the sad experience of one of my late Uncles, who, out of sheer frustration, took all the sleeping mats of the family to River Niger and dumped them there with the hope that the fishes of the water of our River Niger would have eaten up all the bedbugs, sadly, on his return, he discovered that all the sleeping mats of the family have been destroyed, providing more problems for his family.

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Sad, sad indeed!

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Yet my people have another strange belief in the disposal of bedbugs.

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According to ancient tradition, all one needs to do to effectively dispose of bedbugs from one’s surroundings, is for one to harvest a single bedbug, place it inside the husk of a corn, tie it securely and take it to the marketplace and drop it at the market square and return home. However, one side effect of this ancient tradition is that one must not greet or say anything to anyone on the way to the market, hence the potency or efficacy of this belief will come to nought.

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Unbelievable!

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Yet, the use of scientific method of spraying insecticides on the infested objects was not only alien to us, but it was also completely out of our reach because of its financial costs. Can a poor man who is already infested with bedbugs because of poverty have the luxury of the affordability of an insecticide?

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Anyway….

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However, I recall that in the late 80s, my late Uncle, Mr Abdulai Musa Ozizi had, generously, bought for my mother, a tin of Baygon, a pesticide brand produced by S. C. Johnson & Son that has an instant-killing effect on common house pests, particularly bedbugs, but for lack of experience on how to use it, I sprayed it directly on the portion of the mattress that was infested by the bedbugs and before I could realize it, it has burnt our mattress almost half its size, creating another huge challenge, a kind of ‘double-wahala’ for us as the legendary Fela would sing in one of his famous tracks ‘Double Wahala,’ double wahala for the owner of dead body.

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Seriously, the bite of a bedbug, is a bite of poverty and on that day, it bites us deeply.

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Poverty no good, it humbles man!

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However, I was surprised when I first came to Lagos in 1984 during the annual long vocation of August to September to see a bedbug walking majestically on the neck of a passenger that was sitting in front of me in the old and fabled Molue bus of Lagos and when I recounted my experience to my Aunt, Mrs Jule A. Da-Silva (Nee Idi Ekpoki), she simply laughed and said?to me, ‘don’t you know that the Molue buses are for the poor people of Lagos and in Lagos, they are poor people too!’

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Sincerely, I was greatly surprised at this statement because I never thought that poor people could live in Lagos and that was the first time that I came to realize that poverty does not only reside with the poor people of the rural areas, but even the celebrated urban areas like Lagos, have her own kind of poor people and in the Molue buses of Lagos, there are bedbugs, the sign of poverty in Lagos.

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Truly, the presence of bedbugs in the home of anyone is a sure sign of poverty, but it is more embarrassing, and it could be such an embarrassing moment when this little insect of not less than 1cm in length is found on the body of anyone in the public.

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And this was the sad fate that passenger suffered on that fateful day inside the Molue bus because every passenger’s eyes were on him, pitiably.

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What a sign of poverty!

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However, bedbugs are said to be great ‘hitchhikers’ that many people can pick up accidentally while traveling. They can get onto one’s clothes while staying in a hotel or at another person’s home, and one may bring them home, unknowingly. One can also accidentally bring bedbugs home when purchasing used furniture.

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Perhaps, this is the only time that the bedbug can visit the home of the rich to eat from his sumptuous meal of fresh blood.

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What an irony of life!

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Anyway, tradition tells us further that bedbug can survive for up to one (1) year without feeding, so it is always very important to inspect our items, even when there have been in storage for some time.

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Honestly, the presence of bedbugs always has an eerie feeling. And one day, I saw a bedbug in the Church.

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Ha, a bedbug goes to Church!

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One fateful Sunday, during a recent Mass in Lagos, I saw an object moving quickly on the immaculate white plastic chair in front of me and purely out of curiosity, I took a closer and deeper look at it and behold, it was a bedbug, the dreaded evil and devilish insect, moving majestically on the edge of the immaculate white plastic chair with its belly full and filled with the blood of its victim that it has sucked, from where, I would never know, but out of great dislike for this blood sucking insect, I hurriedly, without a second thought, killed, in fact, crushed it to death with the second finger of my left hand without remembering that sacred injunction ‘thou shall not kill’ (Deuteronomy 5:17) even in the Church, during the Holy Mass.

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I killed it. I did.

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A bedbug in the Church during Mass? What an audacity. And what was it looking for? Perhaps, the Sacraments so that it would be more fortified for its more blood sucking adventures, but sadly, on this day, it encountered me with a great dislike for it and it met its death, dishonourably.

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I killed it, yes, I did.

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However, I was never comfortable again all through the Mass because the presence of a bedbug always truly has an eerie feeling. It has a distasteful sight and I felt it on that day because with its musty (foul) smell when killed, it could be a very embarrassing situation for anyone, and it was for me on that day.

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And it was for me on that day.

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Seriously, bedbugs are a nuisance, and they are best treated as quickly as possible once you identify them, otherwise, they can affect, infect, and infest its hosts, willingly and truly by leaving intense itching, usually in the morning on the body of its victims, bites that leave small blisters on top of them.

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Red or rust-coloured stains on bed sheets or mattress or mosquito nets due to the bedbugs being crushed can be noticed too as well as bedbug poop, which looks like dark dots that may appear blurry like small eggs or shells of eggs.

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One may spot these remains when cleaning or changing beddings. Bedbug can hide virtually anywhere that is large enough to fit it. Therefore, one can find them not only in a bed, but also in curtain folds, in drawer joints, under loose wallpaper, in chair seams or even on handmade or woven fans. Mosquito nets are never exempted as their abode.

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Bedbug is truly a nuisance and when it infested a home, it is the worst of a challenge, the sign of poverty.

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Truly, a bedbug is evil, it is a tiny devilish insect as oral tradition has it that it can survive up to six (6) months to one (1) year without feeding, but as soon as it encounters blood, its new life begins again!

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It begins a new life again to sucks its victims and what a tiny devilish and evil insect!

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The bite of a bedbug is truly a bite of poverty!

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OSABOMEH, Mark Dominic write from Lagos via [email protected], 08184196800 (WhatsApp), 07035794596, 08023333010, @domark11 (twitter) and Mark Osabomeh (skype)?????

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Saturday, July 30, 2022