May 16, 2011
Just the thought of bed bugs can make a person's skin crawl.
Now Canadian researchers find the pests are able to carry two types of drug-resistant bacteria.
Researchers tested five bedbugs collected from three hospital patients in British Columbia.
They found the bugs carrying MRSA and another bacteria known as VRE.
These findings suggests bedbugs may act as a hidden way to promote the spread of these bacterium in overcrowded and impoverished communities.
Study authors say further research is needed to characterize the link between MRSA and the bedbugs, and if a bug carrying the germ can transmit it to humans.
Findings appear in the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention journal 'Emerging and Infectious Disease.'