'Portraits' of the American Bedbug ...

American bedbugs took big bytes/bites of the Express of the Washington Post and the Denver Post end of August, and we thought we'd never see them crawl on front pages again.

It seems though that a buggy invasion is going on, and this September, they've already 'occupied' Indiana, Ohio, Missouri and Tennessee.  This sounds quite cinematic; who knows there may be someone out there around Hollywood crafting a giant bedbug (ala Kingkong) story for a 3-D movie with an itchy-bitchy theme song.

Wondering how Pinoy immigrants (they're not strangers to surot) in America are coping with the social stigma that reportedly ensues from the sight of suspicious bite marks (they may be of mosquitoes) on body parts: they become pariah, they're cut off from guest lists, they can't even be hugged!. 

Ohio bedbug.

Another one from Ohio.

Tennessee bedbug (southerner!)

Indiana bedbugs.

Missouri bedbugs.
  

 Update:    05 November

Bedbug invasion of America?

Earlier this month, bedbugs crawled all over the front page of the Toronto Sun, which reported that they are a growing menace in the city.  This time (31st August), they swarmed all over page one of Express, a free daily in Washington DC from the publishers of Washington Post.

We wonder if the American and Canadian bedbugs are of the same species, and can then be called North Americans.  And how would they differ from the Pinoy surot in terms of 'body build, skin color,' and smell when crushed?

http://www.denverpost.com/

We guess that an investigation is going on in both Canada and the US to find out where these bedbugs originated.  They could be 'illegal immigrants' from some other part of the world that escaped detection at the Homeland Security checkpoints.

The Denver Post reported on the efforts of Ohio authorities to contain the bedbug invasion in Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton and other cities.  Where next?

Update:  4th September, 2010. The bedbugs are in Indianapolis --

                          

The Canadian surot (bed bugs).

We've seen the ipis (cockroaches) of New York, and they're big and black, when we lived on 132nd St W some years ago.  We didn't have surot (bedbugs) in an apartment we shared with Pinoy old-timers there.

We've gone to Toronto twice. Am sure we'd kill our Pinoy hosts with sharp dagger looks if ever we saw one surot crawling on the bed or that shared a pillow with us.

It would be interesting if Toronto Pinoys can tell us how surot in their adopted country look and 'behave' compared to the kind that thrives in mattresses/pillows and under arm supports and seats of sinehan chairs in our dear 'Pinas.