18 Spring 2016 Applegater
Notes from a Rogue entomologist
When insects meet the press
BY RICHARD J. HILTON
Insects and the press have a love-
hate relationship—the press loves to
hate insects. A couple of examples came
up over the past few months. At the end
of 2015 there was a national news story
about an increase in “kissing bugs” and
Chagas disease (see note below), which
kissing bugs can carry. Kissing bugs are
large blood-sucking insects that will feed
on a person’s face while they are sleeping,
thus the name.
As usual, there was some
truth in this story, but it got way more
press than it deserved. Since 1955 there
have been fewer than 40 cases of Chagas
disease transmission documented in the
US, but it’s a given that whenever you
have a story featuring a large blood-
sucking insect, you are well into “if it
bleeds it leads” territory.
I got a call from one of the local news
outlets, and explained that kissing bugs
are not an issue locally. However, after
the story aired nationally, I fielded three
inquiries about kissing bugs, including
one from a doctor’s office. In all cases,
the suspected kissing bug was our native
and quite common western boxelder bug
(also known as the maple bug) that is a
frequent home invader. I got off easy—a
lab at Texas A&M University received
800 inquiries, resulting in fewer than
two dozen cases that actually involved
kissing bugs.
There is no doubt that insects
that feed on human blood make
good copy. In fairness, I admit that I am
not entirely innocent in this regard—I
have penned columns on bedbugs and,
more recently, head lice. But the press
does have a way of amplifying things.
In researching the kissing bug
story, I found out that kissing bugs
The boxelder (or maple) bug, a common home
invader (www.volcanolands.com/wp-content/
uploads/2014/08/Boxelder-Bug-1.jpg).
have been making headlines for years.
In 1899 L.O. Howard, one of the
premier entomologists of the time,
commented on stories about a kissing-
bug “epidemic”: “By ‘epidemic’ is meant
the newspaper epidemic, for every insect
bite where the biter was not at once
recognized was attributed to the popular
and somewhat mysterious creature which
had been given such an attractive name.”
Another story on insects that
got some national press concerned
research done at North Carolina State
University, where all the insects found
in 50 houses were identified. This was
a fascinating study of the diversity of
insects and other arthropods, such as
spiders, that show up in our homes. The
headline or lead invariably focused on the
finding that the average house contained
over 100 species of insects, making it
sound like we are literally surrounded
by insects! But in combing through the
original study and hearing one of the
authors interviewed on the Jefferson
Burn reminder
Before burning outdoors any time of year,
check with your fire district to make sure
that day is an official burn day and not a NO burn day.
No illegal burning!
Jackson County • 541-776-7007
Josephine County • 541-476-9663 (Press 3)
Advertisers !
For rates and other information,
contact:
Ron Turpen
541-601-1867
ron.turpen@gmail.com
Next deadline:
May 1
Exchange, I understood that the vast
majority of the insects identified were
minute, and that the researchers were
not finding the insects that live in our
houses so much as the insects that die
there. Many small insects fly or crawl
into homes and cannot survive long. The
insects collected in this study were more
often dead than alive, with windowsills
and even spider webs being particularly
good places to find specimens.
Four groups were found in every
house: ants, carpet beetles, gall midges,
and cobweb spiders, with an honorable
mention to psocids (book lice), which
were found in all but one house. Ants
and cobweb spiders were no big surprise;
neither were carpet beetles, especially
since dead insects are one of their favorite
foods. Gall midges (very tiny flies)
have no business being in a house; they
essentially float in like aerial plankton.
Book lice were interesting. Small
and innocuous, they are known to be
house inhabitants, although I have never
seen one in a home. The only book lice
infestation I have observed locally was
years ago in a chinchilla farm (and you
read that correctly). I suspected the high
humidity where the chinchillas were
being reared was a cause of the problem,
as book lice thrive in humid conditions,
which might explain their prevalence in
North Carolina, especially in summer
months when this study was conducted.
But, to my mind, the most
curious result of this research was
not what species were found, but what
species they did not find. Not a single
maple bug was seen (and no kissing
bugs, either).
Richard J. Hilton
541-772-5165 ext. 227
Senior Faculty Research Assistant /
Entomologist
Oregon State University-Southern
Oregon Research & Extension Center
richardhilton@oregonstate.edu
Note: Chagas disease is a debilitating
infection that harms the victim in two
stages: an acute phase that begins about
a week after the bug bite and causes fever
and occasional swelling at the site of the
bite, and a chronic phase that shows up as
long as 25 years after exposure, where the
patient’s organs are irreversibly damaged.
Organ damage primarily targets the heart
and digestive system (http://mentalfloss.
com/article/73604/1899-kissing-bug-
epidemic-probably-wasn’t).