Bedbugs: Population’s perception, prevalence and re-description of the principal species in Obala, centre region of Cameroon

Abstract

Human ectoparasites pose great public health significance in densely populated, overcrowded communities. They can be found living permanently on their host, like human head lice do, or can parasitise them occasionally, only during feeding periods, as it is the case with bedbugs. Many authors have described a world wide upsurge of bedbug infestations. Is this a reality in our localities? The current study aimed at evaluating the population’s perception about bedbugs, estimate the prevalence of infestations due to these bugs in Obala and re-describe the species concerned. The field work was achieved during the months of July and August 2023 in randomly selected zones in the Obala sub-division, Centre region of Cameroon. A total of five hundreds and twenty (520) people and about two hundreds and fifty (250) households were sampled and checked. Participants took part in the survey, bedbug samples were handpicked from mattresses, cracks/crevices of walls and furniture in homes. The fourteen (14) collected specimens were brought to the laboratory of Zoology at the University of Yaounde I, for morphological identifications. The effective prevalence of 4.4% was obtained from the Obala population at the end of our study, for 11 infested homes out of the 250 sampled. A total of 14 specimens were collected in good state, belonging to two species (Cimex lectularius accounting for 78.57% with 11 specimens and Cimex hemipterus accounting for 21.43% with 3 specimens). A considerable part of the population knew about this infestation and could describe the structure of the parasites (56.35%), their localisations (44.59%), and symptoms (1.54%). The age, the educational level, density of the population at home, the sharing of beds and the knowledge of infestation can be considered to have a significant relation with the infestation by bedbugs. There was no observed significant relation between the infestation and the living standard. The population should be better educated and sensitized on these parasites in order that they can be eradicated.