Big write up and audio piece done by NPR - very much worth checking out

Read and listen here

Peter Krask stepped out of his New York City apartment one day last year, shut the door, and walked away forever, leaving behind almost everything he owned.

He carried away only a few items of clothing, personal records, and his computer.

Krask's apartment was infested with bedbugs. Savoring warmth, they swarmed in his DSL port, light fixtures, carpets and furniture. They'd feasted on him nightly for a year — which he spent visiting doctors in an increasing state of panic over the rashes inflaming his buttocks and other body parts before finally ascertaining the cause.

It was Cimex lectularius, the flat, cockroach-colored, lentil-sized pest whose favorite food is not just warm blood but human blood. Bedbugs are back, bigtime. According to a National Pest Management Association study, outbreaks have soared 81 percent nationwide since 2000. Their sudden resurgence in all fifty states of a formerly bedbug-free nation has caught off-guard not just the medical and pest-control industries but millions of ordinary people who now apply costly, time-consuming, potentially toxic and inconclusive strategies for slaughtering insects that inhabit indoor environments both soft and hard and can lie in wait without eating for up to a year. Finding hosts, they feed by night, doubling in size as they suck.

Read Entire Story at Alternet

By Bob LaMendola, Sun Sentinel

A tourist from Miami-Dade County contracted the mosquito-borne disease dengue fever while visiting Key West earlier this month, health officials in Florida said Monday.

Read the Entire Story Here

DADE CITY — Health officials have confirmed a case of Eastern equine encephalitis in a local horse, prompting reminders to east Pasco residents to protect themselves against mosquito-borne diseases.

The disease was found in a Dade City horse that had been euthanized, said Deanna Krautner, spokeswoman for the Pasco County Health Department.

"Although cases of (Eastern equine encephalitis) are rare in humans, if a person gets sick with the disease it is often serious and can even be fatal," said county health officer Dr. David Johnson.

Read the whole story at St. Peteresburg Times

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Homeowners and pest control technicians have a new option for identifying bugs lurking in houses and other buildings — and it’s as close as a cell phone.

A downloadable application developed by researchers with the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences provides color photos and text describing almost 40 pest species.

Called iPest1, it’s one of the first mobile-phone apps dealing with pest insects. It’s compatible with Apple mobile devices including the popular iPhone and sells for $1.99.

Check it out here