Bedbug Solution May Be More Harmful than Problem

Sept. 22, 2011— -- Intensive but nonprofessional use of pesticides to control bedbugs probably contributed to the death of a 65-year-old woman in North Carolina, the CDC reported.

But most cases of illness associated with insecticides used to battle bedbugs are of low severity, the agency reported in the Sept. 23 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Although the number is probably an underestimate, the agency said, analysis of surveillance data found 111 cases of illness -- including the fatality -- in seven states from 2003 through 2010.

Most of the cases -- 73 percent -- were recorded from 2008 through 2010, the CDC reported.