Bedbug infestations are increasing across the United States, and they typically peak in late summer. Alongside that seasonal rise, a small group of researchers is investigating an unanswered question: whether bedbugs can transmit methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, the antibiotic-resistant infection known as MRSA.
The distinction between those two facts is the whole story. The infestations are documented and happening now. The MRSA connection is a hypothesis supported by one laboratory experiment, and bedbugs are not currently recognized as vectors of any human disease.
