Bed Bugs appears to have a brighter side!

Bed bugs may cure AIDS

Agence France-Presse
September 03, 2010

First Published: 13:35 IST(3/9/2010)
Last Updated: 18:26 IST(3/9/2010)

One of the most resilient pests, bed bugs might actually have a brighter side to them as a recent experiment revealed that bed bugs have the ability to kill the AIDS virus. The New York Times (NYT) recently reported that bed bugs have feasted on AIDS blood and killed the virus. "South African researchers have fed them blood with the AIDS virus, but the virus died."

The blog Gawker added this "confirm[s] the insects are practically indestructible. Why can't we reverse bio-engineer that process and cure AIDS?" Perhaps something good could come from the bed bug resurgence.

Apparently researchers have also "shown that [bed] bugs can retain hepatitis B virus for weeks, but when they bite chimpanzees, the infection does not take."

(Hindustan Times)