Letter: Irritated by bug confusion

I WAS surprised to see in the article on the bed bug’s mutation (News, 15 April) that it appears to have become a common flea – Pulex Irritans.

The irritating and misleading article is even more confusing as it goes on to state that Professor of Entomology Michael Siva-Jothy of the University of Sheffield “explained that more education was needed to help people to spot bed bugs”.

The whole picture of bug misinformation is compounded by the use in the media of the term “bug”, which is used interchangeably for a range of disease-causing agents: eg, the “MRSA superbug” is a bacterium, the “Norovirus bug” is a virus, the “Flesh Eating Superbug”, also known as the “Flesh Eating Virus”, is Necrotising Fasciitis and is caused by a variety of bacteria.

Could I therefore make a plea for more education and accurate reporting of the facts if the reporters and your readers are not to be misled.

Arthur MacG Morris, retired surgeon, St Andrews