UN Full of Bloodsucking Parasites

A UN bed bug, shown next to a great American for contrast









We have long known about the parasites, but now we know the UN has bed bugs as well.

Turtle Bay blog has the story:

There is a new addition to the United Nations family: the dreaded bed bugs that have infested New York City have spread to the U.N.'s landmark headquarters building.

Over the weekend, a team of trained hounds sniffed out a group of the pests -- known properly as Cimex Lectularius -- that had slipped past security at the U.N. and embedded themselves in a set of vintage mid-century wood and naugahyde conference room chairs beneath the U.N. library.

And not only bed bugs, but mice, too.

For years, the U.N. headquarters has struggled to contain the building's mouse population. The small rodents could be seen scurrying across the building's storied corridors, depositing droppings on office desks or poking their noses out from behind the plants in the U.N. cafeteria. But the bed bugs have turned up as hundreds of constructions workers moved into the building and thousands of U.N. workers moved off campus to neighborhood buildings.

Nice work environment! Bugs, mice, and every now and then a Bull Goose Loony running around.