Will there be a worldwide bedbug pestilence by the end of 2024?
15
168
330
2025
27%
chance

As there is not a defined "worldwide pestilence" benchmark to my knowlesge, the resolution criteria will be somewhat subjective and in the spirit of the question (I will not bet in this market).

Some things that could lead this to resolve YES (not an exclusive list):

-WHO health emergency about bedbugs

-Outbreaks in a large number of countries and cities around the world that generates substantial news coverage

-Substantial countermeasures from a number of nations to eradicate bedbugs or prevent bedbugs from entering their borders

-Epidemic(s) of bedbug spread diseases in several nations

I will confer with subject matter experts if the resolution is unclear.

This tweet inspired this question:

https://x.com/_evfm/status/1710283896925909365?s=46&t=62uT9IruD1-YP-SHFkVEPg

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@CamillePerrin Interesting; looks like we have something resembling an outbreak in Paris, London, and now South Korea

predicts YES

Some info regarding the Paris bedbug situation as reported by French Twitter, local news and contacts on the ground:

There is an element of mass psychological panic (it's a forefront topic on parisian-adjacent social media, "everything is bedbug" paranoia), but there is also strong factual basis for it: Paris mayor and national level ministers and representative are requesting national plan against bedbugs; estimated prevalence is 1 in ten homes, with huge year to year increase (reported by health agencies); there is credible media report of bedbugs in at least 3 high schools around the region (not a normal state of things, to me sign of overflow), and pyrethrinoid resistance is also reported. This is also likely not an isolated rise in saliency: "bedbug at the cinema" has been a paris twitter topic since at least 6 months, so that was smouldering for quite some time already before now. (also suggests a timescale from weak signals to high level problem)

While Paris is special in that it is extremely dense, and has a lot of old building that are perfect for infestation, it is IMO not so different to other European capitals, and eradication in such setting had a collective action problem (must treat whole block at once to avoid wave of re-infestation from adjoining units) which is likely also present in other city.

On a self promotional note, I don't live in Paris, but see /CamillePerrin/will-i-be-able-to-culture-beauveria which is tangentially related (B. bassiana is bedbug-active - is in fact why Im trying that project)

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