Dunn's Case Study: Bug Affairs

Fourth week discussion: Bug Affairs

1. I believe Pennington is trying to convey a message as to how American culture has evolved and how we are much to blame for the recent bedbugs grow that now we plan to eradicate. Moreover, such bugs are deemed as “harmless” by the author.

2. The description of a bedbugs feeding process allows the reader to get a clear picture of how disgusting this bugs are, and it also helps the reader understand the behavior of the bug.

3. The resurgence of bedbugs in major U.S cities is a testament of the increase in international travel and increase sale of second-hand furniture which highlights the progress we have made in moving from one place to another and expanding our horizons for commercial benefits. Perhaps with or without realization we have become the vehicles in which bedbugs travel and the vessel of their

In Dunn’s article the passage in which I learned something new is in page 279 where he states that, his friend and his team had discovered antibiotic resistant bacteria in flies that flock around pig farms. Dunn overlooks the nuances of the study; perhaps the actual numbers and types of test done, for the benefit of the non scientific reader to understand the magnitude of the issue.

2. The role of questions in Dunn’s article is to persuade the reader into thinking their own role or responsibility in the behavior of flies. The first question he poses is; “Just where do houseflies pick-up these other bacteria, the one they give back to us in vomit spot, feces and footsteps?” This question is central to his main idea. He poses a second question about the discovery made by his friend named Coby, on pig farms, asking; But why would the flies in pig farms tend to have antibiotic resistant bacteria? Yet again dragging the attention to the issue at hand that is that us humans are largely to blame for the dangers that flies poses to our