title: Seasons, Searches, and Intentions: What The Internet Can Tell Us About The Bed Bug (Hemiptera: Cimicidae) Epidemic.
abstract: The common bed bug (Cimex lectularius L.) is once again prevalent in the United States. We investigated temporal patterns in Google search queries for bed bugs and co-occurring terms, and conducted in-person surveys to explore the intentions behind searches that included those terms. Searches for "bed bugs" rose steadily through 2011 and then plateaued, suggesting that the epidemic has reached an equilibrium in the United States. However, queries including terms that survey respondents associated strongly with having bed bugs (e.g., "exterminator," "remedies") continued to climb, while terms more closely associated with informational searches (e.g., "hotels," "about") fell. Respondents' rankings of terms and nonseasonal trends in Google search volume as assessed by a cosinor model were significantly correlated (Kendall's Tau-b P = 0.015). We find no evidence from Google Trends that the bed bug epidemic in the United States has reached equilibrium.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics & Epidemiology, University of Pennsylvania, 714 Blockley Hall, 423 Guardian Drive, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA (dsen@sas.upenn.edu; corentin.barbu@gmail.com; yawu@sas.upenn.edu; k.seth1993@gmail.com; mzlevy@mail.med.upenn.edu).
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sentana-Lledo
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics & Epidemiology, University of Pennsylvania, 714 Blockley Hall, 423 Guardian Drive, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA (dsen@sas.upenn.edu; corentin.barbu@gmail.com; yawu@sas.upenn.edu; k.seth1993@gmail.com; mzlevy@mail.med.upenn.edu), UMR 211 - Agronomie, Agro Paris Tech, Avenue Lucien Bretigneres, 78850 Thiverval-Grignon, France.
authors.forename: Corentin M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Barbu
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics and Statistics Amherst College, P.O. Box 5000, AC#2239, Amherst, MA 01002 USA (ngo.michellen@gmail.com), and.
authors.forename: Michelle N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Ngo
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics & Epidemiology, University of Pennsylvania, 714 Blockley Hall, 423 Guardian Drive, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA (dsen@sas.upenn.edu; corentin.barbu@gmail.com; yawu@sas.upenn.edu; k.seth1993@gmail.com; mzlevy@mail.med.upenn.edu).
authors.forename: Yage
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics & Epidemiology, University of Pennsylvania, 714 Blockley Hall, 423 Guardian Drive, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA (dsen@sas.upenn.edu; corentin.barbu@gmail.com; yawu@sas.upenn.edu; k.seth1993@gmail.com; mzlevy@mail.med.upenn.edu).
authors.forename: Karthik
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sethuraman
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics & Epidemiology, University of Pennsylvania, 714 Blockley Hall, 423 Guardian Drive, Philadelphia, PA 19104 USA (dsen@sas.upenn.edu; corentin.barbu@gmail.com; yawu@sas.upenn.edu; k.seth1993@gmail.com; mzlevy@mail.med.upenn.edu), mzlevy@mail.med.upenn.edu.
authors.forename: Michael Z
authors.initials: MZ
authors.lastname: Levy
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001511:Bedbugs; D020407:Internet; D012621:Seasons; D014481:United States
keywords: Google Trends; Internet; bed bug; infodemiology; interview