By Li Hongmei

Beijing health officials have confirmed that the pictures of insects taken on a train and posted on the internet are bedbugs, Labor Daily reported yesterday.

A passenger on a sleeper coach of a Beijing-Shanghai bullet train posted a video clip online showing the bedbugs he found on August 28.

He wrote on his Weibo microblog that he felt itchy after waking up in the morning and discovering seven to eight bedbugs on the berth.

Last month, the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention warned residents about bedbugs, which had been spotted in some public places.

In Shanghai, all cases of bedbugs in recent years came from hotels, brought by travelers, said Leng Peien, director of the Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention's sector control department.

Bedbugs are parasitic insects that feed on blood. The bugs, which are usually active at night, are likely to stay in warm houses and especially near or inside beds and bedding or other sleeping areas.

Bedbug bites can lead to skin rashes and allergic symptoms. Being bitten over a long time can cause serious conditions like anemia and insomnia, and such bites can be dangerous for children and those with weak immune systems.

A person in charge of passenger traffic at Shanghai Railway Administration responded yesterday that the railway beddings are required to be washed and disinfected at the terminal, and how bedbugs find their way onto high speed railway is still beyond understanding so far.