Difference between revisions of "Bed bug"

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==History==
 
==History==
Bedbugs have been plaguing humans since ancient times. They are mentioned in medieval European texts and in classical Greek writings back to the time of Aristotle.  Use of the pesticide DDT in the 1950s resulted in bedbugs virtually disappearing in the United States. Some state laws once required that the furniture be tagged as fumigated before it could be resold. But an increase in immigrationpopulation density and clutter, increased travel, resistance to insecticides, and changing pest control products and methods,, has resulted in Bedbugs making a comeback.  
+
Bedbugs have been plaguing humans since ancient times. They are mentioned in medieval European texts and in classical Greek writings back to the time of Aristotle.  Use of the pesticide DDT in the 1950s resulted in the virtual disappearance of bedbugs in the United States. Some state laws once required that the furniture be tagged as fumigated before it could be resold. But increases in immigration and in population density and clutter, increased travel, the development of strains that are resistant to insecticides, and changing pest control products and methods, have resulted in bedbugs making a comeback.  
  
The University of [[Kentucky]], which has provided much research on bedbugs,  reported that 95% of 521 U.S. pest management companies reported encountering a bedbug infestation in the past year. <ref>Potter MF, et al. ''Bugs Without Borders—Executive Summary'', Fairfax, VA:National Pest Management Association, Inc. (2010)</ref>.  <ref>http://www.npmapestworld.org/documents/bbsurveyexecsummaryjuly26.pdf</ref>  Canada  reported similar numbers (98%), as well as  Europe (92%), and Africa/Middle East (90%). In contrast, prior to the year 2000 only 25% of U.S. survey respondents reported bedbug infestations.<ref>[http://www.pestworld.org/bedbug National Pest Management Association (NPMA), July 26, 2010]</ref> Inb the United States, state and local government officials say they are being overwhelmed with complaints of bedbug infestations.  
+
The University of [[Kentucky]], which has provided much research on bedbugs,  reported that 95% of 521 U.S. pest management companies reported encountering a bedbug infestation in the past year. <ref>Potter MF, et al. ''Bugs Without Borders—Executive Summary'', Fairfax, VA:National Pest Management Association, Inc. (2010)</ref>.  <ref>http://www.npmapestworld.org/documents/bbsurveyexecsummaryjuly26.pdf</ref>  Canada  reported similar numbers (98%), as well as  Europe (92%), and Africa/Middle East (90%). In contrast, prior to the year 2000 only 25% of U.S. survey respondents reported bedbug infestations.<ref>[http://www.pestworld.org/bedbug National Pest Management Association (NPMA), July 26, 2010]</ref> Inb the United States, state and local government officials say they are being overwhelmed with complaints of bedbug infestations.
  
 
==Life and behavior==
 
==Life and behavior==

Revision as of 06:26, October 18, 2010

Bedbug
Bed bug.jpg
Scientific classification
Kingdom Information
Domain Eukaryota
Kingdom Animalia
Subkingdom Bilateria
Branch Protostomia
Phylum Information
Superphylum Panarthropoda
Phylum Arthropoda
Sub-phylum Mandibulata
Infraphylum Atelocerata
Class Information
Superclass Panhexapoda
Class Insecta
Sub-class Dicondylia
Infra-class Pterygota
Order Information
Superorder Condylognatha
Order Hemiptera
Sub-order Heteroptera
Infraorder Cimicomorpha
Family Information
Superfamily Cimicoidea
Family Cimicidae
Genus Information
Genus Cimex
Species Information
Species C. lectularius
Population statistics

Bedbug refers to approximately 75 species of a small parasitical insect of the family Cimicidae, and most especially to the common bedbug (Cimex lectularius) of the temperate areas of the northern hemisphere. Bedbugs are an ectoparasite, characterized by the nocturnal feeding of blood from man or other warm-blooded animals.

Description

Bedbugs are approximately 4-5 centimeters long. They are broad and flat in shape, brown in color, and glisten from a distinctive, smelly oil secreted from scent glands. The wings are scale-like and vestigial. Females lay about 200 or more eggs during reproductive periods, and can lay around a thousand during several such periods within a year.

Bedbugs feed only at night; in the wild they feed on the blood of birds and small mammals, and within human-inhabited areas they feed upon domesticated animals as well as man. They retreat to their hiding places during the daytime, using up to several days in which to digest their food[1] Most bedbugs live full time within eight feet of where humans sleep.When hiding they are generally found in bedding and mattresses (hence the name), nearby furniture, carpeting, within dressers and clothes, curtains, and cushions.

History

Bedbugs have been plaguing humans since ancient times. They are mentioned in medieval European texts and in classical Greek writings back to the time of Aristotle. Use of the pesticide DDT in the 1950s resulted in the virtual disappearance of bedbugs in the United States. Some state laws once required that the furniture be tagged as fumigated before it could be resold. But increases in immigration and in population density and clutter, increased travel, the development of strains that are resistant to insecticides, and changing pest control products and methods, have resulted in bedbugs making a comeback.

The University of Kentucky, which has provided much research on bedbugs, reported that 95% of 521 U.S. pest management companies reported encountering a bedbug infestation in the past year. [2]. [3] Canada reported similar numbers (98%), as well as Europe (92%), and Africa/Middle East (90%). In contrast, prior to the year 2000 only 25% of U.S. survey respondents reported bedbug infestations.[4] Inb the United States, state and local government officials say they are being overwhelmed with complaints of bedbug infestations.

Life and behavior

Bedbugs begin as eggs, with the mother, who is hypodermically impregnated by the male, able to birth hundreds, averaging 3-5 eggs but up to twelve eggs per day. The eggs are sticky, and able to adhere to most anything, and are milky white, approximately 1 millimeter in length (a little larger than a speck of dust) and are covered with a protective layer, so that immersion in water does not kill them as would adult bedbugs. Once born, the bedbug will go through five growth (molting) stages as nymphs---- each nymphal stage requiring a blood meal and each time shedding its skin ---- before it becomes an adult, and able to reproduce. After hatching the color of the bedbug is like that of straw and no bigger than a pinhead, and which begin to feed immediately. A second stage nymph is about the size of apple seed, and as it fills itself with blood then its color goes from white to bright red. Nymphal stages last from about 4 days to 24 days based on temperature and other environmental conditions. In ideal temperatures (about 70-90 F), the bugs go from birth to adulthood in a month to six weeks. Adults are approximately 3/16-inch long and reddish-brown, with oval, flattened bodies. Adults may feed many times throughout their lifespan, every 3-7 days varying with temperature and other factors.

Cooler temperatures and less blood meals will slow bedbug development down, but will not kill it , as adult bedbugs can survive without feeding for over a year in temperatures around 50°F, and the nymphs can survive for many months. It is thus that immediate and comprehensive action is critical for elimination of bedbugs.[5]

Males will mate with females much more often than the females require to stay fertile, and as a result the females live about 25% less long than they would otherwise.[6]

Adult bedbugs have been reported to be able to live up 18 months without feeding. The original source of this appears to be a study from A.W Bacot in 1914, in which he reported that "After a single meal one newly hatched bug out of three lived for 270 days; while, out of 30 immature bugs in various stages of development, 7 were living and able to feed after a fast of 18 months."[7]

When bedbugs bite, like mosquitoes, they inject an anesthetic that prevents the host from feeling the bite, and an anticoagulant for blood flow. Bedbugs are normatively nocturnal, though they can bite during the day or with light, but they usually occur while people are sleeping, usually when the host is in their deepest part of sleep, most typically 3-5AM.Feeding takes three to 15 minutes, depending on maturity, and immediately after feeding the bug crawls off to digest their meal in a safe place. The bite sites are usually small, pinprick-sized lesions that may or may not become inflamed, though often the human host finds that they itch. Bite marks can be random or in a straight line.[8][9]

Bedbugs do not have nests like ants or bees, but do tend to congregate in habitual hiding places. They are attracted by the carbon dioxide and (secondarily) the heat and that a people generates, and they will feed only through a membrane.[10] Bedbugs can travel over 100 feet in one night, but they tend to live within 8 feet of where people sleep. They appear to have an affinity for wood and fabric more so than metal or plastic. Bedbugs hide during the day in such places as mattresses seams, box springs, bed frames and headboards, dresser tables, cracks or crevices, baseboards, behind wallpaper, and under any clothes, clutter or objects around a bed. Their small flat bodies allow them to fit into the smallest of spaces and they can remain in place for long periods of time, even without a blood meal. Bedbugs are easily and usually transported from place to place by people as they travel, and eggs and instar nymphs are especially hard to detect.

In addition to bits, bedbugs are made evident by areas are marked by dark spotting and staining, which is the dried blood excrement of the bugs. Dark spots of dried bed bug excrement are often present along mattress seams or wherever the bugs have resided. Also present are eggs and eggshells, the brownish molted skins of maturing nymphs and the bugs themselves, though these may be hidden more deeply. Less often one may see rusty or reddish blood smears on bed sheets or mattresses from crushing an engorged bed bug. Some companies are beginning to use canines for detecting infestations, which, if properly trained, can be very effective.[11]

Bed bugs are remarkably resistant in almost every sense of the word, and are comfortable within all but the extremes of most inhabitable climates. They can survive freezing temperatures (32°F) for days and tolerate much lower temperatures (5°F) for short periods. Their upper lethal temperature is 120°F causing death within minutes, but longer exposures to temperatures above 113°F are also lethal. They have a wide humidity tolerance range but tolerate dry climates better than humid.[12]

As bedbugs become active when sensing human presence, in the 1960s the US Army considered them for use in a portable insect ambush detector or a stationary intrusion detector device.[13]

Health issues

Although bedbugs are not known to transmit disease to humans, except for possible associations with hepatitis B and Chagas disease. However, their bites often do leave red itchy welts on human skin due to an allergic reaction.[14]

An addition issue is the stress caused by bedbugs. Respondents of one survey reported that 99% of clients who have had bedbugs were “upset and concerned” while76 percent of surveyed respondents also reported that bedbugs are the most difficult pest to treat, more so than cockroaches, ants and termites.[15]

Control and eradication

Eradication of bedbugs often necessitates integrated pest management (IPM), which includes

  • Vacuuming the mattress, especially tucks and along seams. Kill any live bugs using a spray of 70 or higher percent isopropyl alcohol.
  • Isolating the bed from walls and coating the bed legs for 3 to 5 inches with petroleum jelly, and or encasing the bed legs in a water filled container to stop bedbugs (who can jump, but not swim) from crawling up into the bed is typically recommended. Box spring encasements are also promoted.
  • Sealing cracks and crevices which bedbugs can hide and lay eggs (which can be as small as the width of a credit card) around the area in which bits occur.
  • Washing bedding and clothes in 140°F degree water and drying at high heat, especially the latter which can be used alone.
  • Dusting with non-chemical pesticides such as diatomaceous earth
  • Judiciously use of effective chemical pesticides.

Insecticides

Insecticides known to kill bedbugs include deltamethrin, a synthetic pyrethrin, one of many pyrethroids. Other chemicals include benseneacatate, chlorfenapyr, chlorpyrifos, cyfluthrin, esfenvalerate, fencalerate, lambda-cyhalothrin, permethrin, phenothrin, propoxur and resmethrin, not all of which are EPA approved. [16] Isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol also works as a contact killer, as do most insecticides while others also provide some degree of residual effectiveness. Insecticides are classified according to their application method: Crease and Crevice, Indoor Surface, Indoor Space, and Fumigation.[17] An additional factor is whether an insecticide repels bedbugs, causing migration if not killed, or not.

Natural insecticides include cedar oil, food-grade Diatomaceous earth as well as slica and quartz. The latter three can slowly work to control or kill bedbugs by cutting them as they travel, resulting in their death by dehydration. However, diatomaceous earth is less effective at higher humidities, and the source of the diatomaceous earth can be a deciding factor in its effectiveness.[18]

An additional insecticide is hydroprene, which does not actually kill bedbugs, but instead it works to prevent reproduction by disrupting the development of immature bedbugs, resulting in being unable to reproduce. This process takes longer but it can ensure an eventual end of the infestation, if contact with all bedbugs is made, but usually this chemical is used in conjunction with other insecticides.[19][20]

Repeat treatments with any legal insecticide are advised and are almost always necessary. Inhalation of all insecticides is to be avoided. Spot treatment of bedbugs with chemical formulations can make matters worse by allowing them to disperse and or develop resistance to the insecticide used.

Studies indicate that resistance to many of the chemical pesticides currently used is increasing in some bedbug populations in many areas of North America.[21][22] This Resistance is genetically conferred to subsequent populations which then show resistance to other chemical tools within the same class of chemistry. Thus the problem involves all pyrethroids and is likely only to get worse.[23] According to research at the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, some of the latest “super bedbugs” can survive for up to 16 days after being directly sprayed with currently used pesticides designed to kill insects immediately.

Bedbugs have a cuticle on the outside of their body that is almost impenetrable to many insecticides used today, therefore the bugs do not pick up dried residues very well. Bedbugs developed resistance to DDT in the 1950s, and then to its successors such as organophosphates like diazinon and malathion which were being used to clear up remaining infestations.[24] DDT resistance can possibly lead to pyrethroid resistance, as both pesticide classes act on the same target site.[25]

Bed bugs have not shown resistance to a relatively new material, chlorfenapyr (marketed as Phantom).[26] which is a non-repellent, long-lasting residual killer. However, use of chlorfenapyr is only legal for licensed exterminators,[27] and may require ten or more days kill the bugs, during which the bugs may still be active and females may wander and deposit viable eggs in other locations. Currently, microencapsulated materials such as contain esfenvalerate (Onslaught) or lamba-cyhalothrin (Demand CS) may offer the rapid reduction of susceptible populations.[28] Also reported effective against some pyrethroid-resistant bugs were two pyrethroid-based dusts, (Tempo Dust; Drione) as well as diatomaceous earth.[29]

Possibly the most effective agent against bed begs, with long residual effect, is Propoxur (marketed under the registered trademark name Baygon) a carbamate pesticide with a somewhat murky regulatory history. In a test of its effectiveness against bedbugs, while some of today’s leading pesticides could not kill even half of the bugs, propoxur a well as chlorpyrifos (an organophosphate) killed them all in an hour. However, Propoxur is a neurotoxin, toxic to humans if ingested, and EPA research has found human nervous systems could be harmed, with infants and children being in the most danger. Serious overexposure can also cause death by cardiorespiratory depression.[30] It is therefore, like chlorpyrifos,[31] banned by the EPA for use in locations where children may be present (residential buildings and hotels). Recently, the EPA denied a request by the state of Ohio to allow its use therein by licensed exterminators.[32]

Propoxur volatilizes in the air and can be absorbed into the blood weeks after application. It is also thought to be a cardiovascular or blood toxicant, a possible human carcinogen, a reproductive toxicant, and, due to its cholinesterase inhibiting properties, a neurotoxicant, but it is not thought to be bioaccumulative.[33]

Normally, it takes about ten years testing on rats and dogs for mutagenic effects and costs about $200 million for such a chemical to be approved by the EPA.

Laundering

Certain items cannot be safely treated with insecticide, including cloths, and thus heat is prescribed. In one study, 30 minutes in the “hot” cycle of a dryer killed all life stages, while prolonged washing in 140°F water killed all life stages. Almost nothing died if soaked for two hours, and while all adults and nymphs died when soaked for 24 hours, yet all eggs survived.

Freezing

A study on freezing bedbugs showed that 2 hours at 1.4°F killed all bedbugs and eggs when placed directly (not in clothes) in the freezer. But when a bag of laundry was placed in the freezer, it took about 8 hours for the temperature at the center of the bag to reach 1.4°F.[34]

Volumetric heating

The most effective natural means of eliminating bedbugs involves pumping superheated air into an mildly pressurized (windows sealed) house, or heating individual room to around 140F> Temperature probes are used to ensure that internal temperatures are high enough to kill the bugs and their eggs. [35]

One study concluded that it is important to achieve and maintain temperatures of above 118.4°F (48°C) for more than 20 min to effectively kill all life stages of bedbugs, considering the clutter in treated spaces and the fact that bedbugs move to cooler temperatures, treatment times must be much longer to penetrate cracks and crevices, At 60-min exposure to 113°F , approximately 50% of adult bedbugs exposed survived, while 20% survived after 4 hours. Complete mortality was obtained at temperatures 118.4°F, 122°F, and 131°F for all exposure times except 10- min at 118.4°F. Even if some nymphs emerged, they did not develop at temperatures higher than 118.4°F. No differences in mortality were shown between fed and unfed bedbugs.

90% higher temperatures than previously reported were required to kill bedbugs when the temperature rose slowly — possibly because of the way previous heat tests have been conducted — but it is not known what enables bedbugs to resist gradual heat stress.[36]

Environmentalism

Environmentalists like to spread despair about bedbugs, hinting that evolution always makes them impervious to each new insecticide which people use to put down outbreaks. A typical examples is "They Crawl, They Bite, They Baffle Scientists" in the August 30, 2010 New York Times. The article lists half a dozen chemicals which don't kill bedbugs, while (carefully?) omitting any mention of effective chemicals.

The EPA will also soon be offering $550,000 in grants to state and tribal agencies for pilot projects relating to outreach and education. [37]

Additional research suggests that pyrethroid resistant bed bugs developed faster but produced fewer eggs than the susceptible strain bed bugs. Additional evaluations also indicate that field strain bed bugs may not survive the long periods of starvation previously suggested.[38]

References

  1. http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/bedbugs/
  2. Potter MF, et al. Bugs Without Borders—Executive Summary, Fairfax, VA:National Pest Management Association, Inc. (2010)
  3. http://www.npmapestworld.org/documents/bbsurveyexecsummaryjuly26.pdf
  4. National Pest Management Association (NPMA), July 26, 2010
  5. http://www.bedbugbattleplan.com/content/view/19/35/ The Life Cycle of the Bed Bug
  6. http://newyorkvsbedbugs.org/2010/02/16/laundry-and-the-motivating-power-of-the-bed-bug-web-qa-with-richard-naylor/
  7. http://newyorkvsbedbugs.org/2009/08/18/they-are-also-able-to-withstand-chilling-thawing-rechilling-and-again-thawing/
  8. http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehs/Publications/Bed_Bugs_CDC-EPA_Statement.htm
  9. MICHIGAN MANUAL FOR THE PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF BED BUGS
  10. Bed Bugs: The Pesticide Dilemma
  11. BED BUGS
  12. http://www.michigan.gov/documents/emergingdiseases/Bed_Bug_Manual_v1_full_reduce_326605_7.pdf
  13. http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/AD837100
  14. Invasion of the Bedbugs
  15. 2010 Comprehensive Global Bed Bug Study
  16. Bed Bug Insecticides
  17. http://www.bed-bug.org/insectisides-for-bed-bugs/
  18. http://newyorkvsbedbugs.org/2010/01/11/australian-de-trial
  19. http://www.bed-bug.org/insectisides-for-bed-bugs/
  20. http://www.zoecon.com/pdfs/GentrolBedBug.pdf
  21. http://newyorkvsbedbugs.org/2010/01/21/kdr-pyrethroid-resistance-widespread-in-u-s-bed-bug-populations/
  22. http://www.faqs.org/periodicals/201006/2054573271.html
  23. http://termidorpartners.com/store/Downloads/BASF-626-Bed-Bugs-Guide.pdf
  24. http://www.earthfiles.com/news.php?ID=1768&category=Environment
  25. http://newyorkvsbedbugs.org/2010/01/21/kdr-pyrethroid-resistance-widespread-in-u-s-bed-bug-populations/
  26. http://newyorkvsbedbugs.org/2010/08/12/the-workmanlike-chlorfenapyr
  27. http://store.parsonspestcontrol.com/msds/Phantom_Label.pdf
  28. http://ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/bedbugs
  29. http://newyorkvsbedbugs.org/2009/05/22/finally-researchers-on-the-efficacy-of-dusts/
  30. Bed Bugs: The Pesticide Dilemma
  31. http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/op/chlorpyrifos.htm
  32. http://bedbugger.com/2010/06/11/bed-bugs-cheer-ohios-propoxur-exemption-request-denied/
  33. http://toxipedia.org/display/toxipedia/Propoxur
  34. Naylor, R. A.; Boase, C. J. Practical Solutions for Treating Laundry Infested With Cimex lectularius (Hemiptera: Cimicidae) Journal of Economic Entomology, Volume 103, Number 1, February 2010 , pp. 136-139(4
  35. http://www.faqs.org/periodicals/201006/2054573271.html
  36. Fundamental Research on the Efficacy of Heat on Bed Bugs and Heat Transfer in Mattresses, TEMP-AIR, INC
  37. Bed bugs cheer: Ohio’s propoxur exemption request denied
  38. http://esa.confex.com/esa/2009/webprogram/Paper44657.html

External links