The famous story line "Don’t let the bed bugs bite" has taken on new meaning in recent years—literally. Bed bugs are no longer just associated with low economic status. Increased travel, a rise in immigration, and even the soaring purchases of second-hand merchandise are all contributing factors that allow the little pests to move freely from one area to another. Today, they are infesting everything from the cheapest hotels in the nation to the finest apartments on 5th Ave.
The Hazleton area has been fighting a hard battle against bed bugs, especially in the past few years. "[In the beginning] We didn't even know what they were when somebody brought one into the office," said Mark Thompson, city Health Officer. "We had to look it up in an insect book and then verify with an exterminator."
Now it would be hard to find someone in the area who wasn’t familiar with them.
Some telltale signs of bed bug infestation are dark spots (feces) on your mattress, walls, sheets, or any other place these parasites like to hide. You might notice skin that’s been shed, eggs and shells, blood spots on your sheets, or a particular odor, which only tends to be noticeable during heavy infestation.
Their distinctive odor is what has researchers looking for answers….
Researchers are pursing a theory that could help control the bed bug infestation. A team of researchers from Lund University and Mid Sweden University in Sundsvall discovered that young bed bugs (nymphs) produce a smell known as alarm pheromones, which seems to repel other bed bugs.
The researchers studied these smells in both adult bed bugs and nymphs (young bed bugs) and observed that the smells given off by the two species are surprisingly similar. In addition, nymphs give off a different smell from adult bed bugs.
"Behavioral tests show that the nymphs' smell is repulsive to both adult individuals and other nymphs. The researchers believe that this repellent effect could be used in control systems where alarm pheromones make the bed bugs more mobile and therefore increase the effectiveness of drying agents to kill them. However, this type of possible environmentally friendly control method requires greater understanding of how bed bugs' pheromone system works," said Science Daily.
Precautions should be taken until researchers are able to determine an effective, environmentally-friendly way of controlling bed bugs.
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