Bye, Bye Bed Bugs? University of California Research Team Finds Possible Way to Defeat Them

Riverside County, CA -- A team of researchers from UC Riverside identified a unique characteristic of bed bugs that could pave the way to development of easier methods of eliminating the pests, according to findings published this week.

UCR entomology professor Dong-Hwan Choe and four students spent months studying bed bug behavior and came to conclusions outlined in the journal PLOS ONE.

The thrust of the research is that bed bugs have long-lasting pheromone compounds in their dead skin -- known as "exuviae" -- that can be detected for up to three months after skins are shed.

"This could be a key development in the search to find new methods to detect bed bugs," Choe said.

According to his team's findings, aldehydes in the bugs' skin release a sweet aroma to which the pests themselves are drawn. So enticing are the chemicals that bed bugs will routinely settle down wherever they detect them, making infestations likely, Choe said.

The team monitored exuviae cells under lab conditions, using live bed bugs to produce results during the experimentation.

"That created a level of anxiety," Choe said. "We didn't want to accidentally release any bed bugs in the laboratory. But our students handled it well."

By using their own aldehydes against them, pest exterminators could develop inexpensive monitors and traps that catch the parasites, the professor said.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, bed bugs often embed in mattresses, box springs, bed frames, wallpaper, headboards and dresser tables. Bug bites do not generally cause afflictions, though some people can have allergic reactions that increase health risks.

--City News Service