Bed bugs (Cimex lectularius) are blood-sucking bugs that stay in shut proximity to people. They have proliferated globally and have change into probably the most difficult pests to manage indoors. They are nocturnal and use a number of sensory cues to detect and orient in the direction of their human hosts. After feeding, often on a sleeping human, they return to a shelter on or across the sleeping floor, however circuitously on the host. University of Kentucky’s Dr. Zach DeVries and colleagues hypothesized that though human pores and skin odors entice hungry mattress bugs, human pores and skin compounds might also stop arrestment on hosts.
Gaire et al. reveal that substrates conditioned by human pores and skin or handled with compounds from human pores and skin can stop mattress bug arrestment. Image credit score: CDC / World Health Organization.
“We already knew that human body odors, carbon dioxide and warmth attract bed bugs to feed on people,” Dr. DeVries stated.
“Our latest research shows the reason they do not stay on humans like other pests, such as lice, is due to lipids or triglycerides in our skin that cause them to leave their hosts and hide in nearby locations, such as beds and mattresses.”
In the research, Dr. DeVries and co-authors examined their newest discovering by rubbing a strip of filter paper on members’ pores and skin to gather samples.
They additionally examined the speculation on a number of populations of mattress bugs raised within the lab and picked up within the area.
“Our findings were consistent across all triglyceride types, all participant groups and all bed bug populations,” Dr. DeVries stated.
“Bed bugs nearly always preferred the control filter strip to the one containing skin triglycerides.”
“The bed bugs do not like to sit on skin triglycerides and refuse to stay on surfaces that contain triglycerides,” stated Dr. Sudip Gaire, a postdoctoral researcher on the University of Kentucky.
“We got tremendous results by using only a small amount of triglycerides.”
While additional analysis is required to discover why mattress bugs don’t just like the triglycerides and if there are different potential mattress bug repellents in human pores and skin, the authors assume this might be an vital starting to more practical mattress bug management.
“There may be several potential management opportunities from our finding,” Dr. DeVries stated.
“It’s possible that our findings could be used to deter bed bugs from hitchhiking on people’s belongings, thus reducing their spread.”
The research was revealed within the journal Scientific Reports.
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S. Gaire et al. 2021. Human pores and skin triglycerides stop mattress bug (Cimex lectularius L.) arrestment. Sci Rep 11, 22906; doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-01981-1
