the bedbug wars (self-inflicted wounds)

Here at the Insect World we've done a number of posts about bedbugs, though granted not as many as we could given just what a menace they have become in the U.S. in the last few years.

As the NY Times reports, a new study by the Centers for Disease Control shows that over the past few years 111 people have become very sick from using pesticides in hopes of getting rid of the critters, including, sadly, even one death but mis-use of them:

"The poisonings serve as a warning, experts said, that people could do more damage to their health by misusing pesticides than they would suffer from the bedbugs, which are upsetting and unpleasant, but not known to be carriers of disease.


“People lose their minds and, yeah, they’ll do a lot of things trying to get rid of them,” said Dini M. Miller, associate professor of urban pest management at Virginia Tech. “Certainly the over application of pesticides is one of them.”

The stories recounted in the article are quite something...

Of course it is in fact  the overuse of pesticides (and the consequent evolution of resistance to them) that has lead to the current state of affairs....

For a little primer on bedbugs, check out this National Geographic video.

AY

Bedbug problem? ~ Wasp Hounds to the rescue

Usually the Business Day section of the New York Times doesn't have any insect-related topics included - I guess they are finally becoming a little more enlightened?

This article discusses an idea called the "Wasp Hound." Though technically rudimentray, it relies on the very sophisticated ability for wasps to not only detect minute chemical traces, but also signal they detect it through associative learning techniques that they (much like a dog) can be trained to perform!

In this case, these entomologists have trained them to seek out that modern resurgent scourge - bedbugs!  (Which this blog has followed with some interest)

And hey, they are looking for investors!  A very interesting read - check it out~

AY

Cockroach King on the Bedbug Menace

The Midwest's finest news source, The Onion, can always be relied upon for the latest entomological buzz, including this article on the worry cockroaches are feeling over the emergent bedbug problem throughout the US.

The article reports cockroach King Leopold stating:

"We must not allow this ignoble parasite to usurp our rightful place as the most feared and reviled pest in all the land," continued Leopold, raising four of his six legs to the sky and shaking his scepter. "Scurry forth, my countrymen, and let our unmatched ability to repel be known!"

I have doubts on the taxonomic identity of the "maggot" shown in the interview section here - suspect it is a beetle larvae for some reason pretending to be Dipteran youth?



AY

Bedbug updated - Cook them or fool their hearts?

An article from today's news: more updates on research on combating bedbugs - in this case via pheromones. They call this a "new method" although it is one that been utilized for other insect pests as well...

here is a video on the going method of ultra-heating living spaces up to kill them off:






AY

Unfortunately, bed bugs.

If you live in NYC, Chicago, or Cincinnati you already know that bed bugs are back. In fact they were gone so long that many weren't even aware of their blood-sucking existence.

Recently though the US press has picked up on it, with several articles appearing in big papers. This article gives a nice overview; another article warns people like me they need to be careful picking up furniture at flea markets or in alley-ways because of these lurking pests. But a recent BBC report also points out that it seems to in fact be a global resurgence (yikes!)

So read up a little - best to know the enemy and hopefully avoid - as much as we can - these pesky and gross Hemipterans. This New York Times site actually has a wonderful resource of all its articles and multimedia content on the matter of late, including how dogs are coming to the rescue!


AY