bed bug research

Bed bug aggregation pheromone breakthrough

December 23, 2014

A new study by researchers at Simon Fraser University details the identification of all six components of bed bug aggregation pheromone. This is exciting news, as it may lead to the development of more effective active bed bug monitors. The study, led by Regine Gries, Gerhard J. Gries, and Robert Britton, is forthcoming in the […]

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Can alcohol keep bed bugs from biting?

June 1, 2012

No, I don’t mean using rubbing alcohol as a contact kill spray. The question is: will getting a bit tipsy will have any effect on the bed bugs which are biting you? Ralph Narain, a PhD student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, presented his research on the “Effects of various blood alcohol concentrations on bed […]

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How did bed bugs get here? Did they never leave? Recent research on genetics and inbreeding

December 16, 2011

A new article by Katherine Harmon in Scientific American explores genetic research into bed bugs, which may be used to explain how they spread and thrive. North Carolina State Entomologist Dr. Coby Schal and other researchers (including Drs. Warren Booth and Ed Vargo of NCSU and Changlu Wang of Rutgers) have been collecting samples from […]

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Mike Merchant’s reports from bed bug sessions at the ESA 2011 meeting in Reno

November 25, 2011

Entomologist Michael Merchant of the Texas AgriLife Extension has recently compiled a really interesting two-part series of blog posts on his Insects in the City blog, covering some of the interesting bed bug-related presentations at the 2011 Entomological Society of America conference in Reno. The Bed Bug Chronicles Part I describes the following: Changlu Wang’s research on the use […]

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Slate asks, “how contagious are bed bugs?”

October 6, 2011

There’s a really interesting new article in Slate today about bed bugs, co-written by David Johns, a doctoral student in Public Health at Columbia, which examines the question, “How contagious are bed bugs?” This is really a side note, but refreshingly, Johns points to this Independent (UK) article from 1997 about bed bugs in London […]

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Bed Bug Management, Prevention and Research Act (HR 967) proposed in Congress

March 25, 2011

Representative Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio) introduced the Bed Bug Management, Prevention and Research Act (HR 967) in the U.S. House of Representatives on March 9th, 2011. HR 967, which as of this writing has been referred to the House Committee on Agriculture, would . . . amend the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 […]

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Bed bug bites may make hospital patients more vulnerable to MRSA

November 8, 2010

[This post refers to a Crain’s New York story which we now know contains inaccurate quotes. Please see corrections in the Update below.] This is scary not quite as scary as the article implies: Cornell entomologist Dr. Jody Gangloff-Kaufmann believes that there’s notes there may be a link between patients experiencing bed bug bites in […]

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Bed bugs, evolution and pesticide resistance

October 5, 2010

Bug Girl helpfully points us to some excellent new resources on bed bugs and pesticide resistance. Dr. James Crow, Professor Emeritus of Genetics at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, was a pioneer in the research of pesticide resistance in the late 1940s, and was a founder of the fields of population genetics and molecular […]

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Fear of bed bugs: hysteria and reality

August 31, 2010

Let’s consider the fear of bed bugs. Here is the transcript of a conversation between host Ira Flatow, Psychologist Dr. Kevin Ochsner (of Columbia University), and producer Flora Lichtman about psychological reactions to bed bugs, which aired in the Science Friday segment on NPR’s Talk of the Nation last week. I first want to direct […]

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CDC-EPA Joint Statement on Bed Bug Control in the United States

August 7, 2010

A new development: the Joint Statement on Bed Bug Control in the United States from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). I was happy to see the new CDC-EPA joint statement stressing that “Bed bugs cause a variety of negative physical health, mental health and […]

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Global War on Bed Bugs writer meets Dr. Changlu Wang

April 27, 2010

The ninth “Global War on Bedbugs” column has appeared in McSweeney’s; this one is good: author Alan Good goes to New Brunswick to meet Dr. Changlu Wang, of Rutgers. Of course, we love Changlu Wang. Who wouldn’t? He is doing wonderful, practical research on bed bugs, and he understands the problems in detecting and treating […]

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Latest research on bed bug kdr pyrethroid resistance in U.S.

January 21, 2010

I direct you to the latest post on New York vs. Bed Bugs, where Renee Corea gives the lowdown on the latest research from the University of Kentucky on pyrethroid resistance, which confirms that knockdown resistance (kdr-type) mutations, conferring resistance to synthetic pyrethroid pesticides, are widely prevalent in U.S. bed bug populations. The study, forthcoming […]

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