BATTLING BED BUGS: THE LATEST WEAPONRY pest...
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and it also functions as a highly effective bed bug monitor. The Bed Moat (www.thebedmoat.com) is almost an exact copy but seems to be of better construction and should also function as stated. Two recently developed barriers on the market have come out of Australia; the Bed Bug Barrier (www.bedbugbarrier.com.au) and the BB Secure Ring (www.bedbugsecure.com). The Bed Bug Barrier comes as two types: one in which the bed leg or caster sits, and another which is placed between the caster and the bed bug. Preliminary investigations from overseas indicate that the Bed Bug Barrier effectively stops bed bugs from climbing onto the bed. The BB Secure Ring is a very simple device: it consists of a flat ring of PTFE (a Teflon-like plastic), which is placed between the caster and the bed base. The ring has an ultra smooth surface that bed bugs can not grip, and they are unable to climb over it to reach the bed. This device was tested comprehensively in our laboratory and was able to stop around 2000 bed bugs of all stages. A video of the bugs trying to unsuccessfully clamber over the ring can be seen on the above company web site. The worldwide explosion in bed bug numbers has led to an equally dramatic increase in bed bug related products. The market has been flooded with a variety of monitoring devices for early detection of infestations, numerous non-chemical means of management, as well as several new insecticides. There have also been many groups who have developed bed bug management guidelines in order to combat the rise of this public health pest. The list of new products could fill several text books; however, the following is an overview of what’s new and, more importantly, what works. In terms of bed bug monitors there are two broad types: those that have attractants and those that do not. The latter group provides a simple harbourage for bed bugs such as corrugated cardboard and may contain gels to capture the bugs. This includes the BDS from Catchmaster (www.catchmasterpro. com/bds.php) and the BB Alert Passive from MidMos (www.midmos.com). The latter has a white border around the edge and it is claimed that bed bugs defecate before entering the monitor and so the spotting (and hence presence of bed bugs) can be quickly detected. Those monitors that contain attractants can be simple and have one bait such as heat, e.g. BB Alert Active (www.midmos.com) and the Bed Bug Dome from Slivatronic (www.silvandersson.se), or carbon dioxide (Bed Bug Beacon from Packtite, www.packtite.com), or they may contain multiple attractants including heat, carbon dioxide and various kairomones (these include various compounds exuded from the human skin that attract biting insects). Such devices include the Nightwatch (www.biosensory.com) and the CDC3000 (www.cimexscience.com). The most effective of the monitors at attracting bed bugs are those that produce high amounts of carbon dioxide. In fact a home grown version made by a group of researchers at Rutgers University in the United States, consisted of nothing more than an inverted cat dish, an insulated container and a block of dry ice and cost only a few dollars, yet this was far more effective at collecting than all the commercial devices tested. Unfortunately, all the monitors have use limitations, and it looks like being some time before a perfect detection system is developed. There is now a sticky tape (called Bed Bug Monitor) from Agrisense (www.agrisense.co.uk) being marketed for the monitoring of bed bugs. This is a double sided tape with a low and high-tack side. The low tack side is for adhesion to furniture and walls. PROFESSIONAL PEST MANAGER – JANUARY 2011 25 Stephen Doggett pest management: BED BUGS BATTLING BED BUGS: THE LATEST WEAPONRY The BB Alert Passive from MidMos. Those monitors that contain attractants can be simple and have one or more baits, for example the BB Alert Active. by Stephen L. Doggett 1 , David G. Lilly 2 & Richard C. Russell 1 REPRODUCED COURTESY OF — In trials that we conducted, the tape only captured one bed bug out of 40 over a two week period. In fact, it seemed that the tape actually repelled the bed bugs. On the other hand, not one of the bugs climbed over the tape and so it worked quite well as a barrier! Speaking of barriers, this is another area of expanding technology. Barriers aim to prevent bed bugs from climbing onto the bed and biting the sleeping victim. The Climbup interceptor (www.insect- interceptor.com) has been around for some time and is proven technology,
Transcript of BATTLING BED BUGS: THE LATEST WEAPONRY pest...
and it also functions as a highlyeffective bed bug monitor.
The Bed Moat(www.thebedmoat.com) is almost anexact copy but seems to be of betterconstruction and should alsofunction as stated.
Two recently developed barriers on the market have come out ofAustralia; the Bed Bug Barrier(www.bedbugbarrier.com.au)
and the BB Secure Ring(www.bedbugsecure.com).
The Bed Bug Barrier comes astwo types: one in which the bed
leg or caster sits, and another whichis placed between the caster and thebed bug. Preliminary investigationsfrom overseas indicate that the BedBug Barrier effectively stops bed bugsfrom climbing onto the bed.
The BB Secure Ring is a very simpledevice: it consists of a flat ring ofPTFE (a Teflon-like plastic), which isplaced between the caster and thebed base. The ring has an ultrasmooth surface that bed bugs can notgrip, and they are unable to climbover it to reach the bed.
This device was testedcomprehensively in our laboratoryand was able to stop around 2000bed bugs of all stages. A video of thebugs trying to unsuccessfully clamberover the ring can be seen on theabove company web site.
The worldwide explosion in bed bugnumbers has led to an equallydramatic increase in bed bug relatedproducts.
The market has been flooded with avariety of monitoring devices for earlydetection of infestations, numerousnon-chemical means of management,as well as several new insecticides.
There have also been many groupswho have developed bed bugmanagement guidelines in order tocombat the rise of this public healthpest.
The list of new products could fillseveral text books; however, thefollowing is an overview of what’s newand, more importantly, what works.
In terms of bed bug monitors thereare two broad types: those that haveattractants and those that do not.
The latter group provides a simpleharbourage for bed bugs such ascorrugated cardboard and maycontain gels to capture the bugs.
This includes the BDS fromCatchmaster (www.catchmasterpro.com/bds.php) and the BB AlertPassive from MidMos(www.midmos.com).
The latter has a white borderaround the edge and it is claimedthat bed bugs defecate beforeentering the monitor and so thespotting (and hence presence of bedbugs) can be quickly detected.
Those monitors that containattractants can be simple and haveone bait such as heat, e.g. BB AlertActive (www.midmos.com) and theBed Bug Dome from Slivatronic(www.silvandersson.se), or carbondioxide (Bed Bug Beacon fromPacktite, www.packtite.com), or theymay contain multiple attractantsincluding heat, carbon dioxide andvarious kairomones (these includevarious compounds exuded from thehuman skin that attract biting insects).
Such devices include the Nightwatch(www.biosensory.com) and theCDC3000 (www.cimexscience.com).
The most effective of the monitors atattracting bed bugs are those thatproduce high amounts of carbondioxide.
In fact a home grown version madeby a group of researchers at RutgersUniversity in the United States,consisted of nothing more than aninverted cat dish, an insulatedcontainer and a block of dry ice andcost only a few dollars, yet this wasfar more effective at collecting thanall the commercial devices tested.
Unfortunately, all the monitors haveuse limitations, and it looks like beingsome time before a perfect detectionsystem is developed.
There is now a sticky tape (called BedBug Monitor) from Agrisense(www.agrisense.co.uk) being marketedfor the monitoring of bed bugs. This isa double sided tape with a low andhigh-tack side. The low tack side is foradhesion to furniture and walls.
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Stephen Doggett
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BATTLING BED BUGS:THE LATEST WEAPONRY
The BB Alert Passivefrom MidMos.
Those monitors that contain attractants can besimple and have one or more baits, for examplethe BB Alert Active.
by Stephen L. Doggett 1, David G. Lilly 2 & Richard C. Russell 1
REPRODUCED COURTESY OF —
In trials that we conducted, the tapeonly captured one bed bug out of 40 over a two week period. In fact, it seemed that the tape actuallyrepelled the bed bugs.
On the other hand, not one of thebugs climbed over the tape and so itworked quite well as a barrier!
Speaking of barriers, this is anotherarea of expanding technology.
Barriers aim to prevent bed bugs fromclimbing onto the bed and biting thesleeping victim.
The Climbup interceptor (www.insect-interceptor.com) has been around forsome time and is proven technology,
Insecticides
A number of new insecticides arebecoming available to the Australianpest manager.
In the Aug/Sep 2010 edition ofProfessional Pest Manager it wasmentioned that Phantom Insecticide(active: Chlorphenapyr) was justreleased in Australia.
This is a very slow acting product butearly investigations suggested that itwas able to kill 100% of pyrethroidresistant bed bugs.
However, more recent researchfindings by several groups indicatethat it is not as effective as firstthought. Likewise, some anecdotalfield reports are suggesting onlymoderate efficacy.
This has prompted our laboratory toevaluate the product against anAustralian bed bug strain and theresults will be forthcoming.
Bayer is set to release a number ofnew insecticidal products for bed bugcontrol: Temprid, Premise Foam andCislin Aerosol. Both Temprid andPremise Foam contain imidaclopridand there are no resistance issueswith this chemical. In fact evenextremely diluted doses applieddirectly to bed bugs are highlyeffective and achieves a complete kill.
Sadly these are no silver bullet asimidacloprid provides a poor level ofresidual protection.
Despite the high level of pyrethroidresistance, Cislin Aerosol (active:Deltamethrin) provided a 100% kill
against all bed bugs tested in ourlaboratory when sprayed directly atthe bugs.
Bayer must be congratulated forbeing the first to include on theirproduct labels a recommendationthat the industry standard ‘A Code ofPractice for Bed Bug Control inAustralia’ (www.bedbug.org.au)should be followed.
The more pest managers that becomeaware of the Code, the more likely wewill sooner reduce the impact of bedbugs, and so well done Bayer.Hopefully, other companies willfollow this lead.
Ensystex will be soon coming outwith Maxxthor KDR, which containssynergised bifenthrin and imiprothrin.To date, this is the most effectivepyrethroid based product tested byour laboratory although, as per otherpyrethroids, a complete kill may notresult and reapplication will berequired.
Currently, there is an attempt to haveDiatomaceous Earth Dust (DED)registered in Australia.
DED is a highly effective insecticide,albeit slow acting, is effective againstresistant bed bugs and has been longemployed overseas. The product hasvery low mammalian toxicity, verylong activity, and resistance is unlikelyto develop due to its mode of action(it absorbs lipids out of the insectexoskeleton, which leads todehydration and death).
Hopefully, DED will soon be available.
Now the latest buzzword ininsecticides is ‘enzymes’.
Apparently these chemicals canproduce an instant death whenapplied directly to bed bugs, eventhose resistant to many products.
Exactly what these enzymes are is stilla mystery; sadly, however, earlyindications are that they do notprovide good residual activity.
There are already companies sellingenzymes for bed bug control onlinein the U.S., but these products areunlikely to be registered here.
Another area of insecticide use hasbeen in the impregnation of mattressesand mattress covers. The activeemployed is typically permethrin.
In light of the high degree ofresistance in bed bugs against thisactive, the expected efficacy wouldbe low.
We have now tested Cimex-Pro, whichhas been applied to mattresses inAustralia, and found it to beineffective against our modernresistant strain of bed bug, although acomplete kill is achieved with oldlaboratory susceptible strains.
Similarly, tests against the ActiveGuardmattress liner (sold in the US,www.allergytechnologies.com)produced only around 20% controlwith the resistant strain.
Based on these research findings, itwould be difficult to recommendthese products as part of a bed bugmanagement program since mostfield infestations involved insecticideresistant strains of bugs.
Many disparate groups in the USA arenow producing managementguidelines, too numerous to list here.
While some are excellent, 90% of theinformation is identical betweeneach, indicating a huge waste ofhuman resources and demonstratingthe uncoordinated nature of bed bugmanagement in the states.
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The Bed Bug Barrier comes as two types: one in which the bed leg or caster sits, andanother which is placed between the caster andthe bed bug.
Barriers, like the Climbup inteceptor, aim toprevent bed bugs from climbing onto the bedand biting the sleeping victim.
REPRODUCED COURTESY OF
Some of the guidelines attempt to listevery innovation in bed bugmanagement. But what is the point ifa particular technology just does notwork? Practical and usefulinformation is needed for the pestmanager (and everyone elseimpacted by bed bugs).
One of the basic fundamentalprinciples of the Australian Code ofPractice is that technologies are onlyincluded when there is evidence ofefficacy and, where there is suchevidence, the limitations aredescribed.
The reality is that every technologyon the market has limitations.
How do we know this? Simplybecause there is still a bed bugproblem, which is growing in manyparts of the world.
If a pest manager ever has a concernabout a product, he or she should
check the Code. If it is not listed thenit probably does not work.
By no means is this list endless, manymore products were unveiled at therecent Bed Bug Summit in Chicago(see separate story on page 5 in thisissue).
Some conceptually were quite silly,such as the Rest Assured handsanitiser for use after handling
infested mattresses (anyone who doesso should wear disposable gloves).
Others, however, demonstrate morepromise. Yet, one aspect became clear– that there are no magical silverbullets on the horizon.
This means that an IPM approach tobed bug management as per the Codeof Practice must still be followed. �
1 Department of Medical Entomology, ICPMR & University of Sydney, Westmead Hospital, Westmead, NSW 2145
2 Ecolab, Pest Elimination Division, Castle Hill NSW 2154.
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The reality is thatevery technologyon the market haslimitations. How dowe know this?Simply becausethere is still a bedbug problem, whichis growing in manyparts of the world.
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Richard Russell
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