Bed Bugs
Paris Fashion Week made more headlines than it hoped. Bed Bugs on the metro, bed bugs in the cinemas, bed bugs in high-end restaurants… and of course, residents tossing mattresses by the hundreds to the trash. Why does Paris have a Bed Bug problem?
The headlines in the media report this as an unprecedented outbreak of bed bugs in Paris. Is it only Paris that has a bed bug problem? Experts suggest this is more of a growing global trend. Bed bugs, like other pests, have lived with humans for millenia. Feasting off of human blood, bed bugs tend to nest where they have easy access to a ready food supply. Any area where a host is inclined to remain for long periods of time is inclined to a bed bug infestation: mattresses are ideal. A sleeping human offers uninterrupted feeding. Any soft furnishing is also suitable: a cosy TV chair, for example. This explains the emergence of bed bugs across all sectors of the city’s leisure sector including movie houses, public transport and restaurants.
Bed Bug
Bed bugs feed on human blood
A history of bed bug problems
Bed bugs and humans are as common to each other as dogs and fleas. Cave drawings depict bed bugs. Photographs of them were captured on the first cameras in the 1800’s. Bed bugs have found a sleeping human to be a delicious companion.
Culturally, bed bugs have also shaped human history. Some historians suggest the annual practice of spring cleaning may have begun as an attempt to flush out bed bugs. They are less active during the colder winter months, but become reinvigorated in the spring and summer.
Chemical warfare on bed bugs
Insecticide has been used to quell bed bugs for over a century. DDT was used before the 1950’s but by 1956 pest controllers reported deminishing effectiveness of this potent chemical. The repetitive exposure of bed bugs to DDT led to the survival of bed bugs with genetic mutations that allowed them to survive DDT exposure. this gave rise to newer generations with the same mutations. A new chemical was introduced; pyrethroids–synthetic insecticides widely used for residential pests. However, there was an unforeseen consequence of DDT resistance: bed bugs with DDT resistance demonstrated resistance to other pesticides, including pyrethroids, even if they had never encountered pyrethroids. This phenomenon is known as cross-resistance.
DDT was banned in 1972 which compelled the United States to turn to organophosphates. These chemicals largely eliminated bed bugs from the developed world. However, toxic effects on human health were discovered and they were banned too. This gave the bugs a break. Broader international trade rules also opened the exchange of goods across the world. “Bed bugs became a problem after we went through the ban on organophosphates indoors,” says Jody Gangloff-Kaufmann, an entomologist at the New York State Integrated Pest Management program at Cornell University. The bugs came back in the early 2000s, spread primarily along trade routes from developing nations to industrialized countries, and flourished in a new world with less aggressive chemical attacks.
In 2010, cities like New York experienced massive bed bug infestations. Alarming sightings closed retail stores in Soho and South Street Seaport. Even workplaces weren’t immune, as the insects infiltrated Time Warner’s headquarters near Central Park as well.
Knockdown Resistance a root cause for bed bug resurgence
The current surge in bed bug infestations is not merely a revival of a longstanding problem; it is a complex issue intertwined with the development of resistance to insecticides. This mechanism is known as knockdown resistance. This mechanism, along with three other main resistance mechanisms, has enabled these insects to defy chemical-intensive control methods
Knockdown resistance is a significant factor contributing to the resistance exhibited by bed bugs to insecticides, especially pyrethroids. The mechanism plays a central role in countering the action of these insecticides, which target the nervous system of bed bugs, causing paralysis and eventual death. Knockdown resistance provides the genetic adaptation that provides bed bug populations with resistance to insecticides. It inhibits the effectiveness of certain insecticides. Bed bugs with the mutation have a genetic advantage that allows them to survive exposure to these chemicals.
Pest Management Protocols.
Unlike mosquitos and ticks, which government groups address with wide-scale, community-wide spraying and eradication efforts, bed bugs are seen more as an individual, rather than a societal, problem.
Bed bugs don’t transmit diseases like mosquitos and ticks do. While they feed on human blood, they don’t pass on whatever they pick up, since they have a unique ability to fracture the DNA of pathogens they ingest so they are no longer capable of causing disease. “If you imagine the DNA of a virus like polio or HIV or influenza as a glass vase, once it is ingested by a bed bug, it shatters,” says Gail Ridge, an associate scientist at The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, a state and federally funded research facility. “That makes controlling bed bugs a hard sell for government intervention, since they don’t technically cause public harm other than a general sense of anxiety and discomfort.
Combined Arms Management: Physical and Chemical treatments for bed bugs
The best way to irradicate bed bugs is a combination of physical and chemical treatments. Bed bugs do not stray far from their food source. A professional pest company will examine the area within close proximity of the infected bed; under the box frame, head board, cracks in the floorboards, drapes, curtains and wall paper as well as the linens, pillows and mattress. Any form of ‘clutter’ can be a hiding area for bed bugs.
In multi-home establishments (apartments) it is important to seal any access routes from neighbouring homes too.
Vacuuming and high temperature treatments (steam clean, hot wash and tumble drying) are effective on clothing and linens. The most effective bed bug pesticides are available to commercial pesticide applicators only.
Insecticides may be applied as liquids directly to cracks, crevices, bed frames, baseboards, and other similar sites, or they may be applied as dusts in cracks and crevices. Pesticides aren’t generally applied to mattresses or bedding because of potential risk to people. Over-the-counter total-release aerosol foggers has been shown to be ineffective for bed bug control and potentially harmful to residents; they are not recommended.
Liquid insecticide formulations used by professional pest controllers include:
- Products containing the botanical insecticide pyrethrin, which gives quick knockdown but little long-term control
- Various synthetic pyrethroid products (e.g., cyhalothrin, bifenthrin, deltamethrin, and permethrin)
- Mixtures of pyrethroids and neonicotinoids (e.g., Temprid and Transport)
- Various botanical oils
- Newer types of products including the pyrrole insecticide chlorfenapyr (Phantom) and the insect growth regulator (IGR) hydroprene (Gentrol)
Aprehend is a fungus-based treatment used by licensed pest control specialists. The treatment is a spore in a liquid form that is sprayed on affected areas; the contact with the fungus gives the bugs a dermal infection that kills them.
Sulfuryl Fluoride used for bed bugs
Fumigation using the active ingredient sulfuryl fluoride is commercially available for bed bug control and can be highly effective in appropriate situations.
Field Evaluations of Sulfuryl Fluoride Fumigation for Control of the Common Bed Bug (Hemiptera: Cimicidae), Using a 1.9× Dosage Factor in Motor Vehicles and Filled Cargo Trailers In this study, a mini van and a tightly packed trailer (85% capacity) were infected with bed bugs and fumigated with sulfuryl fluoride using 1,9x dosage factor. Upon aeration the sentinel bugs, nymph and eggs were removed and monitored for 23 days post fumigation. It was concluded sulfury fluoride was 100% effective against bed bugs through all life stages.
Future controls for bed bugs
Cockroaches are the natural predator of bed bugs (they consume the eggs) but cockroach control is fundamental to hygiene and pest management… bed bugs may be a challenge far into the future.
Inbreeding is suicide for most species since mating with genetically related members can introduce dangerous, and potentially lethal, mutations. Bed bugs don’t have such limitations; a single female carrying eggs can seed a new colony of bugs in a location as the future generations breed among themselves. “We have seen brother-sister matings for 20 to 30 generations and nothing happens,” says DeVries. “The later generations are just as happy and healthy as the first.”
Resistant bugs are getting hardier and hardier. Cross breeding with different populations makes them even more fertile, says Ridge. She has crossed two different lab populations of bed bugs and found that the fecundity of the females doubled. “I can only assume that’s happening in the wild as well,” she says, especially since bugs from different parts of the world are likely mixing and matching thanks to widespread human travel.”
Integrated pest management remains the only successful means to control bed bugs. While bed bugs can certainly find their way to luxury hotels and hitch a ride home on the Louis Vuitton luggage; the wealthy can afford to treat the problem as it occurs.
For those in tightly packed disadvantaged communities such as nursing homes and hostels, bed bugs become just another burden limited funds cannot control.
As the globe continues its fast paced integration with humans travelling en masse via public transport, goods are shipped worldwide and the common bed bug codes future bugs with DNA to resist chemicals used… Paris is just a foretaste for future cities which will no doubt face bed bugs for centuries yet.
Indian Meal Moth Infestation (Plodia Interpunctella)
The principal sign that you have an Indian Meal Moth Infestation is a thick blanket of silk webbing over your stored food product. This is a common pest infesting homes and grocery stores alike. The larvae are general feeders and can be found in grain products, seeds, dried fruit, dog food, and spices.
The Indian Meal moth received its common name in the United States where it was found to be a pest of meal made of “Indian corn” or maize.
Identification
The wings of these adult moths are quite distinctive with 2/3 of the lower wing a striking copper/bronze colour and the 1/3 of the wing closest to the head is off-white to greyish in colour. The wings are folded over the abdomen when at rest.
The fully grown larvae produce silk webbing and cocoons which can often be detected in the vicinity of the food commodity the larvae feed on.
Larvae are large in size and creamy white with a brown head. The Adult life span is 10-14 days. Adults are about 13 mm in length.
Adult Indian Meal Moth
Larvae
Biology
Adult female moths lay between 200 and 400 ova (ivory coloured eggs) in or on food commodities. The larvae are creamy white with a brown head. When fully grown and mature (after 21 days) they will wander off and spin cocoons away from the infested food commodity.
The larvae pupates inside the cocoon. Adult moths emerge from the cocoons after 7 to 10 days.
Symptoms of Damage
Besides infesting all cereal food products and whole grains, larvae also feed on a wide variety of foods and feeds such as dried fruits, powdered milk, cornmeal, flour, raisins, prunes, nuts, chocolate, candies, health food and seeds, bird seed, dog and cat food, fish food, graham crackers, dried red peppers, pastas, etc. Damage is caused by the larvae spinning silken threads as they feed and crawl, thus webbing food particles together.
Control Mechanisms for Indian Meal Moth
ProFume (Sulphuryl Fluoride)
Successful fumigation of food commodities and structures infested with The Indian Meal Moth can be achieved with the precision fumigation of ProFume Gas (Sulphuryl Fluoride).
ProFume is proven effective against all life stages of a broad spectrum of stored
product pests which includes the Indian Meal Moth. ProFume does not affect the
commodity flavour, quality, colour or processing characteristics.
Your Stored Commodity Pest Guide
The warm, tropical climate of Africa is particularly conducive to stored commodity pests. The rate of insect proliferation in storage structures can be alarmingly high. In our continued effort to manage the problem effectively, we offer insight to pests we deal with throughout South Africa.
Internal and External Feeders
Insects that feed on and damage stored commodities such as grains and seeds can be divided into two groups. The first group of insects are INTERNAL FEEDERS. These insects spend most of their lives feeding within the kernel of grain. One example of an Internal Feeder is the Granary Weevil (Sitophilus granaries).
The second group of insects are EXTERNAL FEEDERS. These insects spend their lives feeding on the surface of grains and seeds or on the finished product itself, such as flour. One example of an External Feeder is The Confused Flour Beetle (Tribolium confusium) and is a major stored commodity pest problem.
Characteristics of the Confused Flour Beetle (External Feeder)
Colour – Red to dark brown in colour. Approximately 3 – 4mm in length.
Antenna – Antenna gradually thicken in size. There are 4 clubs on each antenna
Adult life span – 2 to 3 years
Amount of eggs female lays – 300 to 400 eggs in her lifetime, loosely in the food
Food – Feeds on broken grains, broken seeds, grain dust and processed food such as flour, dried fruit and spices etc.
Breeding – Breeding takes place between the temperatures of 20° Celsius and 37° Celsius. Optimum development occurs in the range of 32° Celsius and 35° Celsius
Flight – They cannot fly
External Feeder - Confused Flour Beetle
Internal Feeder - Granary Weevil
Comparing the Confused Flour Beetle and Red Beetle
Signs of pest infestation in stored commodities
Heated grain, sharp smell and large volumes of dead beetles in the commodity, causes infested commodity to go mouldy.
Managing Confused Flour Beetles
Facilities where food commodities are kept should be built in such a way that they are easy to maintain and clean. They should be well insulated, well ventilated and damp-proof. Cracks and crevices, are harbourage places for The Confused Flour Beetle, as this is where grain dust settles and should be kept to a minimum.
The facility is to be maintained and cleaned on a regular basis with management carrying out regular inspections. Stacks of commodities are to be placed in a neat orderly fashion in the warehouse, packed onto pallets. Older stock is to be used/shipped out first.
Infested commodities are to be placed in a quarantine area, away from non-infested commodities to avoid cross infestation and fumigated as soon as possible with ProFume Fumigant.
Treatment
• The facilities themselves must be treated with a residual insecticide on a regular basis. Special attention should be given to cracks and crevices, corners, walls, beams and pallets.
The residual insecticide used must be registered for use in Food Commodity Storage Facilities.
The Labels instructions are to be strictly followed at all times.
- ProFume Fumigant – Fumigate food commodities using ProFume Fumigant.
- Food Commodities are registered to be fumigated making use of ProFume Fumigant (see label).
- Fumigating with ProFume Fumigant gives the warehouse manager/mill manager the luxury of having Food Commodities effectively fumigated over a 24 hour period.
- ProFume Fumigant kills the egg to the adult stage of insects.
