New Study Finds Bed Bugs Unexpectedly Fertile reports Shop Bedding

(EstateNewsWire.com, November 16, 2012 ) San Francisco, CA-- New research from University of Florida scientist Roberto Pereira finds bed bugs, the annoying, hard to eradicate parasitic pests which feed on human blood, are far more fertile than previously thought. The finding has implications for controlling the spread of the pesky, and occasionally dangerous, insects.

The study, which appeared last month in Medical and Veterinary Entomology, reports female bedbugs can produce eggs even if they are only able to feed for five minutes per week. It also discovered the small reddish-brown oval-shaped insects ordinarily feed an average of two to three times per week, with a typical 10-minute feeding time. At that rate, female bedbugs can produce 30 to 35 eggs per week, triple what scientists previously thought.

In less than three months, one bedbug can give birth to 3,500 offspring, and that number rises to about 25,000 in just one more month. At the lower concentration, bedbugs can harm a sleeping infant in a crib. At the higher level, they could harm adult humans, by sucking out at least 5% of their blood supply, considered the maximum safe amount of blood to have withdrawn in a month. They locate their hosts mainly by detecting carbon dioxide, but they are also attracted by warmth and some chemicals.

In a home, bed bugs typically hide during the day in mattresses and furniture, or in cracks in wall plaster, then emerge and feed at night. Pereira started studying bedbug fertility several years ago, following bedbug outbreaks in such public places as cinemas, clothing retailers and buses. In those settings, unlike a home, bedbugs would not always have daily access to fresh blood.

Bites from bed bugs can cause welts or rashes, but some people have no reaction to the bites, though the insects have been known to suck out enough blood to cause anemia. They do not transmit diseases, however. One expert estimates over a third of people living in bedbug-infested homes never notice the problem.

Pereira, an associate research scientist at the University’s entomology and nematology department, says people often wrongly believe “bedbugs aren't doing any harm because they can't feel anything.”

In the early 1940s, bedbugs had been largely eliminated in the developed world, but they have been making a comeback since 1985. Some dogs have been trained to find bedbug infestations, and are reportedly able to find them far more quickly than human pest control workers can. Professional exterminators use Vikane gas to fumigate a bedbug-infested home, which can cost $1,500 and up. All bedding, clothing or other fabrics that may have become infested should be dry-cleaned.

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