The Efficacy of Bed Bug Management Products and Strategies
PI(s):
Miller, Dini M
Investigators:
McCoy, Timothy C
Abstract:
Virginia Tech is currently one of two universities in the nation that is rearing bed bugs for research. Bed bugs promise to be a very important area of research because they are blood feeders, prolific, and difficult to control. The liability issues associated with bed bug presence have already resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars being awarded to people who have been bitten by bed bugs. My research has focused on evaluating the efficacy products labeled for bed bug control and those that have potential as a bed bug management tools.
Description:
The bed bug was a major household pest
at the turn of the 20th century. However, bed bugs all but disappeared in the
U.S.
in the 1950s due to the use of pyrethrum insecticides and DDT. However, in the
late 1990's bed bug infestations began to make news as an emerging pest
problem. What began as a few scattered reports in the 1990s, became a
full-blown epidemic in 2005. Because bed bugs have not been a problem for
over 40 years, relatively few pesticides are labeled for their control, and
none have been evaluated for efficacy. The liability issues associated with
bed bug presence have already resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars
being awarded to people who have been bitten by bed bugs and yet we still have
no reliable method for controlling these pests. My research has focused on
evaluating the efficacy products labeled for bed bug control and those that
have potential as a bed bug management tools. As of December 2005, we have
evaluated the efficacy of a number of products for bed bug control. Our
results so far, have indicated that two of the products commonly used for bed
bug control only killed 50% of them after 10 days of constant exposure. We
have also found that products thought to be repellent to bed bugs were not
repellent. These results were submitted for publication in December of 2005.
This manuscript appears to be the first bed bug study evaluating bed bug
response to labeled pesticide products since 1966. My student is also
conducting the first bed bug field study in the nation (since the 1960s),
evaluating two different IPM programs for bed bug control.
Description last modified at 2007-07-31 13:45:45.0.
Commodities:
Resources:
Dodson Urban Pest Management Laboratory
Disciplines:
Urban
Audiences:
Environmental Groups, Extension Agents, Government Agencies, Homeowners, Local Governments, Researchers
