New trap and lure design to catch bed bugs

[cronus]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23602963

New trap and lure design to catch bed bugs

Researchers in the US have come up with a new trap design for bed bugs.

It could help unlucky holiday makers detect these unwelcome travel companions before an infestation takes hold.

Experimenters from the Department of Entomology compared a new "pitfall" trap design with the current market leader, a shallower-sided plastic trap.

Their new trap was actually an upturned plastic dog bowl, covered with surgical tape that had been dyed black.

In a laboratory setting, they found that their trap had a 77% probability of capturing bed bugs released, whereas the shallower trap only had a 23% probability.

They also compared the devices in single bedroom or studio apartments occupied by 'one elderly person'. In this realistic setting, their dog bowl trap caught nearly three times as many bed bugs over 28 days, compared to the market leader.

Chemical 'lures', known to appeal to bed bugs, made the traps more effective. The researchers had previously found that a combination of nonanal (a chemical often used in perfumes), 1-octen-3-ol (an alcohol found in human breath and sweat), spearmint oil and coriander Egyptian oil was attractive to bed bugs. They baited one trap with this and compared it to an identical trap without bait. The baited traps were more effective both in the lab, and in an occupied apartment.

(continued)

[Faithfree]

They could just use me - I'm well known to attract the little blighters, along with ticks.

[Faithfree]

... found that a combination of nonanal (a chemical often used in perfumes), ...

Presumably early attempts at using "anal" in perfumes proved a dismal failure, until someone had a bright idea ..

[klr]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23602963

New trap and lure design to catch bed bugs

Researchers in the US have come up with a new trap design for bed bugs.

It could help unlucky holiday makers detect these unwelcome travel companions before an infestation takes hold.

Experimenters from the Department of Entomology compared a new "pitfall" trap design with the current market leader, a shallower-sided plastic trap.

Their new trap was actually an upturned plastic dog bowl, covered with surgical tape that had been dyed black.

In a laboratory setting, they found that their trap had a 77% probability of capturing bed bugs released, whereas the shallower trap only had a 23% probability.

They also compared the devices in single bedroom or studio apartments occupied by 'one elderly person'. In this realistic setting, their dog bowl trap caught nearly three times as many bed bugs over 28 days, compared to the market leader.

Chemical 'lures', known to appeal to bed bugs, made the traps more effective. The researchers had previously found that a combination of nonanal (a chemical often used in perfumes), 1-octen-3-ol (an alcohol found in human breath and sweat), spearmint oil and coriander Egyptian oil was attractive to bed bugs. They baited one trap with this and compared it to an identical trap without bait. The baited traps were more effective both in the lab, and in an occupied apartment.

(continued)

77% ain't good enough, especially as the other 23% and their progeny will inherit the bed bug kingdom, and we''ll be back to square one.