Author Archives: Pest Controller

Nobody likes bed bugs, but one thing we could always say was at least they donttransmit any human diseases! Thats still true, althoughsome research published this week is causing some concern.

A new paper in The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene reportedthat bed bugs mightbe able to host and transmit Chagas Disease, a chronicheart disease caused by the blood parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. That sounds scary, but the experts I talked to all agree no one should panic.

A lot of alarmingthingscan be found inbed bugs; over 45different potential human disease agentsare known, including bacteria, viruses (Hepatitis B), worms, and protozoans (like the trypanosomes in the new paper). So far, none of themare transmitted to humans bybed bugs. This new research doesnt change that.

Heres a run-down of the new research, and what you need to know.

In areas where Chagas Disease occurs, you get infectedwhen akissing bugwith the parasite in its gut first bites you, and then poops into the wound it makes. Seriously.

Kissing bugs are a relative of bed bugs, and they both feed the same way they stick a beaky straw into your skin and slurp up your blood.Kissing bugs poop after they feed, and if the bug is infected, it releases the parasite onto yourskin.

Breaks in the skin (like the one the bug just made to drink your blood) or mucus membranes allow the Chagas parasite easy access to your blood.Kissing bugs get their name from their habit of biting near the lips and eyes. Which are mucus membranes.

Scratching makes it more likely that you get the disease, because you create an opening in the skin and then rub the feces into the wound. Insult, meet injury.

To recap: the bug bites you on the face; then poops on your face; and then you scratch the wound (on your face? Did I mention its on your face?) and infect yourself.

How do these kissing bugs get infected in the first place? They feed on small mammals and pick up the Chagas parasite. There is anothersource of Chagas disease infection in kissing bugs:coprophagy. Literally: shit-eating.

Go here to read the rest:
Bed Bugs Wont Give You Chagas Disease (probably)

It seems people are having some difficulty distinguishing bedbugs from other bugs that move into your home and crawl on your elbow at night. If you find a suspicious-looking brown thing in your bed, or suspect you're being bitten night after night, you can peruse a wealth of Internet photos, call in the bug-snuffing (and sniffing!) professionals, or torch all your belongings and flee town. But if you're not prepared to do any of those things unless you are 1,000 percent sure you're suffering a serious infestation, it appears you can just pop a cotton swab into an envelope and ship it off to Texas for DNA testing. The modern world is a marvel!

Real estate blog Brick Underground dug into the mysterious world of bedbug DNA testing todayapparently, for Dallas-based company BugLab ID can use the bug's DNA to determine a) if you are, in fact, being plagued by a few hundred dreaded bedbugs and, b) if yes, how severe said infestation has gotten. "Basically we come in and swab the surface, depending on what were looking for, and then we would take that sample and overnight it to the laboratory, company chairman Martin Hale told the site, noting that it takes about 24 hours for the lab to inform you as to whether or not you're under bug attack.

These entomological Gil Grissoms cost about $150 per visit (some exterminators charge up to $200 for preliminary apartment checks.) And since they're not going to make extra cash off your infestation, they're promising accurate resultsbug-sniffing canines have had some issues with false-positives.

This sounds all fun and science-y, but it seems like you're better off hunting for a bedbug yourself, rather than calling in a middleman. If that swab tests positive for buggies, you still have to shell out for an exterminator. And if it doesn't, you still have to suffer through a sleepless 24 hours while you wait for the results, whereas an exterminator's visual inspection will yield you an all-clear immediately.

What would be really great, though, is if science could come up with some way to determine whether that suspicious red mark on your body is a bedbug bite, and not one of a gazillion other skin reactions you could be suffering. Sure, a three-bite formation is the telltale sign, but sometimes bedbugs don't bite in threes, and sometimes weird hives you get after exercising pop up in suspect formations. Apparently even dermatologists can't tell whether or not you've been bitten by a bedbug, but scientists have managed to create Doritos-flavored Mountain Dew. Something is off with our society's priorities.

Ah, well. If you do find a suspicious insect in your apartment, save yourself $150 and consult this handy guide to bedbugs and their impostor bug friends.

Visit link:
Bedbug CSI Lab Uses DNA To Figure Out What's Biting You