Thousands of bed bugs feast on woman for five years

Courtesy: Simon Fraiser University

Courtesy: Simon Fraiser University

VANCOUVER, British Columbia A Canadian biologist sacrificed her skin and comfort for five years, inviting bedbugs to feed on her day after day; all in the name of science and discovery.

Now, Regine Gries says it has paid off.

The Simon Fraser University researcher began the project to find a bedbug repellant eight years ago. Her husband, Gerhard, is also a researcher and her lab partner and SFU chemist Robert Britton also led the project.

Regine endured 180,000 bedbug bites during their research. A lot of her blood was needed to feed the bedbug colony and to make their research successful.

When the bedbugs bit Gerhard he suffered a more serious reaction, while Regine suffered only a rash. So, she was chosen as the meal for the blood-sucking insects.

During their research, Gerhard and Regine and their team of university students learned that bedbugs communicate with odors. CNN reports one odor may be used like a dinner bell, to announcefresh meat, when another odor could indicate danger.

The researchers are now working with Contech Enterprises, Inc. out of Victoria, Canada, to re-create some of the odors so they can be used to bait and trap the bedbugs.

They expect the product to be available sometime in 2015.

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Thousands of bed bugs feast on woman for five years