Fungus may take bite out of bedbugs

As bedbugs continue their bloodsucking scourge on Toronto currently targeting Ryerson University residences a new U.S. study shows that natural fungus is an effective way of killing the critters.

There are eight confirmed cases of bedbugs at Ryerson, with most students living at the International Living and Learning Centre (ILLC) and a few in the Pitman Hall residence.

The rooms are being carefully treated by pest control experts, said Chad Nuttall, manager of student housing services at the university. They will inspect and reinspect the rooms until they are bedbug-free.

Affected students have been relocated to a temporary space in the ILLC while their rooms are treated, which usually takes two weeks but can be longer depending on the severity of the situation.

Our students are our top priority and we are working very hard to resolve this issue for them and have them back into their dorms as soon as possible, Nuttall said.

The university provides information to students and parents on bed bug prevention during parent sessions, Nuttall said.

But new research could end the battle against bedbugs. According to a team of entomologists at Penn State University, the parasites have met their match in a fungus called Beauveria bassiana, which grows naturally in soils and causes disease in insects.

As part of the study, published in the Journal of Invertebrate Pathology, researchers used paper and cotton jersey, commonly used in bedsheets. On one set they sprayed fungal spores, a biopesticide, and on the other blank oil.

After the surfaces were dry, bedbugs were added for one hour.

All the bugs exposed to the biopesticide died within five days. More importantly, infected bugs carried the fungal spores back to their hiding places, infecting nearly all of the other bugs.

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Fungus may take bite out of bedbugs