Cimex lectularius L. is a widespread hematophagus insect pest around the world and is currently experiencing a reemergence as a public health pest of concern. One possible source of bed bugs to the human environment is the movement of bed bugs from poultry facilities to human structures by poultry workers. No recent studies have been conducted on the susceptibility of this insect to a wide rang...

Commercial bed bug (Cimex lectularius L.) monitors incorporating carbon dioxide (CO2), heat, and chemical lures are being used for detecting bed bugs; however, there are few reported studies on the effectiveness of chemical lures in bed bug monitors and the interactions among chemical lure, CO2, and heat. We screened 12 chemicals for their attraction to bed bugs and evaluated interactions among...

Many hematophagous arthropods are stimulated by blood constituents to initiate feeding. We used a membrane-based feeding system to identify chemicals that stimulate acceptance and engorgement responses in various life stages of bed bugs. Water was fortified with a variety of compounds (e.g. salts, amino acids, vitamins, nucleotides, cholesterol and fatty acids) in these bioassays. ATP was the m...

Bed bugs (Cimex lectularius L. and Cimex hemipterus F.) are among the most difficult urban pests to manage. Many essential oil-based bed bug control products that are considered reduced risk to mammals compared to synthetic insect neurotoxins have become commercially available, but their effectiveness as a stand-alone control method is unknown. This study assessed the field efficacy of an essen...

Detection of low-level bed bug, Cimex lectularius L. (Hemiptera: Cimicidae), infestations is essential for early intervention, confirming eradication of infestations, and reducing the spread of bed bugs. Despite the importance of detection, few effective tools and methods exist for detecting low numbers of bed bugs. Scent dogs were developed as a tool for detecting bed bugs in recent years. How...

Bed bugs, Cimex lectularius L., are now considered a serious urban pest in the United States. Because they are small and difÞcult to Þnd, there has been strong interest in developing and using monitoring tools to detect bed bugs and evaluate the results of bed bug control efforts. Several bed bug monitoring devices were developed recently, but their effectiveness is unknown. We comparatively ev...

Bed bugs, (Cimex lectularius L.), are difficult to find because of their nocturnal and secretive behavior. In recent years, a number of monitors containing carbon dioxide (CO2), chemical lures, heat, or both, to attract bed bugs have been developed for detecting bed bugs. Ineffective trap design, lack of attraction of chemical lures, high cost of the CO2 delivery system, or insufficient CO rele...