Bye, bye bedbugs: New traps will help put infestations to rest

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
It has taken her several years and over 180,000 bites, but Simon Fraser University biologist Regine Gries has discovered a group of chemical attractants that could help end the global bedbug epidemic.
Gries, her husband and fellow biology professor Gerhard Gries, SFU chemist Robert Britton and a group of students discovered a set of pheromones that can lure the nighttime pests into traps and keep them there. Following a series of successful trials, they published their findings earlier this week in the international chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie.
The study authors conducted those trials in bedbug-infested apartments in Metro Vancouver, and they said that their findings will be used to develop a new effective and low-cost bait and trap for detecting and monitoring bedbug infestations. That trap will be created with the assistance Victoria-based Contech Enterprises Inc. and should be available early next year.
“The biggest challenge in dealing with bedbugs is to detect the infestation at an early stage,” explained Gerhard Gries, who is an NSERC-Industrial Research Chair in Multimodal Animal Communication Ecology. “This trap will help landlords, tenants, and pest-control professionals determine whether premises have a bedbug problem, so that they can treat it quickly. It will also be useful for monitoring the treatment’s effectiveness.”
“It’s a solution the world has been waiting for,” the university added. “Over the last two decades the common bedbug (Cimex lectularius), once thought eradicated in industrialized countries, has reappeared as a global scourge. These nasty insects are infesting not just low-income housing but also expensive hotels and apartments, and public venues such as stores, movie theatres, libraries and even public transit.”
Previously, bedbugs were looked upon only as an annoyance, but recently scientists have discovered that they can transmit the pathogen responsible for Chagas disease, a condition that is prevalent in Central and South America. Most tools for detecting and monitoring the insects have been costly and difficult to use, which led to the search for an inexpensive, easy-to-use alternative.
The Gries’ work in the field began eight years ago, when Gerhard began the search for pheromones that could lure and trap bedbugs. To assist with the research, his wife was in charge of the lab and field experiments, and also served as the dinner for the bedbug colony being studies. It may sound like she drew the short straw, but the researchers explained that Regine was immune to the bites and did not suffer the itching and swelling that may others do (including her husband).
During their initial work, they discovered a pheromone blend that worked well in laboratory conditions, but failed to attract bedbugs in an infested apartment. They realized that some component must be missing, and turned to Britton (an expert in isolating and solving the structure of natural products) for assistance.
Using spectrometers, he studied the chemical Regine had isolated from shed bedbug skin for more than two years looking for the missing ingredient before finally discovering that the molecule histamine indicates the presence of a safe-haven for bedbugs. Once they come in contact with the molecule, they remain in place, whether they had recently fed on a human host or not.
But histamine alone or in combination with other previously-identified pheromone components still wasn’t enough to effectively attract and trap bedbugs. So Regine started to analyze airborne volatile compounds from bedbug feces as an alternate source of the missing components. After nearly half a year and 35 experiments, she found three new components that when combined with the previous-identified substances, effectively lured the bedbugs into traps.
Their research, which was funded with a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada industry grant in partnership with Contech Enterprises Inc., continues as they put the finishing touches on the commercial lure. This means that Regine will have to serve as a bedbug snack for a little longer, the university said, something she says she is “not too thrilled about, but knowing how much this technology will benefit so many people, it’s all worth it.”
—–
Follow redOrbit on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.