YIKES! Biologist invites bedbugs into her bed, endures bites for five years, all in the name of science
CANADA (WITI) -- A Canadian university biologist invited bedbugs into her bed for five years -- all in the name of science.
According to EurekAlert.org -- billed as "the global source for science news," Simon Fraser University biologist Regine Gries and her husband, Gerhard, who is also a biologist are working to discover an effective bedbug repellent.
Regine Gries and her husband Gerhard began their research eight years ago. Regine endured 180,000 bedbug bites. Her blood fed the large bedbug colony required for their research, EurekAlert.org reports.
Regine had to become the "host" for these bedbugs because she is immune to their bites, suffering only a slight rash -- unlike her husband.
After five years of sacrificing her skin to the blood sucking insects, the husband and wife, working with Simon Fraser University chemist Robert Britton and a team of students -- they've finally found the solution.
That solution is a set of chemical attractants, or pheromones that lure the bedbugs into traps and keep them there, according to EurekAlert.org.
They discovered that bedbugs can communicate with odors. One may be used like a dinner bell — to announce fresh meat — and another as a siren or sorts, to warn of danger.
The challenge was figuring out how to recreate the odors.
One smell which brought bedbugs scurrying out of hiding expecting food worked perfectly in a laboratory, but not in test apartments in Vancouver. After reworking the formula, they discovered that there was one chemical that effectively repelled bedbugs — histamine.
While histamine stops the bugs in their tracks, the scientists say they have five other odors that attract bedbugs and can potentially be used to draw them into traps.
In December 2014, after a series of successful trials in bedbug infested apartments in Vancouver, their research has been published in a leading chemistry journal.
They are now working with Contech Enterprises, Inc. out of Victoria, Canada to develop the first effectiv and affordable bait and trap for detecting and monitoring bedbug infestations, EurekAlert.org reports.
The product could be made available commercially sometime in 2015.
"The biggest challenge in dealing with bedbugs is to detect the infestation at an early stage. 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," Regine's husband, Gerhard Gries said.
It could be the solution the world has been waiting for -- as bedbugs continue to infest not just low-income housing, but also expensive hotels and apartments and even public venues. Tools for detecting and monitoring bedbugs have been expensive and technically challenging to use, EurekAlert.org reports.
As they work to develop the commercial product, Regine continues to endure the bedbug bites every week to feed the bedbug colony.
"I'm not too thrilled about this, but knowing how much this technology will benefit so many people -- it's all worth it," Regine Gries said.
CLICK HERE to learn more about this research via EurekAlert.org.
CLICK HERE to learn more about Simon Fraser University.