COLUMBUS, Ohio, June 8 (UPI) -- Ohio State University scientists combined bed bugs' own chemical signals with a common insect control agent to create a more effective extermination method.
The researchers said they discovered stimulating the bed bugs by spraying their environment with synthetic versions of their alarm pheromones makes them more likely to walk through agents called desiccant dusts, which kill the bugs by making them highly susceptible to dehydration.
Doctoral candidate Joshua Benoit, the study's lead author, said a blend of two pheromones applied in concert with a silica gel desiccant dust proved to be the most lethal combination. Benoit, however, said he's reluctant to suggest the use of desiccant dusts with alarm pheromones until additional experiments are conducted.
The research appears in the Journal of Medical Entomology.
