Bedbugs like to relax in dirty laundry and use suitcases as a means of transport to travel between countries, according to the results of a study published in the medical journal Scientific Reports.
Although not known to transmit disease, bedbugs (Cimex lectularius) can sting and cause allergic reactions. Unlike ticks or lice, bedbugs are not travellers. So how do they move and how did they invade the United States and parts of Europe?
Suitcases for hitchhiking
“For me, hitchhiking seemed to be the best explanation,” says William Hentley, an entomologist from the University of Sheffield in the UK, who authored the study. “It led me to understand how they are attracted to our clothes and the smell of humans and how they travel.”
The researchers conducted experiments in two identical rooms and at controlled temperatures in which four bags were placed in the presence of bed bugs.
Two contained soiled clothing and the others were clean. In each test, one part received an increase in CO² concentration to simulate human breathing.
The results of the study showed that in the absence of a human host, bedbugs were twice as likely to lodge in bags containing soiled clothing than in clean ones.
The results suggest that the insects are attracted to residual body odor in dirty laundry, so used clothes left in an open suitcase or on the floor of an infested room may attract them.
“We have established that in the absence of their human host, bed bugs leave their refuge and congregate in bags containing soiled clothing,” said co-author William Hentley of the University of Sheffield in the UK. of the study.
Avoid leaving dirty clothes in a room
Bed bugs are a huge problem for hotels, especially in some of the busiest cities in the world. Once rooms are infested, they can be very difficult to clean.
“Our study suggests that keeping soiled laundry in a sealed bag, particularly in a hotel, may reduce the chances of people carrying bedbugs and may reduce the spread of infestations,” Dr. William Hentley advised.
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