Death to bedbugs!

They’re called bedbugs, but the truth is they can hide anywhere in the house, and while they were once thought to be almost eliminated in developed countries, they’ve made a huge and extremely annoying comeback.

While the little bloodsuckers are not a particular health risk, their bites generally causing only itching, the “yuck” factor is huge.

(However, scientists have recently discovered they can transmit the pathogen that causes Chagas disease, which is prevalent in Central and South America.)

Another problem with the tiny pests is that they reproduce quickly and can live for months without a meal. As cuch, they can be easily and unwittingly transported from one place to another. in luggage, or appliances, bedding and so on.

Because they can hide in floor cracks, inside walls and just about anywhere, they are also hard to get rid of.

Now a team working in Canada has come up with a solution.

After eight years of research the husband and wife scientific team of biologist Regine Gries and Gerhard Gries, pioneers in chemical and bioacoustic communication between insects, have come up with a formula that will attract bedbugs into a trap.  The duo are researchers at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia who also worked with SFU chemist Robert Britton and a team of students.

In addition to her research Regine also offered her arm for some 180,000 bedbug bites. Fortunately she is immune to reaction from the bites.

After much research, they came up with a pheromone that attracted the bedbugs in the lab, but which wouldn’t work in actual infested locations.  “We realized that a highly unusual component must be missing—one that we couldn’t find using our regular gas chromatographic and mass spectrometric tools,” says Gerhard.

They then called in SFU chemist Britton, an expert in isolating and solving the structure of natural products, and then synthesizing them in the lab. He used SFU’s state-of-the-art NMR spectrometers to study the infinitesimal amounts of chemicals Regine had isolated from shed bedbug skin, looking for the chemical clues as to why the bedbugs find the presence of skin so appealing where they shelter.

After two more years of effort the combined team of scientists and students identified that histamine, a molecule with unusual properties that eluded identification through traditional methods, signals “safe shelter” to bedbugs.   Importantly, once in contact with the histamine, the bedbugs stayed in the “shelter/trap” whether or not they have recently fed on a human host.

While in the lab it was a success, much to their surprise, that again failed in actual infested locations.

Regine began analyzing airborne volatile compounds from bedbug faeces as an alternate source of the missing components.

Many trials and months later, she had found three new volatiles that had never before been reported for bedbugs. These three components, together with two components from their earlier research and, of course, histamine, became the highly effective lure they were seeking.

The team is now working with a Contech Enterprises of Victoria, B.C. to create a commercial lure, which is hoped will be available in about a year’s time.

Best defence is early detection 

They say the best way to defeat bedbugs is early detection before too many eggs are laid and the lure/trap will help landlords and homeowners in that early detection, leading to professional treatment. The lures will also determine if the infestation has been treated successfully.

As part of that ongoing development effort,  Regine is still feeding the bedbugs every week. “I’m not too thrilled about this,” admits Regine, “but knowing how much this technology will benefit so many people, it’s all worth it.”

The research was funded with a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada industry grant in partnership with Contech Enterprises Inc.

with files from SFU, CBC