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A fungal biopesticide that shows promise for the control of bed bugs is highly effective even against bed-bug populations that are insecticide resistant, according to research conducted by scientists at Penn State and North Carolina State universities.
The study suggests that Aprehend, a mycoinsecticide developed at Penn State, likely will provide an important new tool for managing bed-bug infestations, which have surged in recent years.
"Bed bugs were all but eradicated from the United States and other industrialized nations after World War II, likely due to the use of DDT and other broad-spectrum insecticides," said study co-author Nina Jenkins, senior research associate in entomology, College of Agricultural Sciences, Penn State. "But in the last few decades, they have re-emerged globally as an important public-health pest."
The researchers noted that pyrethroid insecticides are a mainstay of bed bug control, but there is compelling evidence that many bed-bug populations have developed resistance. In addition, this resistance may lead to cross-resistance to other classes of insecticides.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 24 2017, @06:57PM (4 children)
Seal up whatever they are infesting in a container.
Evacuate said container or fill with a high density non-oxygenated inert gas.
Give it a few minutes/hours.
Remove from container.
Assuming you did this with all infested materials at once, or used an 'airtight' covering for something too large to place in a sufficient airtight container, you have just solved your pest problem, with no chemical hazards to yourself, your pets, or anything beneficial that was not in the container when you did it.
Given that they have nitrogen generators now for inflating car tires, I can't imagine it would be that hard (although it would be somewhat expensive) to produce enough gas/draping material to do this even on a house scale, and allow you to kill off any pest you needed that was not anaerobic/suspended animation capable in nature.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 24 2017, @07:15PM
Even the eggs?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Friday March 24 2017, @07:33PM
>any pest you needed that was not anaerobic/suspended animation capable in nature.
There's a surprising number of those. Most of your crusty shelled insects can go for long periods with no air, and extremely long periods with just a little available oxygen. You'll find that the nitrogen generators used for filling car tires still leave a bit of oxygen in the output air, and you'll also find it hard to do a complete flush of most spaces that you can't pull a good vacuum on.
https://www.google.com/search?q=how+long+can+a+cockroach+live+without+air [google.com]
http://www.atlascopco.com/nitrogenus/products/nitrogen_generators/membrane_nitrogen/ [atlascopco.com]
Now, if your pests are living in a glass jar and you can seal the lid tight, sure... squirt in a few drops of alcohol, set it on fire, and close the lid - bye bye bugs.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 24 2017, @08:09PM
Please send your recommended procedure to all hotels with bed bug infestations.
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Friday March 24 2017, @10:08PM
It was proposed in a 1995 National Review article, and is now legal in Oklahoma. I'm not aware that it's actually been used.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inert_gas_asphyxiation#Capital_punishment [wikipedia.org]