Pest Control: Detect Early Bed Bug Infestations

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Once eradicated in the United States in the 1950s by the use of DDT, bed bugs are back with a vengeance infesting clean and tidy homes, five-star hotels, college dorms, and living spaces across the country and beyond. Bed bugs have been identified as a rapidly emerging public health pest by the Environmental Protection Agency, which recently held a national summit in Washington, DC to assemble experts and gather ideas about how to address the problem.

“The bed bug problem is so severe the EPA Summit was convened over two days. Over 400 experts at the EPA Summit identified the need for early detection by persons with minimal training such as hotel housekeeping staff or facilities managers for university housing,” states Jim Nolen, president of BioSensory Inc. who attended the Summit. “NightWatch Bedbug Monitor is the only available technology that can meet this need. Anyone can learn to use NightWatch in 5 minutes. Experts, dogs, glue traps, and one-night monitors cannot detect a new infestation of a few bed bugs, but NightWatch can.”

BioSensory developed the NightWatch Bedbug Monitor based on knowledge of a bed bug’s physiology and an understanding of how the pest seeks a blood meal, combined with extensive field and laboratory testing. Because bed bugs bite once every 7 to 10 days, a new infestation of a few bed bugs often goes unnoticed. It is undetectable by the person being bitten and by the most expert professionals in the field. At first, the person thinks the bite is a pimple, then a rash. By the time a skin reaction is recognized as insect bites, the infestation has grown to hundreds of bed bugs and eggs and is expensive to eliminate.

“Early detection is among the most important factors when it comes to eliminating bed bug infestations in an efficient and cost effective fashion,” notes Richard Cooper, entomologist/technical director of Bed Bug Central (Lawrenceville, NJ) and co-author of the official Bed Bug Handbook: The Complete Guide to Bed Bugs and Their Control. “Unfortunately, due to the cryptic and secretive behaviors of bed bugs, infestations are often not detected for several months or more, allowing the population to become well established. The population distribution of and infestation that is detected early on tends to be rather isolated and can typically be eliminated with relative ease. However, over time, the bugs will disperse and become widely distributed and are much more difficult and expensive to eliminate. For these reasons early detection is absolutely critical in the control of bed bugs and can equate to hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in savings during the elimination process.”

NightWatch is designed to function as a lure and monitor, as it mimics a living, breathing human body -- combining CO2, a proprietary kairomone lure, and a patented thermal lure for a powerful three-pronged attractant and trapping system. When bed bugs approach to feed on what they think is a human, they fall into the pitfall traps made of highly polished material and cannot escape. NightWatch can catch both mature and immature bed bugs,
since the monitor’s detection period spans the 7-10 days bed bugs take between meals.

NightWatch performance has been tested by practitioners in the field and documented in the most prestigious entomology publication, The Journal of Medical and Veterinary Entomology (2009; 22, 01-7) published by the Royal Entomological Society. Dr. John F. Anderson of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station tested NightWatch prototypes for over one year. His many months of lab tests indicate that an infestation of 5 male and 5 female bed bugs has a 99.98% chance of detection by the NightWatch over a period of 7 days. Data shows that NightWatch captured bed bugs in laboratory tests, in infested unoccupied apartments (with or without furniture), and in an occupied apartment. In an extremely infested multi-unit public housing facility, almost 10,000 bed bugs were captured – after professional chemical and steam treatments were applied.

David James, western region manager for Forshaw Distribution, Inc. of Charlotte, NC, conducted a recent field trial using NightWatch in an elderly high rise infested with bed bugs. “In setting up the initial test just to check the functionality of the unit’s components, we unexpectedly caught a bed bug in the middle of the day,” states Mr. James. “By Monday morning, we had over 50 live bed bugs in the trap even after having treated the room with traditional methods. I was very impressed with our results. Bed bugs are easy to kill but difficult to reach in their deep harborages. NightWatch helps to lure them out not only for capture but to expose them to other IPM control treatments. Once you believe you’ve gotten rid of them, NightWatch is an important tool for ongoing monitoring.”

BioSensory recommends NightWatch Bedbug Monitor as one part of an Integrated Pest Management program (inspection, treatment and monitoring, reinspection). NightWatch is available for commercial use through distributors of professional pest management products in the U.S., Canada and around the world. Distributors include companies such as Forshaw Distribution (Charlotte, NC), Residex, LLC (Cranford, NJ), Rhodes Chemical (Kansas City, KS), Steve’s Pest Management (Chatham, Ontario CANADA), Target Specialty Products (Santa Fe Springs, CA), and Univar USA (Austin, TX). Consumers may request NightWatch through their local pest control operator.

“We are pleased NightWatch solves two key pieces of the bed bug problem: a monitor that anyone can use, and one that can detect bed bugs the very first time they look for a meal,” concludes Mr. Nolen. “NightWatch could become the universal ‘smoke detector’ that can save millions in cleanup costs and provide peace of mind so people can sleep at night.”

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