AI Article Synopsis

  • Bed bugs, specifically Cimex lectularius, have re-emerged in poultry farms due to the decline of DDT and organophosphates, posing potential health risks to chickens such as stress and anemia.
  • The study tested two veterinary drugs, ivermectin and fluralaner, for their effectiveness against bed bugs, using both an artificial feeding system and actual chickens with different treatment methods.
  • Results showed that fluralaner significantly reduced bed bug populations even in resistant strains, while ivermectin was ineffective in chickens but fluralaner proved successful for up to 28 days post-treatment, indicating a promising approach for controlling bed bug infestations in poultry.

Article Abstract

Background: The common bed bug, Cimex lectularius L., is a hematophagous ectoparasite that was a common pest in poultry farms through the 1960s. Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and organophosphates eradicated most infestations, but concurrent with their global resurgence as human ectoparasites, infestations of bed bugs have been reappearing in poultry farms. Although the impact of bed bugs on chicken health has not been quantified, frequent biting and blood-feeding are expected to cause stress, infections and even anemia in birds. Bed bug control options are limited due to the sensitive nature of the poultry environment, limited products labeled for bed bug control and resistance of bed bug populations to a broad spectrum of active ingredients. Veterinary drugs are commonly used to control endo- and ectoparasites in animals. In this study, we evaluated the effects of two common veterinary drugs on bed bugs by treating the host with systemic antiparasitic drugs.

Methods: We conducted dose-response studies of ivermectin and fluralaner against several bed bug strains using a membrane feeding system. Also, different doses of these drugs were given to chickens and two delivery methods (topical treatment and ingestion) were used to evaluate the efficacy of ivermectin and fluralaner on bed bug mortality.

Results: Using an artificial feeding system, both ivermectin and fluralaner caused high mortality in insecticide-susceptible bed bugs, and fluralaner was found to be effective on pyrethroid- and fipronil-resistant bed bugs. Ivermectin was ineffective in chickens either by the topical treatment or ingestion, whereas bed bugs that fed on chickens which had ingested fluralaner suffered high mortality when feeding on these chickens for up to 28 days post treatment.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that systemic ectoparasitic drugs have great potential for practical use to control bed bug infestations in poultry farms. These findings also demonstrate the efficacy of fluralaner (and potentially other isoxazolines) as a potent new active ingredient for bed bug control.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9670615PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13071-022-05555-6DOI Listing

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