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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http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13071-022-05555-6 | DOI Listing |
Cureus
December 2024
Emergency Medicine, North West Regional Hospital, Burnie, AUS.
Organophosphate (OP) compounds, developed during World War II, are a group of chemicals used as pesticides, insecticides and herbicides. As irreversible inhibitors of the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE), they reduce anti-cholinesterase activity and therefore increase acetylcholine (ACh) levels at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ). Diazinon, the OP leading to the patient's symptoms in this report, is an amber-brown liquid that was once the most widely used insecticide in the United States of America.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
January 2025
Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States of America.
Vector control is essential for eliminating malaria, a vector-borne parasitic disease responsible for over half a million deaths annually. Success of vector control programs hinges on community acceptance of products like long-lasting insecticide-treated nets (LLINs). Communities in malaria-endemic regions often link LLIN efficacy to their ability to control indoor pests such as bed bugs (Cimex lectularius L.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVet Res Commun
December 2024
Departamento de Biologia Animal, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, SP, Brazil.
Wolbachia is an intracellular endosymbiont bacterium found in nematodes and arthopods. Regarding mites, the Wolbachia supergroup U has been described based on strains found in the genus Spinturnix. In this study, ten specimens of Periglischrus iheringi (Mesostigmata: Spinturnicidae), collected from Artibeus obscurus (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae) in Santa Catarina State, were found to be infected with Wolbachia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Hered
November 2024
Department of Entomology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA.
The common bed bug, Cimex lectularius, is a globally distributed pest insect of medical, veterinary, and economic importance. Previous reference genome assemblies for this species were generated from short read sequencing data, resulting in a ~650 Mb composed of thousands of contigs. Here, we present a haplotype-resolved, chromosome-level reference genome, generated from an adult Harlen strain female specimen.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Rep
November 2024
Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire Méditerranée Infection, 19-21 Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385, Marseille Cedex 05, France.
Over the last two decades, an increase in bed bug infestations has been observed worldwide. Although their definitive role as vectors of infectious agents has not yet been demonstrated, bed bugs have a direct effect on human health through dermatological reactions to their bites and psychological disorders linked to domestic infestations. In this study, the effectiveness of using MALDI-TOF MS to correctly identify these two bed bug species at immature stages was assessed, as well as it effectiveness as discriminating between the immature stages (IS) of C.
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