Pest Management Professional, March 2010
Bed Bugs continued from page 47 Practical Considerations Our findings show that confined vapors produced by Nuvan Prostrips penetrate and kill bed bugs and their eggs in a variety of hidden locations Consequently the product can be useful when treating various household items especially those that are troublesome to treat conventionally Besides their usual hiding places bed bugs can infest electronics televisions telephones radios computers appliances books boxes files CDs suitcases wall hangings footwear carrying bags musical instruments knick knacks and collectables Such items often cant be fully inspected treated with insecticide sprays or dusts laundered run through a dryer or treated with steam Firms that do not fumigate or perform heat treatments have even fewer management options Even when the chances of having bed bugs in such items is low companies and customers may still want to ensure that they are bed bug free and Nuvan Prostrips can help accomplish this Travelers concerned about transporting bed bugs home in their suitcases can lessen the risk by placing a Nuvan Prostrip inside their empty suitcase or in a large plastic bag with the suitcase open for about a week If bed bugs were present this probably would be more reliable than inspecting and or vacuuming out the suitcase as advised on many internet sites since bed bugs can easily crawl beneath the inner liner or otherwise be missed With bed bugs complete control of all life stages is important Otherwise any surviving bed bugs could immediately cause reinfestation Results of this study indicate that confinement of infested items for the shorter 48 to 72 hour durations listed on the product label may be insufficient to kill 100 of adults and nymphs The Supplemental Use Directions for bed bugs further state that if eggs are suspected to be present items should be confined and treated for seven days In our view if adults and nymphs are present it is prudent to assume there also may be eggs especially with items that are hard to fully inspect Based on our findings seven days will not always be sufficient to kill all the eggs wherever they may be Depending on conditions two weeks or longer may be necessary for the vapors to penetrate and kill all bed bug life stages If bugs and eggs are in exposed locations continued on next page Bed bugs in this case nymphs were confined in small mesh covered containers The experiment required more than 300 containers each housing 5 adults 5 nymphs or 10 eggs Bed bug containers were placed under the nylon liner of a suitcase and inside shoes clock radios computer keyboards and books Treatment cages were provisioned with six different objects containing bed bugs and the Nuvan Prostrip was then suspended from the top of the cage www mypmp net MARCH 2010 PEST MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONAL 49
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