Pest Management Professional, September 2013

TRAINING INSURANCE HEAT SPRAY ENCASE FUMIGATE ISOLATE DETECT TRAP UPDATE PRICING VACUUM CONTRACTS STEAM FREEZE BED BU G EXCLUDE MONITOR COMMUNICATION COOPERATION Bed Bug Workbench Science Control in a vacuum By Dr Gerald Wegner BCE Doc Wegner heads to his workbench to see if common household items can create the next wave of innovative bed bug control T hose of us who deal with bed bug infestations know these insects use as temporary or longterm harborages the typically undisturbed seams folds crevices recesses and cavities associated with bed components furniture wall hangings interior structural components of residences luggage clothing childrens comfort toys book bindings electronic devices and other personal property Some bed bug harborages are readily treatable with appropriately labeled insecticides a superheated dry steam or a jet of ultracold carbon dioxide CO 2 Others arent Sensitive electronic devices art objects books and other personal property dont respond well to moisture pesticide residues or extreme temperatures Likewise potentially infested clothing and comfort toys can be hot laundered and hot dried or dry cleaned but this is an arduous task when all the clean hung and folded clothing in a bedroom and closet is considered Heat treatment and fumigating residences are effective ways to eliminate bed bugs however these processes are costly and unaffordable to many families and individuals whose residences have become infested with bed bugs Using vacuum storage bags as a possible bed bug disinfesting method was presented to the structural pest management industry first in 2009 by Stoy Hedges1 at the 73rd Annual Purdue Pest Management Conference He found the level of air removal achievable with a household vacuum cleaner from the vacuum storage bags alone was insufficient to kill the bed bugs he placed in the bags Hedges suggested including an appropriate quantity of Ageless brand oxygen absorbers2 with the items placed in the vacuum storage bags to asphyxiate any bed bugs in the enclosed space Ageless has been used for years to help protect bagged museum pieces from becoming infested by stored product pests and fabric pests Hedges also attempted to test the higher level of vacuum achieved with a food vacuum storage system on bed bug survival in various containers Although the contained bed bugs died the amount of air removed caused several plastic and glass containers to implode and break rendering the process impractical The notion of using vacuum storage bags to disinfest clothing and other items has been suggested and disproved by bloggers on social media BedBugger com for example Still I wanted to determine to my own satisfaction if this method had merit Study sample The bed bugs I used in my study were from a population originating from live insects collected from several infested residences and assisted care facilities in greater Columbus Ohio Bed bugs were fed on my arm every two to three weeks The other components were four StoreHouse brand vacuum storage bags Item 95613 3 four 13 dram transparent plastic vials the caps of which I modified with fine 033 sq mm mesh screen covered ventilation ports one Ridgid brand Portable wet dry Shop Vac4 5 hp max one analog vacuum gauge item 4FLT5 range 0 to 30 inches of mercury inHG or zero to 100 kilopascals kPa 5 about 3 grams of Loctite brand LocWeld epoxy6 and eight sweatshirts With epoxy I sealed the brass stem of the analog vacuum gauge into a hole drilled into the nozzle tool on the hose of the shop vac I tested its functionality by placing two folded sweatshirts into one of the vacuum storage bags I operated the shop vac with the nozzle fit tightly to the air removal port on the vacuum storage bag until it contracted to its apparent minimum volume I continued for 10 more seconds Continued on page 50 48 September 2013 Pest Management Professional www mypmp net