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Bedbugs' Itch Breeding New Ways to Scratch

Posted Mar 20, 08 2:00 PM CDT in Business 

(Newser) – No one’s sure why bedbugs are back, but US companies think they know how to kill them, the Wall Street Journal reports. Startups are using everything from dogs to cold blasts to hair-dryer-like devices to sniff out, freeze or bake the pests. “We don’t have an easy method of elimination,” said one entomologist. “We are looking for the silver bullet.”

Bedbugs aren’t just nursery-rhyme holdovers. They’re real insects that feed on human skin, leaving behind itching welts. “It was very stressful,” said one bedbug victim. “The idea that there were I don't how many bugs on me while I was sleeping completely grossed me out.” Researchers are even trying to create a trap that mimics a sleeping human.

Source Wall Street Journal

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The bedbug is seen in this CDC released photo.   (Public Domain)
Bedbugs cluster in this undated file photograph.   (Wikimedia Commons)
In this undated photo released July 24, 2001, by the University of Florida, a common bedbug is engorged with blood after feeding on a human.   (AP Photo/University of Florida, File)
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University of Minnesota • pests • exterminators • bedbugs • entomology • Penn State University


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