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Anne Schindler, WTLV 11:22 PM. EST February 15, 2017

Closeup macro of a bedbug, 1950. (Photo by Andreas Feininger/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images) (Photo: Andreas Feininger)

When the very mention of your work causes people to recoil in horror, you develop coping mechanisms.

Sometimes I lie, concedes Brittany Campbell, a doctoral student of entomology at the University of Florida. Depending on the day, whether I feel like talking about it, I might be a manager at Target.

In reality, her job is bedbug research, a topic some cant discuss without freaking out.

People dont even want to talk to me, she says. I scare them.

Campbells work is an essential part of fighting the countrys decade-long bedbug resurgence. Once nearly eradicated in the U.S., the bloodsucking insects returned in force in the late 1990s. The wave of frenzied media coverage that followed has subsided, but not the bedbug problem. If anything, says Dr. Philip Koehler, who built the universitys urban entomology lab, its worse.

Were seeing a lot more infestations that what we did a few years ago.

Then, in November, the lab revealed a new species the tropical bedbug. Discovered in a home in South Florida, the insect hadnt been seen in the U.S. in more than 70 years.

Campbell was personally delighted. I was certainly excited, she says of the discovery. As a scientist I was jumping up and down ready to tell the world.

But in the battle of against bedbugs, she acknowledges, its not necessarily good news. You dont know what impact its going to have, you dont know how quickly its going to reproduce, says Campbell of the new species. You dont know if its going to respond as well [to pesticides].

With a single female capable of laying 500 eggs, the bedbug is a prolific breeder. Its also uniquely difficult to get rid of, since its preferred nest is a place most people like to spend a peaceful 8 hours not one they want doused with pesticides.

But getting rid of the intractable bug can push people to do irrational things, says Koehler. They dont want to go home sleep in their bed and have bugs crawling on them, and sucking their blood. Some people have died after spraying their mattresses with insecticide, accidentally torched their homes using heat treatments, even had air foggers explode.

Usually the bugs are still crawling after the place is blown apart, he says.

The only reliable way to get rid of bedbugs is to hire a professional exterminator, Koehler says. But the great irony is that -- in the lab, bedbugs are kind of feeble.

They are hard to kill in peoples homes, says Campbell. But for whatever reason, we have a hard time keeping alive in the lab.

Caring for the bugs means cleaning out colonies when their Petri dish gets crowded, keeping them in a climate-controlled room, feeding them artificially on warm rabbit blood, or live chickens.

And, when a colony is in trouble, it might mean giving of yourself. Literally.

Research scientist Roberto Pereira helped nurture the labs fledgling tropical bedbug colony by allowing them to suck his own blood.

Because we have very few insects, and we were trying to get this colony started, I took the liberty of feeding these bedbugs on myself, he says.

He it that sounds weird. Its not the type of conversation to bring up on the first date or anything. Most of us dont like to admit we have done that, because most people think of [entomologists] as crazy anyway.

Pereira says its not all that uncommon. Harold Harlan, a retired military medical entomologist, raised thousands of bedbugs in his basement, feeding them on his own blood. And, as a recent Here Be Monsters podcast noted, pest control companies that use dogs to find bedbugs have to maintain a home colony for training purposes and sometimes find it easier to feed the bugs off of themselves.

Pereira says its not as bad as it sounds. The bugs are kept in Petri dishes covered with a penetrable plastic, so the bugs cant escape. And for many people, the bite is imperceptible -- less annoying than a mosquito.

UF Graduate assistant Heather Erskine demonstrates, placing a single bug on her hand and allowing it to feed. I honestly dont feel it, she notes. If you blindfolded me and said you put a bedbug on me, I wouldnt be able to tell you where.

For Campbell, bedbug bites are more painful, creating visible welts. Its almost like getting pricked by a needle, or getting a shot or something, she says. I can really feel their mouth parts.

For people battling infestations, discomfort is just part of it. Treatment can be expensive about $1,000 or more. And the bugs can take a mental toll, causing anxiety, depression, even Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

I get phone calls from people telling me about their anxieties, says Campbell. I am unfortunately an entomologist; I dont deal with psychology. So I just try to calm them down, so they dont do anything irrational. I tell them to seek professional help.

Such problems are part of the reason Koehler says pest control revenues in Florida now dwarf the citrus industry. Theyre also the reason a harmless bedtime wish has resurfaced as a more sinister warning.

Theyre back. They should be saying that: Dont let the bedbugs bite.

For help getting rid of bedbugs, check out these sites:

EPA - Getting rid of bed bugs

University of Florida - Bed bugs

University of Florida - Bed bug resources

( 2017 WTLV)

See the rest here:
Letting bedbugs bite -- because science - Firstcoastnews.com

After disappearing for 60 years, the tropical bed bug has turned up in Florida right here in Brevard County. And these nasty little creatures can spread faster than the ordinary variety bed bug, causing all the same havoc. Video by Local 6 11-10-16

The tropical bed bug is back after 60 years, and it's landed in Brevard.(Photo: UF/IFAS)

After disappearing for 60 years, thetropical bed bug has turned up in Florida right here in Brevard County.

And these nasty little creatures can spread faster than the ordinary variety bed bug, causing all the same havoc and threat of widespread infestation throughout Florida and the South.

This could mean that this species would develop more quickly, possibly cause an infestationproblem sooner, and also could spread more rapidly, Brittany Campbell, a UF doctoralstudent in entomology, said in a media release.

Campbell and her colleagues at the Universityof Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences confirmed the tropical bed bug's reemergence, which they recently documented in the journalFlorida Entomologist.

No one had confirmed the tropical variety of bed bug in Florida since the 1930s and 1940s.But in 2015, a family in Merritt Island, near the Ulumay Wildlife Sanctuary, reported the tiny unwanted creatures had infestedtheir home.

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TheUFscientists confirmed the bugs were the tropical species, but so far, Brevard's isthe only confirmed case inFlorida.

"I personally believe that in Florida, we have all of the right conditions that couldpotentially help spread tropical bed bugs, which is the case in other southern states, Campbell said. As long as you have people traveling and moving bed bugs around, there is a realpotential for this species to spread and establish in homes and other dwellings.

Campbell coauthored the recentjournal article aboutthe tropical bed bug discovery in Brevard.

It's unknown how the bed bugs got here, but Campbell suspects it could have been via Port Canaveral.

"Alot of pests that do get into Florida, a lot of them do pop up in ports," she said. "We don't really know where these bed bugs were introducedfrom."

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The UFresearchers urge the public to send themsamples of suspected bed bugs for identification, to try and nip the bug's spread in the bud.

The common bed bug lives throughout the United States and the globe, typically in more temperate climates. Before the 1990s, it kept at low levels for 50 years, via widespread use of DDT and other pesticides, the UF researchers say.

The bed bugs eventually bit back, building resistance to pesticides and resurgingin the late 1990s.

A similar rebound may be at play with the tropical bed bug, the UF researchers say.

Tropical bed bugs biologically mirror common bed bugs, Campbell said. They feed on human blood, so they can cause similar health problems during severe infestations: fear, anxiety,depression, sleeplessnessand itchy, blistery reactions on some people.

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The UF researchers ask the public to send bed bug samples to their laboratory to identify the species.

If they do have a bed bug infestation, because they areso difficult to control, I ask that people consult a pest-control company for a professionalservice," Campbell said. "There isn't as much research available on tropical bed bugs as common bed bugs, buthypothetically they should be able to be controlled the same way as the common bed bug speciesbecause their biology/behavior are similar.

Nationwide, health and environmental officials warn of increasingly pesticide-resistant bed bugs and a "pandemic" creature comeback.

DDT nearly wiped out bedbugs after World War II, when people soaked mattresses in the pesticide. The bugs first were reported to show resistance in the 1950s. Then the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency ban- ned DDT in 1972 because of concerns about cancer and birth defects.

Over the next two decades, Malathion almost took care of the bed bugs that survived DDT. But the wily creatures grew resistant.

In more recent years, they've grown more resistant to commonly used pesticides.

Contact Waymer at 321-242-3663 or jwaymer@floridatoday.com Follow him on Twitter@JWayEnviroand atfacebook.com/jim.waymer

To learn about bed bugs, visithttp://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/topic_bedbugs

If you want to get bed bugs identified, call the Brevard County Extension at633-1702 or you can mail the bugs in a small vial (preferred so they don't get crushed) or in a ziplock bag, toBrittany Campbell, 1881 Natural Area Drive, Gainesville, FL 32611.

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Rare bed bug re-emerges in Florida after 60 years