Arthropods such as bed bugs had been a common part of life before the use of chlorinated hydrocarbons and other synthetic insecticides became widespread in the 1940s and 1950s. Though never completely eradicated, their presence was minimal until their recent resurgence some 10 years ago. Their resurgence has been a devastating and expensive event in the lives of many people today. Bed bugs cause loss of sleep, stress, social alienation, as well as physical distress. In rental property and the hospitality industry among many others, litigation is prevalent. Throughout the world, large cities are being overwhelmed by bed bug proliferation. People are needlessly exposed to pesticides, and are experiencing loss of belongings, and financial distress as they deal with an infestation. There is also a possibility of disease transmission, as studies show hepatitis B and, in endemic areas, American trypanosomiasis (Chagas disease) may be mechanically transmitted by bed bugs (Blow J A et al. 2001 Stercorarial shedding and transtadial transmission of hepatitis B virus by common bed bugs (Hemiptera: Cimicidae). J. Med. Entomol. 38:694-700, Ogston C W, et al. Persistence of hepatitis B surface antigen in the bedbug Cimex hemipterus (Fabr.). J Infect Dis. September 1979; 140 (3):411-4 and Pipkin AC Sr. Transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi by arthropod vectors: anterior versus posterior route infection. Int Rev Trop Med. 1969; 3:1-47.
There are a number of techniques used to reduce or eliminate bed bugs. The most common is the use of insecticides. The elusive and stealthy nature of bed bugs allows them to escape treatments all too frequently. Isolation of humans is attempted with numerous devices and methods including zippered bed bug-proof mattress covers, bed-leg moat devices, and other barriers. Killing and eradication of bed bugs is attempted with insecticide application, vacuuming, and a host of techniques for heat treating or freezing the insects: cryogenic freezing equipment, heat treatment setups, and steam treatment.
Heat Treatment
This method of bed bug control involves raising temperatures to or above the killing temperature for bed bugs. In this case, a killing temperature is a temperature known to kill bed bugs in a given length of time. Some of the drawbacks for heat treatments include the amount of time required to bring core temperatures (interior temperature of materials) high enough to effectively kill bed bugs that may have taken refuge within materials. This contributes to the heat treatments generally being expensive procedures. The setup in order to effectively heat treat materials in the room, as well as insertion of heating ducting into the building through windows can be intrusive and cause embarrassment to the person affected.
Finally, following a heat-treatment, a room may be easily re-infested, as bed bugs are able to retreat into cracks and crevasses in walls, ceilings and floors, where they may escape treatment. Consequently there is a need to overcome these problems by providing an easy and relatively unobtrusive way to repeatedly heat-treat bed bug infested materials within the area they most often inhabit: the bed/couch environment.
Most insects cannot survive temperatures above 49° C. for over 30 minutes (Hall R. 1989. Turn up the heat. Pest Control. 57(2):66, 67 as quoted in Mallis A. 1990. Handbook of Pest Control: The Behavior, Life History and Control of Household Pests. Seventh Edition. Franmk & Foster Co, Cleveland, Ohio. p. 980). The minimum killing temperature for bed bugs is thought to be 44-45° C. (Olkowski W. et al. 1991 Common Sense Pest Control. Taunton, Newton, Conn.). The killing duration, which is the length of time required to kill bed bugs at a given killing temperature, is debated. Kells suggests that a 45° C. core exposure for 2 hours, should be the minimum target temperature for heat treatments (Kells S. A. 2006. Nonchemical control of Bed Bugs. American Entomologist. 52:2: p. 110). Another source suggests that temperatures above 46° C. can kill all stages of the bed bug in less than 10 minutes (Montreal Insectarium. 2008. Punaise des lits. La toile des insectes du Québec. URL: www.ville.montreal.qc.ca/insectarium). A “complete treatment” is when heat has penetrated the contents of a heating chamber such that the contents have at least reached a killing temperature for at least the appropriate killing duration.
Pesticides
The pesticide approach often requires multiple visits and may not always be effective due to pesticide resistance and dispersal of the bed bugs. According to a 2005 survey, only 6.1% of companies claim to be able to eliminate bed bugs in a single visit, while 62.6% claim to be able to control a problem in 2-3 visits (Gangloff-Kaufmann J. C. et al. 2006 Bed bugs in America: a pest management industry survey. Am. Entomol. 52: 105-106). Insecticide application may cause dispersal of bed bugs to neighboring areas of a structure, spreading the infestation. Furthermore, the problem of insecticide resistance in bed bug populations increases their opportunity to spread. Studies of bed bug populations across the United States indicate that resistance to pyrethroid insecticides, which are used in the majority of bed bugs cases (Gangloff-Kaufmann J. C. et al. 2006 Bed bugs in America: a pest management industry survey. Am. Entomol. 52: 105-106) is widespread (Romero A. et al. 2007. Insecticide resistance in the bed bug: a factor in the pest's sudden resurgence? J. Med. Ent. Vol. 44, No. 2, pp. 175-178). Treatment failures are prevalent and repeated services are financially devastating to many people. Consequently there is a need to provide an apparatus that effectively lures and kills bed bugs before they can further reproduce. In addition, this prevents spreading of bed bugs by the discarding of contaminated belongings, which are often picked up by others.
Non-residue methods of mattress treatment are desired, in place of contaminating mattresses with insecticides. Spraying the mattress with insecticide is undesirable as the room must be suitably ventilated, sufficient time must be given after application before the mattress can be used again and there is a risk of the user having an allergic reaction to the chemicals, not to mention other possible health risks including cancer (Alavanja MCR et al. 2003 Use of agricultural pesticides and prostate cancer risk in the Agricultural Health Study Cohort. Am. J. Epidemiol. 157:1-13) and acute neurotoxicity (Kaneko H, Miyamoto J. 2001 Pyrethroid chemistry and metabolism. In: Handbook of Pesticide Toxicology, Vol 2: Agents (Krieger R, Doull J, Ecobichon D, eds). San Diego:Academic Press, 1263-1288, Narahashi T. 2001 Neurophysiological effects of insecticides. In: Handbook of Pesticide Toxicology. Vol 1: Principles (Krieger R, Doull J, Ecobichon D, eds). San Diego:Academic Press, 335-350 and Soderlund D M et al. Mechanisms of pyrethroid neurotoxicity: implications for cumulative risk assessment. Toxicology 2002; 171:3-59). Concerns over the possible effects of pesticides on the health of people and pets, as well as the dispersal of bed bugs to neighboring dwellings due to repellant effects of insecticides, make the practice of chemically treating the mattresses problematic.
Bed bugs can disperse throughout a building in many ways. The moving of potentially infested materials can spread the problem within a home environment. Bed bugs are also commonly spread to other rooms when occupants abandon their normal place of sleep, and the bed bugs disperse to seek out a host. They may also spread in reaction to application of insecticides. Typically, if the host remains in situ, the bed bugs will not travel far beyond the bed. According to a survey, the most commonly infested places are the mattress (98.2%), boxspring (93.6%), as well as nearby carpets and baseboards (94.1%) (Gangloff-Kaufmann, J. C. et al. 2006 Bed bugs in America: a pest management industry survey. Am. Entomol. 52: 105-106). In fact, bed bugs thrive in areas where there is an adequate supply of available hosts, and plenty of cracks and harborages within 1.5 m of the host (Harlan H. J. 2006 Bed bugs 101: the basics of Cimex lectularius. Am. Entomol. 52: 99-101).
Thus there is presently a need to provide a system that allows the person to remain in their normal place of sleep, thus attracting the bed bugs to the bed/couch area, and discouraging their dispersal. Yet the person may sleep undisturbed, as they are protected from being bitten by the collection devices on the legs of the bed.
Because of the treatment drawbacks of the various means of bed bug control, people are less likely to take action frequently enough to mitigate the problem and consequently the bed bugs have time to lay eggs and reproduce quickly. Treatments can be costly, laborious, time consuming, boring, repetitive, may entail health risks, and cause embarrassment to the person affected. For example, steam-cleaning, which is effective at killing bed bugs, requires repeated and very thorough steaming of the mattress, boxspring, bed frame, bed covers, pillows, not to mention other materials and objects within the infested room, such as carpets and curtains. Rooms are also often cluttered, providing many harborages and passages for bed bugs. This can make treatment of a room awkward, tedious and easily inadequate. Consequently there is a need for a system that allows for an easy and non-time-consuming way to treat the bed/couch and other materials, taking a bite out of the bed bug population, and providing the user with peace of mind and a safe resting/sleeping environment.