Do bed bugs carry disesase? | Bugs Pictures

Although Bed Bugs can harbor pathogens in their bodies, there are currently no documented cases of Bed Bugs transmitting any diseases to humans at this time. However, lab tests have found that Bed Bugs can carry the causative agents for anthrax, plague, typhus, tularemia, yellow fever and numerous other blood infesting disease organisms.

Bed Bugs are making a comeback nationwide and the pest control industry is seeking new technologies to combat the increasingly pesticide-resistant insects. Cutting-edge technologies at both ends of the temperature spectrum include Cryonite which uses a non-toxic carbon dioxide snow to instantly freeze and kill the noxious pests and giant infrared heaters that raise the temperature in a room and bake the bugs to death. The University of Minnesota is working on a trap that simulates a sleeping human, the bed bug's favorite meal.

Perhaps the most popular weapon in the bed bug-fighting arsenal – possibly because of its sloppy kisses and wagging tail – is the dog. Dogs, which have been trained to sniff out weapons, arson, drugs, missing persons, termites and cancer, are now being trained to detect and pinpoint Bed Bugs and their eggs, helping exterminators target treatment areas.

The average dog has 200 to 250 million scent receptors in its nose. Its nasal membranes cover seven square meters. In comparison, human nasal membranes cover barely half a meter and contain only 5 million receptors. A dog's scenting ability is so sensitive it can smell things that can't be detected by the most sensitive scientific instruments. Depending on the dog and its training, a dog's sensitivity to odors is 10 to 100 times greater than man's.