Time- and tissue-specific antimicrobial activity of the common bed bug in response to blood feeding and immune activation by bacterial injection

2021 ◽  
pp. 104322
Author(s):  
Sanam Meraj ◽  
Emerson Mohr ◽  
Negin Ketabchi ◽  
Anastasia Bogdanovic ◽  
Carl Lowenberger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Antimicrobial Activity ◽  
Immune Activation ◽  
Blood Feeding ◽  
Tissue Specific ◽  
Bed Bug ◽  
The Common

scholarly journals Bed bugs: The move to humans as hosts

FACETS ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benoit Talbot ◽  
Nusha Keyghobadi ◽  
Brock Fenton
Keyword(s):  
Rapid Growth ◽  
Host Species ◽  
Blood Feeding ◽  
Living Conditions ◽  
Pest Species ◽  
Insectivorous Birds ◽  
Bed Bugs ◽  
Bed Bug ◽  
Ecological Success ◽  
The Common

Cimicid insects, bed bugs and their allies, include about 100 species of blood-feeding ectoparasites. Among them, a few have become widespread and abundant pests of humans. Cimicids vary in their degree of specialization to hosts. Whereas most species specialize on insectivorous birds or bats, the common bed bug can feed on a range of distantly related host species, such as bats, humans, and chickens. We suggest that association with humans and generalism in bed bugs led to fundamentally different living conditions that fostered rapid growth and expansion of their populations. We propose that the evolutionary and ecological success of common bed bugs reflected exploitation of large homeothermic hosts (humans) that sheltered in buildings. This was a departure from congeners whose hosts are much smaller and often heterothermic. We argue that interesting insights into the biology of pest species may be obtained using an integrated view of their ecology and evolution.

scholarly journals Lack of influence by endosymbiont Wolbachia on virus titer in the common bed bug, Cimex lectularius

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael L. Fisher ◽  
Jay F. Levine ◽  
James S. Guy ◽  
Hiroyuki Mochizuki ◽  
Matthew Breen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Meal ◽  
Virus Titer ◽  
Blood Feeding ◽  
Cimex Lectularius ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Bed Bugs ◽  
Bed Bug ◽  
Post Feeding ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Common

Abstract Background The common bed bug, Cimex lectularius, is an obligatory blood-feeding ectoparasite that requires a blood meal to molt and produce eggs. Their frequent biting to obtain blood meals and intimate association with humans increase the potential for disease transmission. However, despite more than 100 years of inquiry into bed bugs as potential disease vectors, they still have not been conclusively linked to any pathogen or disease. This ecological niche is extraordinarily rare, given that nearly every other blood-feeding arthropod is associated with some type of human or zoonotic disease. Bed bugs rely on the bacteria Wolbachia as an obligate endosymbiont to biosynthesize B vitamins, since they acquire a nutritionally deficient diet, but it is unknown if Wolbachia confers additional benefits to its bed bug host. In some insects, Wolbachia induces resistance to viruses such as Dengue, Chikungunya, West Nile, Drosophila C and Zika, and primes the insect immune system in other blood-feeding insects. Wolbachia might have evolved a similar role in its mutualistic association with the bed bug. In this study, we evaluated the influence of Wolbachia on virus replication within C. lectularius. Methods We used feline calicivirus as a model pathogen. We fed 40 bed bugs from an established line of Wolbachia-cured and a line of Wolbachia-positive C. lectularius a virus-laden blood meal, and quantified the amount of virus over five time intervals post-feeding. The antibiotic rifampicin was used to cure bed bugs of Wolbachia. Results There was a significant effect of time post-feeding, as the amount of virus declined by ~90% over 10 days in both groups, but no significant difference in virus titer was observed between the Wolbachia-positive and Wolbachia-cured groups. Conclusions These findings suggest that other mechanisms are involved in virus suppression within bed bugs, independent of the influence of Wolbachia, and our conclusions underscore the need for future research.

scholarly journals The Common Bed Bug (Hemiptera: Cimicidae) Does Not Commonly Use Canines and Felines as a Host in Low-Income, High-Rise Apartments

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
M K Black ◽  
J G Chandler ◽  
R T Trout Fryxell ◽  
K M Vail
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Companion Animals ◽  
Blood Feeding ◽  
Host Use ◽  
Bed Bugs ◽  
Bed Bug ◽  
High Rise ◽  
Blood Source ◽  
The Common ◽  
Host Blood

Abstract The common bed bug (Cimex lectularius L.) is a known pest and an obligate blood-feeding ectoparasite. Bed bugs can feed on warm-blooded animals including humans, bats, poultry, and rabbits, but no research has investigated the use of companion animals (canines and/or felines) as a blood source. This study investigates how long known host DNA could be detected in a bed bug and the prevalence of bed bugs feeding on companion animals. Laboratory-reared bed bugs were fed host blood to determine how long DNA of human, feline, canine, and rabbit blood could be detected up to 21 d postfeeding. Additionally, 228 bed bugs were collected from 12 apartments with pets (6: canine, 5: feline, and 1: canine and feline), characterized as engorged or unengorged, and then screened with host-specific primers to identify the bloodmeal. Host meals of human, rabbit, feline, and canine blood were detected up to 21 d after feeding laboratory strains. All bed bugs died after feeding on the canine blood, but DNA could be detected up to 21 d post feeding/death. Of the field-collected bed bugs analyzed, human DNA was amplified in 158 (69.3%) bed bugs, canine DNA amplified in 7 bed bugs (3.1%), and feline DNA amplified in 1 bed bug (0.4%). Results of this study suggest that bed bugs predominately feed on humans and rarely feed on companion animals when they cohabitate in low-income, high-rise apartments. Additionally, results from this study warrant future investigations into host use by bed bugs in different housing structures and socioeconomic environments.

The Behavioral Response to Heat in the Common Bed Bug,Cimex lectularius (Hemiptera: Cimicidae)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond Berry
Keyword(s):  
Petri Dish ◽  
Cimex Lectularius ◽  
Bed Bugs ◽  
Bed Bug ◽  
Host Interaction ◽  
Video Images ◽  
Spherical Ball ◽  
The Common ◽  
Vertebrate Hosts

AbstractThe bed bug, Cimex lectularius L., is a common ectoparasite found to live among its vertebrate hosts. Antennal segments in bugs are critical for sensing multiple cues in the environment for survival. To determine whether the thermo receptors of bed bugs are located on their antennae; innovative bioassays were created to observe the choice between heated and unheated stimuli and to characterize the response of bugs to a heat source. Additionally, the effect of complete antenectomized segments on heat detection were evaluated. Heat, carbon dioxide, and moisture are cues that are found to activate bed bug behavior; a temperature at 38°C was used to assess the direction/degree at which the insect reacts to the change in distance from said stimulus. Using a lightweight spherical ball suspended by air through a vacuum tube, bed bugs and other insects are able to move in 360° while on a stationary point. Noldus EthoVision XT was used to capture video images and to track the bed bugs during 5-min bioassays. A bioassay was created using four Petri dish arenas to observe bed bug attraction to heat based on antennae segments at 40°C. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of heat on complete antenectomized segments of the antennae. The results in this experiment suggest that bed bugs detect and are attracted to heat modulated by nutritional status. Learning the involvement of antennae segments in heat detection will help identify the location and role of thermoreceptors for bed bug host interaction.

Evidence for Metabolic Pyrethroid Resistance in the Common Bed Bug (Hemiptera: Cimicidae)

2016 ◽  
Vol 109 (3) ◽  
pp. 1364-1368 ◽  
Author(s):  
David G. Lilly ◽  
Kai Dang ◽  
Cameron E. Webb ◽  
Stephen L. Doggett
Keyword(s):  
Pyrethroid Resistance ◽  
Bed Bug ◽  
The Common

Tissue-specific bioconcentration of the synthetic steroid hormone medroxyprogesterone acetate in the common carp (Cyprinus carpio)

2013 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 1120-1126 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Baylor Steele ◽  
Santos N. Garcia ◽  
Duane B. Huggett ◽  
Barney J. Venables ◽  
Sid Edwin Barnes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Common Carp ◽  
Cyprinus Carpio ◽  
Medroxyprogesterone Acetate ◽  
Steroid Hormone ◽  
Tissue Specific ◽  
Common Carp Cyprinus Carpio ◽  
Carp Cyprinus Carpio ◽  
The Common

scholarly journals Synergistic Toxicity Interactions between Plant Essential Oil Components against the Common Bed Bug (Cimex lectularius L.)

Insects ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sudip Gaire ◽  
Michael Scharf ◽  
Ameya Gondhalekar
Keyword(s):  
Essential Oil ◽  
Synergistic Effects ◽  
Cimex Lectularius ◽  
Multiple Control ◽  
Bed Bug ◽  
Synergistic Interactions ◽  
The Common ◽  
Synthetic Pesticides ◽  
Oil Components ◽  
Synergistic Toxicity

Management of the common bed bug (Cimex lectularius L.) necessitates the use of multiple control techniques. In addition to synthetic pesticides and mechanical interventions, plant-derived essential oils represent one of the control options. Mixtures of two or more essential oil components (monoterpenoids) exhibit synergistic toxicity effects against insects due to increased cuticular penetration. Monoterpenoids, such as carvacrol, eugenol and thymol, are neurologically active and inhibit the nerve firing activity of C. lectularius. However, the effects of mixtures of these monoterpenoids on their toxicity and neuroinhibitory potential against C. lectularius are not known. In this study, the toxicity levels of a tertiary mixture of carvacrol, eugenol and thymol (1:1:1 ratio) and a binary mixture of synthetic insecticides, bifenthrin and imidacloprid (1:1 ratio) were evaluated against C. lectularius through topical bioassays and electrophysiology experiments. Both a mixture of monoterpenoids and the mixture of synthetic insecticides exhibited synergistic effects in topical bioassays. In electrophysiology experiments, the monoterpenoid mixture led to greater neuroinhibitory effects, whereas a mixture of synthetic insecticides caused higher neuroexcitatory effects in comparison to single compounds. This study shows evidence for neurological mechanisms of synergistic interactions between monoterpenoids and provides information regarding the utilization of natural compound mixtures for C. lectularius management.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document