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An effective remedy for bedbugs has been found
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Tiny blood-sucking bed bugs can thrive in the cracks and crevices of a bed. Fighting them is very difficult and tedious, but American scientists claim to have invented a unique remedy that can combat pests. In particular, we are talking about bed bugs.
According to experts from Penn State University, an entomopathogenic fungus can quickly deal with bedbugs that have settled in a house. Products created on its basis and containing its spores can quickly destroy every single insect and clean the house.
Bed bugs are a common and very unpleasant phenomenon, these bloodsuckers bite painfully and hide in hard-to-reach places. Another problem in dealing with them is their resistance to insecticides.
To effectively deal with bed bugs, scientists suggest using Beauveria bassiana, a fungus that causes white muscardine, an insect disease.
To see what its properties are in action, experts planted bedbugs on white sheets and sheets of cotton paper, after treating the fabrics with a solution made from fungal spores.
As it turned out, all the experimental bugs that walked on the poisoned surface for at least an hour died within five days, becoming ill with mycosis.
The Beauveria bassiana solution had a destructive effect on bedbugs regardless of their physiological condition and age.
"In addition to the effect on the bugs that were on the treated surface, other bugs were also infected. The bugs carried the fungal spores into their shelters, where infection occurred at 100%," comments the lead author of the study, Nina Jenkins. "This is very important, because the bugs live in hard-to-reach places and are difficult to remove."
Researchers also note that the Beauveria bassiana fungus compares favorably with the insecticides used, which affect insects directly.
According to scientists, products created on the basis of this fungus's spores will be especially useful for those premises where strong chemicals cannot be used. And Beauveria spores are safe for humans and easy to store.
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