Note: bed bug is not to scale
Among bed bug suffers, a common lament is a thrist for self-medication with alcoholic beverages. Little did we know, there is some benefit to this approach—other than the euphoria of the imbiber.
Ralph Narain, a PhD student at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, studied the effects of blood alcohol on bed bugs. His paper, “Effects of various blood alcohol concentrations on bed bugs (Cimex lectularius)”, reveals bed bugs consume less blood when the blood contains alcohol. As an added bonus, those same tipsy bed bugs lay fewer eggs.
Realistically, upping your alcohol intake will not prevent or stop a bed bug infestation. And tipsy or not, those blood-thirsty pests will still bite; not to mention the related health problems associated with alcohol for humans.
Entomologist Dini Miller of Virginia Tech explains:
“I don’t know what sort of implications it has ultimately, because unfortunately they still produce enough eggs to cause an infestation. So while they feed less, still, we’re not going to experience less of a problem. But it’s very interesting to know.”
And to quote Nobugsonme of famed website Bedbugger.com:
“In the meantime, I wouldn’t trade in your pest control program for a few cases of Shiraz.”
Although alcohol may make you feel less stressed about bed bugs, your best avenue of defense is a pro-active approach — develop an early warning system of education, passive monitoring and canine-assisted quality control checks. Discover the benefits of a PAWS approach, your tailored Pro-Active Warning System geared to your bed bug risk level.
