Want to combat bed bugs?
Well, scientists have come up with the ultimate solution: a gadget that lures the blood-sucking pests to their death.
Bed bugs, which are notoriously difficult to kill, are attracted to CO2, a gas we exhale as we inhale.
For this reason they prey on sleeping people. Since we hardly move when we sleep, carbon dioxide essentially forms a ‘cloud’ around us that encourages them to bite.
The new gadget was created by two master students at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, Maja ?strand and Simon Lilja. The pair are pictured holding their device
Homemade destruction devices, using sugar and yeast, have been using this logic for decades.
But the new gadget, created by two master’s students at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, takes this to the extreme.
The oxygen tank-sized device, named Ifigenia, after a princess from Greek mythology who was sacrificed to Artemis during the Trojan War, itself emits CO2.
Footage that proves it works shows bed bugs being lured to their death, leaving them nowhere to go.
Although it’s just a prototype, its creators are optimistic that it will eventually become a reality for anyone plagued by plagues.
Ifigenia will now be tested for bed bug infestation laboratory simulated to look like a real bedroom to see how well it works.
Simon Lilja, one of the creators, said they are optimistic that the machine’s pull is powerful enough to prevent bed bugs from venturing into adjacent rooms during an insecticide treatment.
It could even shorten treatment times, with pest control companies admitting it can take up to six weeks to completely eliminate the infestation.
When insecticides are used, the infected bedrooms must be occupied to flush out the bugs, which are the size of an apple seed.
It comes after shocked readers were evacuated from a west London library after bedbugs were found in the soft furnishings.
Ealing Council said it has removed soft furnishings in the library to undergo chemical treatment
Fellow developer Maja ?strand, who co-founded the company SimulAir with Mr Lilja in anticipation of patent approval for their gadget, which has a built-in camera, said: “You no longer have to act as bait.”
To create Ifigenia, she was inspired by her own ‘traumatic’ bed bug battle, during which she ‘slept like bait for eight weeks’.
Mr Lilja added: ‘Our ultimate goal is to increase the machine’s appeal to a level where it even surpasses human appeal.’
It comes after shocked readers were evacuated from a west London library after bedbugs were found in the soft furnishings.
Some of the soft furnishings in Ealing Central Library had already been removed for treatment when staff discovered more of the pests on Monday.
A tanno announcement ordered all visitors to leave the building, which remained closed yesterday.
An evacuated pensioner said: ‘It was all very strange, we have never been taken out so quickly. Everyone on the computers had to leave.’
The next day a notice appeared on the door telling the public that there was a vermin infestation and that the soft furnishings were being treated with ‘pest control products’.
It added: ‘These chemicals will be applied while the library is closed and are safe for children and adults. We apologize for the inconvenience.’
Data released by pest control company Rentokil in September shows that the UK saw a 65 percent increase in bedbug infestations between 2022 and 2023.
Experts have warned that the increase in bedbug numbers could be due to the increase in travel following Covid lockdowns.
Bed bugs largely disappeared from everyday life in developed countries in the 1950s, but have returned in the past thirty years.
The causes include growing resistance to insecticides, an increase in public transport and an increasing tendency towards second-hand goods.