Assistant Professor University of Kentucky Lexington, Kentucky
Bed bugs (Cimex lectularius L.) are small, hematophagous ectoparasites of mammals commonly found in close proximity to humans. They are a major indoor pest and notoriously difficult to eradicate from homes. Despite their pest status, bed bugs are widely considered to be of limited medical importance because health issues typically relate to either adverse reactions to their bites, or psychological distress during or following an infestation. Recently, bed bugs were found to produce large amounts of histamine in their feces. Because bed bug populations can attain hundreds or thousands of individuals, it is possible that significant amounts of histamine accumulates in infested homes and poses a potential health risk to residents. Our ongoing work is focused on determining how bed bugs produce histamine, how much histamine accumulates in infested homes, and if exposure to bed bugs or bed bug-produced histamine constitutes a health risk for humans. When evaluated together, these efforts have the potential to identify a new environmental contaminant that has gone undetected and unabated for almost two decades, and additionally determine if bed bugs pose a health risk to humans.
