Infested by bed bugs? Scientists develop a device you’ll love: The trap device lures bloodsucking pests to their deaths

Want to fight bed bugs?

Now scientists have found the ultimate solution: a device that lures the blood-sucking pests to their deaths.

Bed bugs, which are notoriously difficult to kill, are attracted to CO₂, a gas we exhale when we inhale.

For this reason they prey on sleeping people. Since we barely move while we sleep, carbon dioxide essentially forms a “cloud” around us that encourages us to bite.

Homemade destruction devices using sugar and yeast have been using this logic for decades.

But the new device, developed by two master’s students at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, takes this to the extreme.

The oxygen tank-sized device called Iphigenia, named after a princess from Greek mythology who was sacrificed to Artemis during the Trojan War, emits CO₂ itself.

Footage that proves it works shows bed bugs being lured to their deaths so they have nowhere to go.

Although it is only a prototype, its creators are optimistic that it will eventually become a reality for all those affected by pests.

Iphigenia is now being tested for bed bug infestation A real bedroom was simulated in the lab to see how well it worked.

Simon Lilja, one of the inventors, said they are optimistic that the machine’s traction will be strong enough to prevent bed bugs from entering adjacent rooms during an insecticide treatment.

It can even shorten treatment time, as pest control companies admit it can take up to six weeks to completely eliminate the infestation.

When insecticides are used, the infested bedrooms must be occupied to drive away the pests, which are the size of an apple seed.

It came after shocked readers were evacuated from a west London library after bedbugs were found in the upholstered furniture.

Ealing Council said it had removed the upholstered furniture in the library and subjected it to chemical treatment

READ MORE: How to survive the LES BED BUGS invasion?

Co-developer Maja Åstrand, who co-founded the company SimulAir with Mr Lilja while they were waiting for patent approval for their device with a built-in camera, said: “You no longer have to act as bait.”

When she developed Iphigenia, she was inspired by her own “traumatic” battle with bed bugs, during which she “slept like crap for eight weeks.”

Mr Lilja added: “Our ultimate goal is to raise the attractiveness of the machine to a level where it even surpasses the attractiveness of humans.”

It came after shocked readers were evacuated from a west London library after bedbugs were found in the upholstered furniture.

Some of the soft furnishings at Ealing Central Library had already been removed for treatment when staff discovered more pests on Monday.

A Tanno announcement asked all visitors to leave the building, which remained closed yesterday.

One evacuated pensioner said: “It was all very strange, we’ve never been taken out so quickly before.” “Everyone at the computers had to leave.”

The next day a sign appeared on the door informing the public that there had been a pest infestation and that the home furnishings were being treated with “pest control products”.

It added: “These chemicals are used while the library is closed and are safe for children and adults. We apologize for the inconvenience.”

Data from pest control company Rentokil published in September showed that the UK saw a 65 per cent increase in bed bug infestations between 2022 and 2023.

Experts have warned that the increase in bedridden numbers could be due to the increase in travel after the Covid restrictions.

Bed bugs largely disappeared from everyday life in developed countries in the 1950s, but have made a comeback in the last thirty years.

The causes include increasing resistance to insecticides, an increase in public transport and an increasing trend towards second-hand goods.