Impact of Bed bugs in Poultry

Alok Kumar Singh^1#, Deepali Tiwari², Snigdha Shrivastava³, Pallabi Pathak⁴ and Nitin D. Hirani⁵

¹Department of Veterinary Parasitology, College of Veterinary Science & A.H., Rewa

²B.V.Sc & A.H., Student, College of Veterinary Science & A.H., Rewa

³Ph.D. Scholar, Department of Veterinary Medicine, COVSc & A.H., Rewa

⁴Department of Veterinary Parasitology, Lakhimpur COVSc, Assam, Joyhing, North Lakhimpur, Assam

⁵Department of Veterinary Parasitology, Veterinary College, Kamdhenu University, Anand

^#corresponding author- email: alok122@gmail.com

Bed bugs are parasite from genus cimex which is micropredator feed on animal blood usually during night hours. Their bites are mainly caused by two species of insect i.e. cimex lecturalis and cimex hemipterus mainly found in tropical areas. Bugs are small reddish brown; blood sucking, wingless insect and size around apple seed like and hide around in cracks and crevices, cardboard, beds etc. Nymphs are translucent and difficult to spot but are non-feeding type. Bed bugs pose major problem globally. Infestation mainly occurs in human and poultry houses where they sometimes refer as poultry bug. Because they cannot fly, bed bugs must travel from one location to another by passive means. These bugs can be transported in crates, automobiles, bags, luggage, clothing, shoes, and any other kind of equipment, supplies, or personal belongings. Bed bugs are notoriously hard to get rid of, and managing them is getting harder as they develop resistance to the widely used pyrethroid pesticides. They are a big pest concern for both the birds and the people who manage them, even though they do not often remain on poultry like mites or ticks do. Instead, they feed on the birds. It will take careful attention to detail and early discovery to stop the spread of this pest.

Morphology and life cycle of bed bugs:

• Adult bed bugs are oval in shape, flattened, around 6.3 mm in size, reddish brown in colour while nymphs are smaller and translucent in colour.
• It is a temporary parasite which means spend limited life cycle on different host that includes mammals, birds, humans etc.
• It is an obligate haematophagous ectoparasite means completely feed on host blood and on the body of animal and repeatedly feed on the same host.
• Bugs are nocturnal parasites i.e. comes for feeding during night hours and remain inactive during day time.
•  After hatching from egg, immature bugs undergo five moulting stages i.e. instars to become adult bug for feeding and reproduction. Immature stages known as nymphs.
• Nymph, adult male bugs, female bed bugs consume blood meal so feed on animal blood during night hours. It takes 37 days to develop into adult bug under optimum climatic conditions. Bed bugs are wingless insects.

Feeding behaviour:

• Bed bugs take 5-20 minutes for complete feeding and usually return to its resting spot after 30 min of feeding.
• Adult bug feed once or twice in a week if have abundant availability of blood from host.
• Mature female lay eggs within  2-5 days after feeding and during its lifetime of 2-4 month bed bug lay around 200-500 eggs under favourable conditions.
• Bed bugs locate its host upto 1.5 m distance by detecting CO2 release from body heat, breath and odour.
• Communication amongst bed bugs population occurs by pheromones. Different type of pheromones secreted in different situations like alarm pheromones released  during stress conditions to alert other bugs to leave that area also  aggregation pheromones are released to attract bugs to suitable area on host body.

Occurrence of bed bugs:

• Bed bugs are not only found in human dwellings but also found in poultry houses as common problem. Bugs are normally found near poultry nest, manure belts, egg belt and majorly in cracks and crevices of poultry facilities. Poultry bugs causes problem to birds as well as poultry farm worker as it can spread between farm and workers home.
• Bed bugs are common problem in cage free system; it hides in bedding material and during night feed in blood of birds.
• Bed bugs are difficult to find in light hours as it usually leaves brown faecal spot and smuges to area where it feed.
• In heavy infestation group of bugs can be seen in area on the host body also empty shell can be found i.e. shed during moulding stages.
• White oval bedbug egg can be seen and blood spots can be seen in bed sheet, mattress.
• It can also be found in cracks and crevices, floor joints, mattress seam, bed frame, furniture and other common places.
• Bed bugs travel from poultry houses to human resident and vice versa here movement of these bugs causes various sign in respective places hence it’s important to correctly detect bug bite signs.

Why bugs are difficult to eradicate and control:

• Bed bug hides in close proximity to host and its habitat and is active during night hour making it difficult to detect.
• Bed bugs are resistant to most of insecticides especially problematic in poultry buildings.
• Bugs may survive for longer time without food which means for several months and nymph up to 10 weeks.
• Bugs can be also difficult to find in complex poultry environment facilities as it find better place to hide hence difficult to eradicate.
• Large bug fecundity under favourable conditions female bug laid large number of eggs which develop into adult in 13 – 16 days increase number of bug population.

Sign and symptoms of bed bugs infestation:

• It is difficult to distinguish bug bite and other insects’ bites as rashes are not always indicator of bite. Not all people develops reaction sign of bugs bite it develops generally 1-2 days after biting and upto 7-10 days for delayed symptoms to develop .
• Location of bug bite generally includes area uncovered with clothes like face, arms etc.
• Skin reactions – rashes , raised area , blister and allergic reaction
• Prolong repeated blood sucking lead to blood loss causing anaemia, lethargy, fatigue.
• Itching , discomfort and loss of sleep
• Excessive biting and itching lead to secondary bacterial infection of taken uncared by host.

Other effects include:

• Prolong healing time of biting site can be complicated by secondary bacterial infection affecting overall health of host. Immunity can be compromised.
• Mental impact on host – stress, anxiety, depression can be associated with bug bite infestation if large in number.
• Loss of furniture as to remove bugs from area completely hence removal of hiding site is required for relief.

Bed bugs isolation is clear indication of infestation and hence sign should be matched to get idea of problem.

Effect of bugs on poultry:

• In layer birds it leads to decrease egg production in poultry farm.
• Prolong feeding causes anaemia and lethargy.
• In severe infestation immune compromised birds may end up in death.
• Economic loss due to loss productivity and extermination cost.
• Skin reactions can be seen as redness, sores in non-feather area of birds.
• Impact of bed bugs in poultry is noticeably on health and welfare of birds.
• In addition to not being able to spread diseases to chickens, bed bugs may not even be visible in small populations without scouting.
• However, severe infestations may cause feather loss, lesions, cloacal irritation, and anaemia in chickens due to the growing bed bug population and the stress it causes.
• Feed consumption may rise and productivity may fall as a result.
• If faecal stains are seen on the eggs, the value of the egg may be diminished.

Prevention and control of bug infestation:

• Integrated pest management approach should be adopted that includes personnel training, monitoring of bed bugs, chemical and non chemical intervention to remove bugs.
• Use protective cover on mattress and box spring.
• Reduce clustering of materials in room , clean and vacuum place regularly to remove bugs and it’s egg
• Wear full sleeves clothes and cover body in bugs suspected areas especially in poultry farms.
• Proper disinfection and sterilisation of premises, goods can be done by chemicals or by sunlight which destroys its egg.
• Bed bug spray can be used for chemical disinfection which contains pesticides approved by environment protection agency.
• Fill cracks and crevices, breeding place of bugs to control its infestation.