 | NightWatch is an innovative new product for pest control operators used to detect bedbug infestations at the earliest stages. Once eradicated in the United States in the 1950s by the use of DDT, bedbugs are back with a vengeance infesting clean and tidy homes, five-star hotels, college dorms, and living spaces across the country and beyond. Bedbugs have been identified as a rapidly emerging public health pest by the Environmental Protection Agency. BioSensory developed the NightWatch Bedbug Monitor based on knowledge of a bedbug's physiology and an understanding of how the pest seeks a blood meal combined with extensive field and laboratory testing. Because bedbugs bite once every 7 to 10 days, a new infestation of a few bedbugs often goes unnoticed. It is undetectable by the person being bitten and by the most expert professionals in the field. At first, the person thinks the bite is a pimple and then a rash. By the time a skin reaction is recognized as an insect bite, the infestation has grown to hundreds of bedbugs and eggs and is expensive to eliminate. NightWatch NightWatch performance has been tested by practitioners in the field and documented in the most prestigious entomology publication, The Journal of Medical and Veterinary Entomology (2009; v. 23, p. 99-105) published by the Royal Entomological Society 1. Dr. John F. Anderson of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station tested NightWatch prototypes for over one year. His many months of lab tests indicate that an infestation of 5 male and 5 female bedbugs has a 99.98% chance of detection by the NightWatch over a period of 7 days. Data shows that NightWatch captured bedbugs in laboratory tests, in infested unoccupied apartments (with or without furniture), and in an occupied apartment. In an extremely infested multi-unit public housing facility, almost 10,000 bedbugs were captured after professional chemical and steam treatments were applied," according to Dr. Anderson. Recent field trial using NightWatch produced impressive results. David Johnson, SEC region manager for Forwinds Distribution, Inc. of Charlotte, NC, conducted a recent field trial using NightWatch in an elderly high rise infested with bedbugs. "In setting up the initial test just to check the functionality of the unit's components, we unexpectedly caught a bedbug in the middle of the day," states Mr. James. "By Monday morning, we had over 50 live bedbugs in the trap even after having treated the room with traditional methods. I was very impressed with our results. Bedbugs are easy to kill but difficult to reach in their deep harborages. NightWatch helps to lure them out not only for capture but to expose them to other IPM control treatments. Once you believe you've gotten rid of them, NightWatch is an important tool for ongoing monitoring." NightWatch is exempt from EPA Registration because it is used solely for surveillance, detection, and monitoring, and because it contains no substances toxic to insects.NightWatch is designed to function as a lure and monitor, as it mimics a living, breathing human body combining CO2, a proprietary kairomone lure, and a patented thermal lure for a powerful three-pronged attractant and trapping system. When bedbugs approach to feed on what they think is a human, they fall into the pitfall traps made of highly polished material and cannot escape. NightWatch can catch both mature and immature bedbugs, and since the monitor's detection period spans the 7-10 days bedbugs take between meals, it can detect infestations the very first time they try to bite. No other available product or technology detects new infestations so quickly. BioSensory recommends NightWatch Bedbug Monitor as one part of an Integrated Pest Management program (inspection, treatment and monitoring, reinspection). "We are pleased NightWatch solves two key pieces of the bedbug problem: a monitor that anyone can use, and one that can detect bedbugs the v | |