To keep the bed bugs at bay … put dirty clothes in a bag

BLOOD-SUCKING bed bugs are attracted to dirty laundry, a study has revealed.

Soiled clothes are a magnet for the insects which crawl out at night and bite you.

Scientists have warned that failing to pack away sweaty garments, especially while travelling, may explain why numbers have soared in the past decade.

Research showed that in the absence of a host, bed bugs go for the second-best option – the smell of a human left behind on dirty worn items.

The parasites are a huge problem for hotels and homeowners in some of the world’s busiest cities, and finding their way into clothing and luggage is one possible cause.

Dr William Hentley, of the University of Sheffield’s Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, advised against leaving clothes exposed in sleeping areas. The parasites have

undergone a global resurgence, which has been partly attributed to an increase in low-cost international travel.

In the study published in the Scientific Reports journal, experiments were carried out in two identical rooms where four tote bags were placed near bed bugs.

Two contained soiled clothes and the others clean.

In each test, one room received an increase in concentration of carbon dioxide to simulate human breathing. In the absence of a human host, bed bugs were twice as likely to cluster on bags containing soiled clothes compared to those with clean ones.

The findings suggest it is the residual body odour on soiled clothes that the bed bugs like.

Dr Hentley said: ‘Our study suggests that keeping dirty laundry in a sealed bag, particularly when staying in a hotel, could reduce the chances of people taking bed bugs home with them.’

Bed bug cases have more than doubled in the UK during the past few years.

‘Cases have more than doubled’