New video reveals most effective methods of bedbug elimination

Social Affairs

Published: 17 Nov. 2023, 17:29

New video reveals most effective methods of bedbug elimination

Home appliances and equipment used in a bedbug-extermination experiment [SCREEN CAPTURE]

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency uploaded a video showcasing various extermination methods that households could undertake to deter bedbugs.

The agency tested tools including a hair dryer, a vacuum cleaner, steam, and an electric bug zapper in the video, which was posted Friday.

Using heat or hot steam for longer than 30 seconds proved to be the most effective.

Covering a bedbug with cloth and steaming it longer than 30 seconds proved to be effective. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

The strategy of covering a bedbug with fabric for 10 seconds and then steam ironing it proved powerful enough to kill the pest. Dry-ironing the creature, using heat higher than 90 degrees Celsius (194 degrees Fahrenheit) for 10 seconds, also rendered it powerless.

However, as the specific performance of devices differs, the agency stressed the importance of investing at least 30 seconds for perfect eradication.

A hair dryer on its hottest setting is also effective — though, the video notes, people should use the weakest wind setting so as to avoid blowing the bug away.

Pouring boiling water a bedbug can also be effective. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Boiling water is also an effective repellent; experimenters managed to kill an insect by covering it with a cloth and pouring the liquid more than it for 20 seconds.

Physical pressure, it turns out, is not as effective. Bedbugs were able to survive hits from books, bug zappers, and human palms.

Electric zappers, in particular, proved to be hit or miss. Swinging the tools at them was largely ineffective, because the specimens did not make direct contact with the electric mesh. When placed directly onto that mesh, however, the bugs did not survive.

If you vacuum up a bedbug, it must remain completely sealed in a plastic bag when disposed of. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

If one attempts to vacuum up the bugs, the video indicates, the pest should remain completely sealed inside the interior plastic bag when disposed of. It is also important to use the vacuum's strongest setting, the video indicates.

BY LEE SOO-JUNG [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]