Latest news with #Cimexlectularius
Straits Times
04-07-2025
- Science
- Straits Times
Malaysian scientists discover that bed bugs can help in forensic investigations
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox The discovery suggests that if bed bugs are found at a crime scene, they may carry the genetic fingerprints of whoever was recently there. GEORGE TOWN - They can be found everywhere – airport lounge sofas, bus seats, and even hotel and hostel beds. But who would have known that bed bugs can play a role in forensic investigations? Scientists discovered that the blood they consume has the DNA of people whom they fed on. A Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) team began studying the role of these blood suckers after collecting specimens at airport lounge sofas in 2014. Their study was published in Scientific Reports. USM researchers reported that Cimex hemipterus – a common tropical bed bug species – can retain human DNA in their guts for up to 45 days after feeding. In a subsequent research paper published in Forensic Science International in August 2024, the USM team outlined a practical field protocol for collecting and analysing tropical bed bugs as forensic evidence. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Seller's stamp duty rates for private homes raised; holding period increased from 3 years to 4 Asia Japan urges evacuation of small island as 1,000 quakes hit region Singapore Multiple charges for man accused of damaging PAP campaign materials on GE2025 Polling Day Singapore Jail for man who recruited 2 Japanese women for prostitution at MBS Asia Indonesian rescuers widen search for missing after ferry sinks World Trump eyes simple tariff rates over complex talks, says letters will start going out on July 4 World Trump's sweeping tax-cut and spending Bill wins congressional approval Business More Singapore residents met CPF Required Retirement Sum when they turned 55 in 2024 The work was led by entomologist Associate Professor Abdul Hafiz Ab Majid and his postdoctoral researcher Lim Li from the School of Biological Sciences. Together, they extracted DNA from bed bugs, which had been fed human blood under controlled conditions. 'Right after feeding, we could recover full genetic profiles using STR (short tandem repeat) and SNP (single nucleotide polymorphisms) methods. 'And even 45 days later, we were still able to retrieve partial profiles – enough, in some cases, to point to hair, skin and eye colour,' Assoc Prof Hafiz said. The STR technique is the same one used in standard DNA profiling used in forensic labs. The research paper, Human profiling from STR and SNP analysis of tropical bed bug, Cimex hemipterus, for forensic science, marks the first documented forensic application involving this species. Previous research had only focused on Cimex lectularius, the common bed bug more prevalent in temperate climates. The discovery suggests that if bed bugs are found at a crime scene – a hotel room, a flat or a hideout – they may carry the genetic fingerprints of whoever was recently there. 'Bed bugs feed and then retreat into nearby crevices. 'Because they don't fly or travel far, there's a good chance that whoever they fed on had been at that exact location,' said Assoc Prof Hafiz. This makes them useful in crime scenes when conventional biological evidence – bloodstains or fingerprints – has been removed or cleaned up. He said even on day five, more than 70 per cent of the targeted STR readings were still intact, and 39 out of 41 SNP markers were readable, more than enough for partial profiling. He said though not yet admissible in court, this kind of DNA phenotyping could give investigators valuable leads when there are no other clues. The findings, while promising, still have limitations. The research used single-target polymerase chain reaction tests – a slower, one-at-a-time method – rather than the commercial multiplex kits used in accredited crime labs. Assoc Prof Hafiz said for bed bug DNA to be accepted in court, the protocols would need to be adapted and validated across different systems. There is also the issue of mixed DNA. 'Bugs can feed on more than one person, which can make it difficult to interpret the results,' he said. In field samples collected around Penang, the USM team often found more than two alleles – indicating the presence of more than one human profile. Assoc Prof Hafiz said following these discoveries, which had taken over 10 years, his team was ready to work with forensics experts on trial field applications to establish more detailed protocols. Meanwhile, Penang Crime Consciousness and Public Safety Society chairman Mohamad Anil Shah Abdullah said the findings could offer a new avenue in complex investigations. 'Sometimes, there's no blood or fluids at the scene. 'Insects like flies and mosquitoes have been used before but bed bugs don't fly. That makes them useful,' he said. He recalled a 2008 case in Finland where police retrieved a suspect's DNA from a mosquito in a stolen car. 'If a mosquito can do that, why not a bed bug?' he said. THE STAR/ ASIA NEWS NETWORK
The Star
04-07-2025
- Science
- The Star
Bed bugs take a bite out of crime
For science: Assoc Prof Hafiz volunteering himself to feed the bed bugs in his lab. — Photos courtesy of Household Structural Urban Entomology Lab, School of Biological Sciences, USM. GEORGE TOWN: They can be found everywhere – airport lounge sofas, bus seats, and even hotel and hostel beds. But who would realise that bed bugs can play a role in forensic investigations. Scientists discovered that the blood they consume has the DNA of people whom they fed on. A Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) team began studying the role of these blood suckers after collecting specimens at airport lounge sofas in 2014. Their study was published in Scientific Reports. USM researchers reported that Cimex hemipterus – a common tropical bed bug species – can retain human DNA in their guts for up to 45 days after feeding. In a subsequent research paper published in Forensic Science International last August, the USM team outlined a practical field protocol for collecting and analysing tropical bed bugs as forensic evidence. The work was led by entomologist Assoc Prof Dr Abdul Hafiz Ab Majid and his postdoctoral researcher Dr Lim Li from the School of Biological Sciences. A close-up of bedbugs on human skin.— Photos courtesy of Household Structural Urban Entomology Lab, School of Biological Sciences, USM. Together, they extracted DNA from bed bugs, which had been fed human blood under controlled conditions. 'Right after feeding, we could recover full genetic profiles using STR (short tandem repeat) and SNP (single nucleotide polymorphisms) methods. 'And even 45 days later, we were still able to retrieve partial profiles – enough, in some cases, to point to hair, skin and eye colour,' Assoc Prof Hafiz said. The STR technique is the same one used in standard DNA profiling used in forensic labs. The research paper, Human profiling from STR and SNP analysis of tropical bed bug, Cimex hemipterus, for forensic science, marks the first documented forensic application involving this species. Previous research had only focused on Cimex lectularius, the common bed bug more prevalent in temperate climates. The discovery suggests that if bed bugs are found at a crime scene – a hotel room, a flat or a hideout – they may carry the genetic fingerprints of whoever was recently there. 'Bed bugs feed and then retreat into nearby crevices. 'Because they don't fly or travel far, there's a good chance that whoever they fed on had been at that exact location,' said Assoc Prof Hafiz. This makes them useful in crime scenes when conventional biological evidence – bloodstains or fingerprints – has been removed or cleaned up. He said even on day five, more than 70% of the targeted STR readings were still intact, and 39 out of 41 SNP markers were readable, more than enough for partial profiling. He said though not yet admissible in court, this kind of DNA phenotyping could give investigators valuable leads when there are no other clues. The findings, while promising, still have limitations. The research used single-target polymerase chain reaction tests – a slower, one-at-a-time method – rather than the commercial multiplex kits used in accredited crime labs. Assoc Prof Hafiz said for bed bug DNA to be accepted in court, the protocols would need to be adapted and validated across different systems. There is also the issue of mixed DNA. "Bugs can feed on more than one person, which can make it difficult to interpret the results," he said. In field samples collected around Penang, the USM team often found more than two alleles – indicating the presence of more than one human profile. Assoc Prof Hafiz said following these discoveries, which had taken over 10 years, his team was ready to work with forensics experts on trial field applications to establish more detailed protocols. Meanwhile, Penang Crime Consciousness and Public Safety Society chairman Datuk Mohamad Anil Shah Abdullah said the findings could offer a new avenue in complex investigations. 'Sometimes, there's no blood or fluids at the scene. 'Insects like flies and mosquitoes have been used before but bed bugs don't fly. That makes them useful,' he said. He recalled a 2008 case in Finland where police retrieved a suspect's DNA from a mosquito in a stolen car. 'If a mosquito can do that, why not a bed bug?' he said.
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Bed Bugs May Have Been The First Urban Pest to Ever Plague Humans
Humans were letting the bed bugs bite long before beds existed, and while they do live on other species, we're the main reason this notorious parasite is still going strong. In fact, bed bugs might have been the first pest to plague our cities – earlier than the black rat, for instance, which joined us in urban life about 15,000 years ago, and even the German cockroach, which only got the memo about 2,100 years ago. Researchers think the blood-sucking pests – Cimex lectularius – first jumped from their bat hosts onto a passing human some 50,000 years ago, a move which would change the course of the insect species forever. Human bed bugs, it turns out, have boomed since the Last Glacial Maximum about 20,000 years ago. But it's a different story for those populations that continued living on bats. "Initially with both populations, we saw a general decline that is consistent with the Last Glacial Maximum; the bat-associated lineage never bounced back, and it is still decreasing in size," says entomologist Lindsay Miles, from Virginia Tech. "The really exciting part is that the human-associated lineage did recover and their effective population increased." The researchers were able to track this evolution because the human bed bugs have a much narrower genetic diversity, since only a few 'founders' probably came with us when we abandoned life in caves. But our move into cities around 12,000 years ago is what really kicked off the human bed bug boom. This was only briefly interrupted when DDT was invented in the 1940s. Populations crashed, humans slept sweetly, and then five years later, the bed bugs were back. Since then, bed bugs have travelled around the world with us, and even become resistant to our pesticides. For now, it seems, bed bugs are here to stay. It's been a long-term relationship, after all. The research is published in Biology Letters. Your Brain Wrinkles Are Way More Important Than We Ever Realized Something Strange Happens to Your Eyes When You're Sexually Aroused 2-Year-Old Prodigy Joins 'High IQ' Club Mensa as Youngest Member Ever
The Irish Sun
28-05-2025
- Science
- The Irish Sun
Stone age bed bugs were humanity's first pests, scientists reveal
STONE Age people had a far more troublesome enemy than sabre-tooth tigers — bed bugs. Their first settlements — like Fred Flinstone's fictional home of Bedrock — would have been crawling with the blood-suckers. 2 Stone age people had a problem with bed bugs Credit: Getty The bugs' numbers exploded when humans moved out of caves, making them the first household pests, researchers say. In the study, DNA analysis was used to trace back the species found in homes today to those feeding off cave dwellers. Cimex lectularius was found to have had a 'close relationship' with humans for 50,000 years. The team from Virginia Tech University in the US confirmed the bugs first lived on bats before some switched to Stone Age humans in caves. But the population took off only 13,000 years ago — when people quit cave life and began farming and building settlements While its numbers rocketed, the bat bed bug species fell away. Researcher Dr Linsday Miles said: 'Both populations saw a general decline that is consistent with the last ice age. 'The bat-associated lineage never bounced back and it is still decreasing in size. Most read in Health 'The really exciting part is that the human-associated lineage did recover and their population increased.' The researchers say bed bugs, which live in furniture and bite to feed on blood, predate rats and even cockroaches as domestic pests. Rats moved in to homes 2,000 years ago, and cockroaches 5,000 years ago. 2 Blood sucking bed bugs were the first pest Credit: AFP I was homeless so I carved myself a CAVE house with incredible sea views – but officials are trying to kick me out
