Agglutination Resistant Ingested Blood from Cimex lectularius Specie of Bed Bug

Abstract

Bed bugs are parasitic in nature and feed exclusively on blood. Feeding on multiple hosts with different blood groups also means the risk of ingesting incompatible blood that may agglutinate in their gut. Eight groups of ten Cimex lectularius specie of bed bug each starved for 4 days were placed in opaque plastic jar to keep dark. 0.5 ml of citrated blood pre-heated in an incubator to the temperature of 37 degree centigrade was packed in 8 units of silicone free latex material. Each group of 10 bugs was given different blood group type ranging from blood group A+ve, B+ve, AB+ve, O+ve, A-ve, B-ve, AB-ve and O-ve. 5 engorged bugs that attached to the latex and sucked the bloods therein within 24 hours from each group were opened and the blood ingested was harvested and blood group determined by slide method and agglutination verified with microscope. The entire blood grouping conducted in all the groups turned out O-ve. Thirty four young men living alone in a slum area with high prevalence of bed bug infestation volunteered to provide the blood engorged parasites from their rooms for testing of the ingested blood. 19 of the volunteers were blood group O +ve, 6 were B+ve, 5 were AB+ve and 4 were A+ve. All the blood tested turn out O –ve, the complete failure of agglutination reactions to manifest with the corresponding Antisera. A factor(s) possibly exist that ablate the antigenicity of ABO and Rhesus agglutinogens of the blood ingested by Cimex lectularius.

Keywords: Bed bug, Cimex lectularius, ingestion, agglutination, Antisera