Bedbugs Have Harder Time Feeding On Hairy Skin, Study Shows

By Christopher Intagliata
(Click here for the original article)

We "naked apes" aren't as hirsute as our primate cousins. We still have an ape-like density of hair follicles—but we sprout out peach fuzz, instead of a thick coat. Those downy hairs may be more than an evolutionary leftover, though. They may be "hair-trigger" sensors for bedbugs and other parasites. So says a study in the journal Biology Letters. [Isabelle Dean and Michael T. Siva-Jothy, Human fine body hair enhances ectoparasite detection, link to come.]

Researchers shaved one forearm on each of 29 student volunteers, and placed a hungry bedbug there. Without looking, the students counted each time they felt something. The researchers repeated the experiment on each victim's unshaven arm as a control. And don't worry—in each case they plucked off bedbugs just as they prepared to dine.

Turns out students were significantly more likely to sense bedbugs crawling on their unshaven arms. And those tangles of hair slowed down the bug's search for a place to snack, too. The authors say our fine human hair may thus be perfectly evolved: thin enough to eliminate hiding spots for bugs, but thick enough to act as an alarm system for bloodsuckers in the night—enough to make anyone's hair stand on end.

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Comments

[vikki2832]

01:49 PM on 12/16/2011

..These things, are disgusting, I wish the effort that has been put on getting rid of smoking, would be put into getting rid of these things....one more issue, the first thing said about this (like it is alright to have them here on earth) is we don't have to worry about diseases....but... you have to put up with the STRESS that comes with them.and anyway, how do we really know if they are not full of diseases, do they take each one and put it under a microscope?? There was a program on TV a women had them, went to court, and the Judge actually awarded her for the "pain and suffering" that it gave her.... I applaud her

[dmoongo]

01:44 PM on 12/16/2011

Well, we could all sleep in fur coats . . . but PETA wouldn't like that.

[vikki2832]

03:11 PM on 12/16/2011

lol

[vikki2832]

01:42 PM on 12/16/2011

This to me should have been taken care of along time ago, BEFORE some women proved that the stuff (DDT) (what was used to GET RID OF THEM,) in the first place, was harmful to everyone.... knowing a solution has arrived..and no more dreaded BB's..this women comes around from nowhere stating (and she was proud of herself,)it was harmful...tell me, what isn't on earth these days that isn't, so we go back to the suffering the people .in the 20's 30's and 40's era and before that, people suffered with them...until DDT was finally invented we enjoyed a restful life. Knowing it has been eliminated...now, they are back, and NOTHING has been done to get this stuff back! Or something that has the power to TERMINATE THEM, This isn't like a little mosquito bite, it itches like you want to cut off your skin, and it lasts for months...not only that, mosquitos do not hide in mattresses or furniture or electrical outlets, the things want to be close to their hosts or food supply, they love them.

[crossaddicted21]

01:40 PM on 12/16/2011

Gee I am so glad they spent so much money on this rather than finding a way of getting rid of them.
NOT

[vikki2832]

03:03 PM on 12/16/2011

Yes, you are right, to bad they didn't find a way to rid of them....:) Hope we never encounter them...disgusting....

[psandysdad]

12:04 PM on 12/16/2011

Guess I'm glad I don't 'manscape'. 'Course, I don't have bedbugs, though.

[mscellanus]

11:54 AM on 12/16/2011

I saw a PBS documentary stating that man today has two different types of lice when compared to the Apes. During their so called evolution, the upper torso lices on man is different than the Apes but not so in their lower torso area. The lower torso area has the same lice as the Apes.

[mscellanus]

11:51 AM on 12/16/2011

I guess they don't have bed bugs in Italy? LOL

[TERPMOM]

12:33 PM on 12/16/2011

HEY, HEY!! No more Pizza for you!

[mscellanus]

03:42 AM on 12/17/2011

Oh please don't punish me? I love Italian food and NY Pizza is my favorite.

[LemmonHerk]

11:05 AM on 12/16/2011

This is no surprise ... when I was working in sub-Saharan Africa, the guys with hairy legs and arms didn't suffer anywhere NEAR the mosquito bites, etc., as the rest of us.

[duey35]

10:55 AM on 12/16/2011

So why do crabs have such an easy life?

[undrgrndgirl]

11:11 AM on 12/16/2011

and lice.

[clintnapril2]

12:14 PM on 12/16/2011

I have always refered to crabs as " Sabertooth crotch crickets" LOL

[Bob Macfarlane]

10:50 AM on 12/16/2011

Do I hear a vote for "Bush's fault?"

[mscellanus]

11:52 AM on 12/16/2011

Bushes are always at fault !

[croshatch]

11:59 AM on 12/16/2011

In this case being "bushy" seems to be a good thing

[Bob Macfarlane]

05:40 PM on 12/16/2011

It had crossed my mind. Very good.

[rbrown72707]

10:47 AM on 12/16/2011

Ewwwww...

[exoticdoc2]

10:14 AM on 12/16/2011

Another false claim of vestigial structures. The list was once well over a hundred in the human when in our arrogance we thought if it had a function we would surely know what it was. That list has shrunk nearly to nil as functions have been found for the appendix, tonsils, thymus, and others that once made the list. No "evolutionary leftovers" at all.

[fergiesmom2]

09:47 AM on 12/16/2011

Yikes. Nasty little creatures.

[alteredstory]

09:07 AM on 12/16/2011

Um.

This does not indicate any evolutionary pressure. There are no indications of social mate selection based on bedbug resistance, and there is no clear health benefit to avoiding bedbugs.

In addition, most bites occur in the very early morning before sunrise, which makes it as much about how light or heavy of a sleeper you are - they don't tend to crawl across your skin, they crawl on the bed TO your skin, and bite as soon as they reach you, hence lines that match where your body touches the sheets.

Speaking from personal (and thankfully distant) experience, being hairy does not necessarily give you an advantage over bedbugs unless you're hairy enough to make them unable to reach your skin, and humans aren't.

Saying that we kept hair because it gives us an edge against bedbugs is a little bit like saying cape buffalo have horns so oxpeckers can perch on them. It may be a side benefit, but it was almost certainly NOT a causal factor.

[zevon]

08:16 AM on 12/16/2011

If this were a more scientific study, why did they "pluck" the bedbugs off the unshaven forearm before the students felt them bite? To me it just stands to reason that any small bug would be able to pierce the skin easier with no hair than if it had to fight its way through a tangle of hair. So maybe it took more time to find the skin. In a real life example, wouldn't those critters and their bites be more difficult to spot if they're tangled up in body hair?