One-way trip for fleas encountering a vacuum cleaner
There are several reports on the use of vacuum cleaners for the physical
removal of the egg, larval and adult stages of the cat flea, Ctenocephalides
felis. However, once trapped in the vacuum cleaner, what happens to these
fleas, one might ask? Two researchers from the Department
of Entomology at Ohio State University
have carried out studies to determine the fate of fleas 'captured' in this
manner.
In a paper published in Entomologia
Experimentalis et Applicata, researchers Fred Hink and Glenn Needham
found that vacuuming resulted in an average of 96% adult flea mortality. They
used a single model of an upright all-metal vacuum cleaner in their experiments.
Once they had determined that neither the vacuum bags nor the moving air
currents were responsible for the flea deaths they concluded that the vacuum
cleaner brushes, fans or powerful air currents which threw the specimens against
the internal surfaces as they passed through, killed the adult fleas.
They also observed that all pupae in coccoons and larvae were killed by the
vacuuming process. Vacuuming adult fleas from carpeted floors killed 96% of
them, and 100% of pupae and larvae. Although the authors of the study admit that
their experiments have not considered how efficiently the vacuum performs in
removing the different stages from the carpet, they do show that fleas are
unlikely to survive following an encounter with the vacuum cleaner.
Vacuuming is lethal to all postembryonic life stages of the cat flea, Ctenocephalides
felis. W. Fred Hink & Glen R Needham. Entomologia Experimentalis et
Applicata (2007) 125, pp. 221-222. doi: 10.1111/j.1570-7458.2007.00615.x