COLUMBUS, Ohio, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- A U.S. study has determined vacuuming kills household fleas with an average 96 percent success in adult fleas and 100 percent destruction of younger fleas.
The finding was so unexpected, an Ohio State University insect specialist repeated his experiments several times to be sure the findings were correct. The studies were conducted on the cat flea Ctenocephalides felis, the most common type of flea plaguing companion animals and humans.
Associate Professor Glen Needham said he also examined vacuum bags for toxicity and exposed fleas to churning air in separate tests to further explore potential causes of flea death. He and a colleague concluded the damaging effects of brushes, fans and powerful air currents in vacuum cleaners combine to kill the fleas.
"No matter what vacuum a flea gets sucked into, it's probably a one-way trip," said Needham, co-author of the study.
The findings by Needham and Professor Emeritus W. Fred Hink appeared in a recent issue of the journal Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata.
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