Hirsute humans keep bed bugs at bay with body hair

BODY hair may be horribly out of fashion, but it seems our often unwanted natural fuzz may have a use after all, after researchers discovered that it wards off pests like bed bugs. And with the UK enduring an explosion in infestations of the insects it could be that the waxing and shaving regimes followed by many could just be encouraging the blood-suckers.
 
When a research team at the University of Sheffield placed hungry bed bugs on the arms of volunteers, some of who had been shaved, they found the biters were more likely to feed on the hairless arms.
 
The researchers concluded that the bugs were put off by the hair, which slows them down and also tips off their prey. The experiment was led by Professor Michael Siva-Jothy, who said: "More body hairs mean better detection of parasites - the hairs have nerves attached to them and provide us with the ability to detect displacement."
 
In other words the victim will likely feel a bed bug struggling through their hair in search of a meal and will brush them off.
 
Rowan Hooper of the New Scientist says: "We have the same density of hair follicles as chimps, it's just our hair is much finer. So the question becomes, why does fine hair persist in humans?" Now, he says, we could have an answer.
 
The Daily Mail points out that the findings back up most people's experience of bites, noting: "Bed bugs and other parasites including mosquitoes, midges, ticks and leeches prefer relatively hairless areas such as the wrists and ankles."
 
Not all hair is good hair though. "If you have a heavy coat of long thick hairs it is easier for parasites to hide, even if you can detect them," said Silva-Jothy, who reported the experiment's findings in the journal Biology Letters. ·