Using sniffer dogs to enhance bedbug detection and environmental management in a university hospital.

Authors

H Watanabe, T Kobayashi, A Okugawa, H Fujita, Y Watanabe, I Nakamura

Published in

Infection prevention in practice. Volume 8. Issue 3. Pages 100562. Epub Jun 19, 2026.

Abstract

Bedbug incidents in healthcare facilities are uncommon, and standardized management protocols are generally lacking.
In 2018, bedbugs were unintentionally introduced into our university hospital through an admitted patient's personal belongings, and 10 bedbugs were identified on the bed, wall, and floor.
Following the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's 'Guidelines for Hygiene Management in the Hotel Industry', we implemented carpet replacement and disinfestation by a specialized company. To ensure complete eradication, we additionally used trained sniffer dogs for odour-based detection as a complementary intervention.
Sniffer dog detection successfully identified no remaining bedbugs after conventional disinfestation and proved useful as an adjunctive method for confirming eradication. The intervention required modest additional costs related to staffing and environmental decontamination.
The use of sniffer dogs may serve as a practical and cost-conscious tool for early identification and confirmation of bedbug eradication in healthcare settings, underscoring the importance of preventive environmental design and early detection strategies.

PMID:
42473563
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 20 Jul 2026.

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