WASHINGTON — Vacuum cleaners kill fleas just as well as any poison, surprised researchers said Tuesday.
They said a standard vacuum cleaner abuses the fleas so much it kills 96 percent of adult fleas and 100 percent of younger fleas.
So no need to worry that a vacuum cleaner bag may turn into a fleabag breeding ground for the pesky, biting creatures, said Glen Needham, associate professor of entomology at Ohio State University.
Needham studied the cat flea, or Ctenocephalides felis, the most common type of flea found in households.
"No matter what vacuum a flea gets sucked into, it's probably a one-way trip," Needham said in a statement.
Writing in the journal Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, Needham suggested that the vacuum brushes wear away a waxy outer layer on insects called the cuticle. Without it, the fleas, larvae and pupae probably dry up and die, he said.
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