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Be careful which insecticide you buy, as the bed bugs have developed a resistance against some of them.
According to researchers from the New Mexico State University and the Virginia Tech , the bed bugs are developing resistance to insecticides. These include some of the most popular and widely used.
The class of insecticides that no longer has the power to kill bed bugs is called neonicotinoids or neonics. For the study, the researchers compared a colony of bugs that has been kept in labs and that has never came in contact with neonics, with a colony of bugs that was collected from the wild. The bed bugs that were collected from the wild showed resistance to the neonics, while the bed bugs that were raised in labs were very easily killed by the insecticide. Only 0.3 nanograms of the insecticide were needed to kill all the lab bed bugs, while the wild bed bugs needed 10.000 nanograms of the pesticide in order to kill only half of the wild bugs, which showed a great resistance.
Troy Anderson from Virginia Tech, who was one of the authors of the study, said that some of the insecticides that people use while hoping to get rid of bed bugs are no longer efficient. He also said that some new insecticides will need to be developed in order to fight these tiny unpleasant invaders. Anderson went on by saying that currently a lot of people are spending money on products that will not solve their bed bugs problem and that they should be warned about it.
Alva Romero from the New Mexico State University, who is the other author of the study said that the companies that produce insecticides that contain neonicotinoids need to stop their production, as the products are becoming irrelevant and a waste of people’s money. She said that when bed bugs persist even after the insecticide has been used is a sign that they have become resistant to that certain product. Romero also said that when this happens, the product needs to be changed and non-chemical methods of killing the bed bugs need to be taken into consideration.
In the United States, the bed bugs infestations have risen a lot in the last years. They can be found anywhere from hotels, to homes and shelter. Eradicating these insects can be very expensive, if they manage to go unnoticed for long periods of time. Also, when people are bitten by bugs in their own homes or while staying at a hotel, they are affected psychologically.
The study which showed that bed bugs are developing resistance to insecticides was published in the Medical Entomology Journal.
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