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You are here: Home > Biology > Pesticide Resistance
Bed Bug Pesticide Application - Cimex Lectularius
Bed bugs are developing resistance to various pesticides and organophosphates.  Bed bug pesticide resistance appears to be increasing dramatically.  Bed bug populations sampled across the U.S. showed a tolerance for pyrethroids several thousands of times greater than laboratory bed bugs.  New York City bed bugs have been found to be 264 times more resistant to deltamethrin than Florida bed bugs due to mutations and evolution.
 
The insecticide propoxur is highly toxic to bed bugs, but in the United States the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been reluctant to approve it for indoor use because of its potential toxicity to children after chronic exposure.
 
A population genetics study of bed bugs in the United States, Canada, and Australia using a mitochondrial DNA marker, found high levels of genetic variation between species. [1]  This suggests the studied bed bug populations did not undergo a genetic bottleneck from insecticide control during the 1940s and 1950s as one would expect, but instead, that populations may have been maintained on other hosts such as birds and bats.  In contrast to the high amount of genetic variation observed with the mitochondrial DNA marker, no genetic variation in a nuclear RNA marker was observed.  This suggests increased gene flow of previously isolated bed bug populations, and given the absence of barriers to gene flow, the spread of insecticide resistance may be rapid.

1. ^ Szalanski, A.L., J.W. Austin, J.A. McKern, C.D. Steelman, and R.E. Gold. 2008. Mitochondrial and ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS1) diversity of the bed bug Cimex lectularius L. (Heteroptera: Cimicidae). Journal of Medical Entomology 45: 229-236. [5]
 
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