What Causes Bed Bug Resistance to Pesticides?

Bed Bug resistance is making it harder than ever to deal with these bugs.  It is a fact that they are becoming resistant to pyrethroids, the most common insecticide used by exterminators.  By learning how the bed bugs become resistant it could someday help drive them out of our homes.

Researchers in Ohio and Mississippi are studying the DNA and RNA of laboratory raised bedbugs.  They want to find insights into how the bugs develop resistance.  These findings are not likely to be of immediate help.  Still, the long term findings could be extremely useful.

Initial findings seem to indicate that long term resistance of the bed bug could be manipulated to make them easier to exterminate.  Findings also indicate that the bugs can develop different levels of resistance.  This means that what kills bedbugs in one area may already be ineffective in other areas.

These studies also indicate that it is probably easier to take steps to avoid an infection than to kill one once it has established a foothold.  More on this article can be found here.

Bed Bug Resistance to Pesticides

The bottom line though is that this resistance to pesticides makes them much harder to exterminate.

And this can get more difficult.  In an average building, there are usually a number of people that won’t let exterminators in even if they have an infestation. Check about neighbors and bed bugs here.

Fortunately, there are natural ways to treat for bed bugs that are safer and non-allergenic.  These include heat, cold, and natural products like diatomaceous earth.  Here is an overview of natural ways to kill bed bugs.