Bed Bug Populations Research Articles

Medical and Veterinary Entomology

A global resurgence of bed bugs (Hemiptera: Cimicidae) has led to renewed scientific interest in these insects. The current bed bug upsurge appears to have started almost synchronously in the late 1990s in Europe, the U.S.A. and Australia. Several factors have led to this situation, with resistance to applied insecticides making a significant contribution. With a growing number of insecticides (DDT, carbamates, organophosphates etc.) being no longer available as a result of regulatory restrictions, the mainstay chemistry used for bed bug control over the past few decades has been the pyrethroid insecticides. With reports of increasing tolerance to pyrethroids leading to control failures on the rise, containing and eradicating bed bugs is proving to be a difficult task. Consequently, several recent studies have focused on determining the mode of action of pyrethroid resistance in bed bug populations sourced from different locations. Correct identification of the factor(s) responsible for the increasing resistance is critical to the development of effective management strategies, which need to be based, wherever possible, on firm scientific evidence. Here we review the literature on this topic, highlighting the mechanisms thought to be involved and the problems currently faced by pest control professionals in dealing with a developing pandemic.

Permethrin Aerosol Concentrate for Control of Bed Bogs in Chicken Breeder Hodses, 1983

Abstract Ectiban 5.7% EC was applied undiluted as an aerosol concentrate by electric mist fogger (Challenger Fogmaster, AFA Corp. Miami, Fla) to interior surfaces of two ca. 50 by 500 to 600 ft chicken breeder houses. The fogger was hand held to direct the EC-droplet air blast in a swath across posts, roosting platforms, nest boxes, walls and ceilings, providing both a residual surface treatment and an aerosol fogging. Both houses were treated twice at 14- day intervals; one-half of 1 house that was divided in two sections was a non-treated check for the first treatment. The effect of treatment on bed bug populations was assessed by (1) counting numbers of bed bugs in natural harborages before and after treatment; (2) assessing mortality in sentinel bed bugs exposed to aerosol vapor in vials screened at one end and set out in each house; and (3) bioassay of bed bugs against plywood surfaces that received treatment in breeder houses.

Resistance to Dieldrin of Cimex hemipterus (Fabricius)

THE first report of resistance to dieldrin by the tropical bed-bug, Cimex hemipterus, in East Africa was that by Smith1. In observations made during the course of the Pare-Taveta Malaria Control Scheme, it was reported2 that the bed-bug population was reduced to very low numbers following the first dieldrin spray (first treatment of 80 mgm. dieldrin/sq. ft. followed by subsequent treatments of 40mgm./sq.ft. at eight-month intervals), but 14–19 months after this treatment the bed-bugs were present in sufficient numbers to be considered of nuisance value. In a series of laboratory tests it was shown that whereas bed-bugs from an untreated area were all dead after a seven-day exposure to 0.1 per cent dieldrin using a method suggested by Busvine3, there was only an 18 per cent mortality for a similar exposure time among bed-bugs from the treated area.