Bed bugs have been the bane of anyone who had to live in populated city areas. While these insects are not known to spread any fatal disease, being bitten by one is cumbersome and it takes a toll on a person's day. Because of the widespread bed bug infestation, scientists have taken it upon themselves to study possible solutions to inconvenient bed bugs. However, recently these researchers have come across a startling discovery.
According to entomologists from the U.S. bed bugs have developed a stronger resistance to neonicotinoids - one of the last insecticides known to be effective in killing the bugs. Professor Stephen Doggett, a bed bug expert based in Australia, has since spoken out about what he thinks the reason for the bed bugs development. Doggett suggests that when a species develop a resistance to a certain insecticide, they also develop a resistance towards the entire class the particular insecticide belongs to.
"There's not form of resistance, there's multiple forms of resistance. When we get one form of resistance particularly the metabolic form that confers resistance to a whole range of insecticide classes" explained the Professor.
Professor Doggett has since presented possible solutions to curb the bed bug pandemic. The professor suggests non-chemical means to kill these pests.
"We need proper pest control, we need the appropriate use of non-chemical means and some of these inorganic compounds, like silicas, to be used widely."
Elsewhere, geneticists from New York have mapped out the genome of bed bugs in the city and according to their research the DNA of these pests can be traced through the subway system.
Christopher Mason, a scientist involved in the project, have since explained the trend of bed bug pandemic can be traced through the subway line. In Manhattan, subway lines from north to south not east to west which explains bed bugs from the Upper East Side and Upper West Side have more differences in genome. He is hopeful that his research would cater to developing better insecticides or blood thinners.
