'Super Bed Bugs' Starting to Emerge? 5 Ways to Control These Pests Naturally
Some people find it even harder to sleep tight now that bed bugs bites are getting annoying than ever.
In a new study, published in the Journal of Medical Entomology on Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016, researchers found out that bed bugs have developed some form of resistance even to the most widely used pesticides today, according to a press release from EurekAlert.
"While we all want a powerful tool to fight bed bug infestations, what we are using as a chemical intervention is not working as effectively it was designed and, in turn, people are spending a lot of money on products that aren't working," said Troy Anderson, an assistant professor of entomology in the Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
For the study, the researchers monitored three groups of bed bugs and exposed them to neonicotinoids, or neonics, which is a class of insecticides that is the most widely-used in the world today. In order to enhance its potency against bed bugs, neonics are often mixed with another class of commonly-used insecticides called pyrethroids.
The researchers took into account bed bugs collected from residential areas in Cincinnati and Michigan that have been exposed to neonics; a colony of bed bugs that has been in isolation for 30 years and were not exposed to these insecticides; and another group of pyrethroid-resistant bugs taken from New Jersey that had not been exposed to neonics, as well.
It only took just 0.3 nanograms of a certain type of neonics to terminate about 50 percent of the population from the 30-year-isolated colony, but it took 10,000 nanograms to kill 50 percent of those taken from Michigan and Cincinnati.
"The insects produce detoxifying enzymes, and they use them to detoxify and this is one of the mechanisms they might be using to counter the insecticide effect," study lead author Dr Alvaro Romero, who is also an assistant professor of entomology at the New Mexico State University, told the BBC News.
Anderson added that because these insecticides are no longer as effective as they were designed to be, there is now a need for reassessment in the approach used when it comes to the fight against these pests.
Meanwhile, here are five ways to naturally get rid of bed bugs courtesy of Let How:
- Use vacuum cleaners to get rid of bed bugs
- Use lavender oil as effective repellents
- Steam clean your fabrics
- Encase your mattresses and pillows
- Spray isopropyl alcohol to the area