The bedbugs that have started showing up seemingly everywhere are getting more and more resistant to pesticides, experts say. In other words, spraying might not be enough.
A study by entomologists at Ohio State University found that the bedbugs appear to have quickly generated higher levels of enzymes that can help rid them of poisonslike pesticides. Another study, at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, found that bedbugs in New York City have grown 250 times more resistant to pesticides than bedbugs in Florida.
The bedbugs dont present a significant health risk other than possibly provoking a non-fatal allergic reaction in some people they bite. But theres a big yuck factor attached to them, especially since they usually burrow in beds.
Recent changes in bedbugs include the increased levels of enzymes, a thicker shell that can withstand once-lethal sprays of pesticide, and nerve cells that can better endure toxic substances.
Ironically, these changes evolve as defenses against increasingly lethal substances, just as infections are proving more resistant to antibiotics and weeds have grown immune to herbicides. Referring to the bedbugs, entomologist Michael Siva-Jothy of the University of Sheffield in the UK, said, There is a phenomenal level of resistance, and it has evolved very recently.
Researchers hope that a better understanding of the bugs biochemical system can help develop more effective means of control.
