Biology and Management of Bed Bugs: Review of Recent Research

Abstract:
The near absence of bed bugs from human dwellings for fifty or more years has left us with limited knowledge of its biology and few answers to eliminate populations. Research findings with relevance to global bed bug management are presented. Monitoring of spontaneous activity of bed bugs demonstrated that this activity is periodical, endogenously generated by circadian clocks and can be entrained by light conditions. Short-term starved adults moved more frequently than long-starved adults. Extremely high levels of resistance to deltamethrin was detected in more than 20 populations collected across the United States indicating that resistance to this insecticideis already widespread. Synergism studies with piperonyl butoxide (PBO) suggested that cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (P450) were involved in deltamethrin resistance. Identification and high frequency of two mutations in the voltage–gated sodium channel a–subunit gene in pyrethroid resistant populations suggested that target site mechanisms may be responsible for pyrethroid resistance in bed bugs. Behavioral studies of bed bugs to insecticides showed that responses vary depending on several factors including the class of insecticide, and the presence of harborages or a heat source. Chlorfenapyr was effective against pyrethroid resistant strains but it had a slow killing action.