A recent article in the Journal of Medical Entomology finds deltamethrin resistance in a New York City bed bug population:
The NY-BB population was 264-fold more resistant to 1% deltamethrin in contact bioassay compared with an insecticide-susceptible population collected in Florida (FL-BB).
Yoon KS, Kwon DH, Strycharz JP, Hollingsworth CS, Lee SH, et al. (2008) Biochemical and Molecular Analysis of Deltamethrin Resistance in the Common Bed Bug (Hemiptera: Cimicidae). Journal of Medical Entomology: Vol. 45, No. 6 pp. 1092–1101 DOI:10.1603/0022-2585(2008)45[1092:BAMAOD]2.0.CO;2
The article tells us where NY-BB came from:
A hard-to-control (putatively resistant to deltamethrin) bed bug population (NY-BB) collected from infested residential buildings, including apartments and houses, in New York City, NY, was provided by Gregory Zarek (Vice President, Metro Pest Control, Glendale, NY).
NY-BB, fresh from the bed bug wars in our city, vs FL-BB, fresh from a jar, a 20-plus-year-old lab population. I have to make an effort to imagine the people living in homes where resistant bed bugs are collected for researchers. The intractable cases. I think about them to get through some difficult reading sometimes. Each one of those bed bugs, NY-BB, agents of misery.
Median lethal time was 19.1 minutes for the Florida bed bugs and 5,048.2 minutes (that’s three and a half days) for the NYC bed bugs.
What is interesting here, well, two things. The study is really about DNA sequencing to find the genetic mutation that is the likely cause of this type of resistance; the study found two candidate mutations. They’re called kdr-type mutations—they cause knockdown resistance. For once, a fairly easy to understand concept: in this type of resistance, insects have nerve insensitivity at the pesticide target site and… don’t get knocked down. (Apologies if that causes an ear worm!)
As is often the case, cherchez le DDT:
Because DDT has been used indiscriminately to control many insect pest species including bed bug, the widespread and frequent use of DDT is likely to have predisposed bed bug populations to pyrethroid resistance through the neuronal insensitivity mechanism.
The other thing that’s interesting is simply the fact that this is another study about deltamethrin. What a sorry pesticide. Other pyrethroids are equally useless against resistant populations of bed bugs, but for some reason deltamethrin really gets the research ink. (Consider, for example, this article (PDF) (Haynes et al (2008). I confess that I worried for days and days after reading it. It’s not just resistance, but behavioral avoidance, or repellency. Bad things that make things worse.)
So, the question clearly is, who is minding the resistance shop?
When Clive Boase told us that:
We should be able to discuss and address resistance issues in a practical way, and importantly should be developing ways to manage the use of insecticides to slow the onset of resistance before it appears. Resistance management techniques are reasonably well established and warrant open discussion with the key players in pest control.
I missed the opportunity, didn’t I? I should have asked what these resistance management techniques are and who are the stewards of these management principles.
There’s no one to complain to. This dysfunctional situation just is.
These pages may be of related interest:
The university’s press release likely does a better job of discussing the findings of this study than I did.
Sans emotion, too… (;
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