Bed bugs are continuing to spread throughout the United States.   They have now been spotted in all 50 States.  Blame it on international travel, lack of education, or the lack of DDT use.  Does it really matter anyways?  The fact is that they are here and the big question is…Are New York City bed bugs now becoming immune to pesticides?  I sure hope not!  There are already too many bed bugs living among us. 

Toxicologist John Clark at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has researched different insecticides to see how bed bugs are reacting.  His studies included bed bugs collected from various parts of the United States.  The bad news is that the bed bugs from New York City continued to thrive when they were treated with certain chemicals.  Bed bugs from other states did not show this resistance and died after treatment.

According to Clark, the bed bugs in New York have developed mutations in their nerve cells that are preventing many pesticides from working.   His findings indicate that NYC bed bugs are as much as 264 times more resistant to certain types of insecticides than other bed bugs used in the study.   That could explain why they are spreading like wildfire in NYC.

Please check back on Thursday for the conclusion to this post.