Professor Rutgers University New Brunswick, New Jersey
The common bed bug (Cimex lectularius L.) is experienced a worldwide resurgence during the last two decades. Insecticide resistance has been attributed to one of the factors. This study is aimed to profile the resistance levels of field-collected C. lectularius populations to two neonicotinoids and one pyrethroid insecticide and the performance of selected insecticide sprays and a dust. The susceptibility of 12 C. lectularius populations to acetamiprid, imidacloprid, and deltamethrin was assessed with a discriminating dose (10 × LD90 of the respective chemical against a laboratory strain). The RR50 based on KT50 values for acetamiprid and imidacloprid ranged from 1.0-4.7 except for Linden 2019 population which had RR50 of ≥ 76.9. Seven populations had very high level of resistance to deltamethrin with RR50 values of > 160. The performance of three insecticide mixture sprays and two insecticide dusts were evaluated against three C. lectularius populations. The performance ratio of Transport GHP (acetamiprid + bifenthrin), Temprid SC (imidacloprid + β-cyfluthrin), and Tandem (thiamethoxam + λ-cyhalothrin) based on LC90 were 900-2017, 55-129, and 100-196. Five-minute exposure to CimeXa (92.1% amorphous silica gel) caused > 95% mortality to all populations at 72 h post-treatment. According to this study, silica dust may be used for controlling resistant bed bug populations.