Bed Bugs Inbreeding Responsible For Resurgence

Jan. 3, 2012 - PRLog -- Not only do they infest your bedrooms, suck your blood and leave itching wounds in their wake, bed bugs apparently have begun to inbreed. New research on the pest’s ability to “withstand the genetic bottleneck of inbreeding” was announced Tuesday by the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. The populations don’t collapse and die off with increased inbreeding; in fact, they thrive.

The trait explains the growing problem of infestations around the world. After disappearing from the U.S. in the fifties, the bed bug has made an aggressive return to homes across the country in the past decade and is being seen in homes more and more.

Researchers discover an unexpected explanation for why the parasitic bloodsuckers are so difficult to eradicate: It's all in the family. Why are bedbugs so difficult to get rid of? One of the keys to the annoying resiliency of the bloodsucking, parasitic insects may be their ability to produce healthy offspring even when they mate with close relatives, according to a new study from North Carolina State University. Here's what you should know about the irritating insects' "secret weapon".

Read more about Inbreeding: Why bedbugs are so hard to kill
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"Bedbugs aren’t just sleeping with you. They’re sleeping with each other. Researchers now say that the creepy bugs have a special genetic gift:"

"withstanding incest. It turns out that unlike most creatures, bedbugs are able to inbreed with close relatives and still produce generally healthy offspring. That means that if just a few bedbugs survive in a building after treatment, they repopulate quickly."

"Bedbugs — and other insects — develop resistance to insecticides. If a treatment kills anything less than 100 percent of the bugs, the survivors will not only repopulate, but pass on the resistance they’ve developed to future generations. The problems we are seeing with bedbugs in North America did not happen overnight. at the moment, we have the highest concentration in the history of our species of humans living in cities. Bedbugs do not have wings; they are nest parasites, so our own population density has helped them to thrive.”

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"Inbreeding may be the secret to the bedbug’s success, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday. After nearly disappearing in the United States, the bloodsucking pests have made a comeback in recent years, quickly infesting apartment buildings and stubbornly resisting common insecticides."

"The city of New York alone spends as much as $40 million a year in bedbug control. A study of bedbug genetics presented on Tuesday at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene meeting in Philadelphia now suggests why."

"A team of entomologists led by Coby Schal and Ed Vargo of North Carolina State University studied the genes of bedbugs infesting three multistory apartment buildings in North Carolina and New Jersey and found very low genetic diversity, meaning most of them were very close relatives."


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Read more about Inbreeding Reason for Bedbug Spread, Study Says at: http://www.bedbugbully.com/inbreeding-bedbugs-hard-kill/
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Researchers at North Carolina State University carried out two studies now under peer review that examined the genetics of the pests from three apartment buildings in North Carolina and New Jersey. They found high levels of relatedness within each apartment and low genetic diversity within each building, which indicates infestations started from just one or two introductions of the bugs. The spread to other apartments is made possible by high levels of inbreeding that still allows viable offspring.

Bedbugs already cost New York City $40 million a year, infesting apartment buildings and causing headaches for tenants and building owners. The parasitic insects, which feed on the blood of their warm-blooded hosts, are a constant source of anxiety, and sometimes embarrassment, for many city dwellers.

The bugs have also developed a resistance to the common insecticide used against them, pyrethroids. The research announced Tuesday also touched on that resistance as well as the need to build better traps and detectors for the pests. Contrary to popular belief, the "wingless, reddish-brown insects" aren't typically transported around on the bodies of people. Instead, bedbugs travel when humans bring infested furniture into their homes. Urbanites should "inspect second-hand furniture carefully" — something to keep in mind  on your next trip to the flea market.

Read more news about bed bugs at: http://www.prlog.org/11758630-extreme-bed-bug-problem-pla...

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