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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.”

While bed bugs are not known, at present, to carry any disease pathogens, they are still an important emerging public health issue. And, with ever-increasing news coverage of the bed bug resurgence, the general public — your clients and potential clients — easily can become alarmed and confused. As a result, the need to stay well informed about the health and medical impacts of bed bugs is more vital than ever in dealing with customers’ concerns.

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.

Read more about Inbreeding Reason for Bedbug Spread, Study Says at: Foxnews.com

Despite the availability of information, most Americans still have misconceptions about bed bugs, according to the recent Bed Bugs in America survey from the National Pest Management Association (NPMA). Nearly half of the respondents to the NPMA survey incorrectly believed that bed bugs carry disease.

So do bed bugs carry disease? In a word — No. The answer is really that straightforward, for now. Research on the public health effects of bed bugs has been limited over the past several decades. As the bed bug population declined, so did the research about them. With the current resurgence, the scientific community is working to catch up.

Beyond disease transmission, Americans have other fears about the physical health impacts of bed bugs. According to NPMA’s Bed Bugs in America survey, the fear of getting bitten tops the list of the public’s concerns. In reality, bed bug bites are a nuisance, but physical reactions to them vary greatly.

Be informed and prevent bed bugs from invading your homes. Visit BedBugBully.com

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