Bed Bugs Resistant to Pesticides 1000x Normal Dose

One of the big problems associated with the use of pesticides in killing bed bugs, is the resistance many bed bug colonies have developed in the real world as opposed to the lab. Lab grown bed bugs may not have had any exposure to pesticides, so pesticides tested on them often work well. Meanwhile, out in the real world repeated exposures to pesticides (mainly pryethroids) have resulted in genetic mutations in some bed bug colonies that make them extremely resistant to pesticides---in some cases resistant up to 1000x the normal lethal dose. See NPR article and for more detail the full Ohio State University study. This is one of the reasons that we feel heat treatment is such an effective means of exterminating bed bugs. Bed bugs have no heat resistance--you heat them up enough and they will die.