Studies on Pyrethroid Resistance in Cimex lectularius (Hemiptera: Cimicidae), in Berlin, Germany

Abstract

Pyrethroid-resistance in bed bugs, Cimex lectularius, has been described in many countries, but upto now, for Germany no data are available. However, pest control companies increasingly report difficulties incontrolling bed bugs with pyrethroids. In the present study four bed bug strains were collected from infestedapartments in Berlin and reared in the laboratory without insecticide selection pressure. In this work bed bugcolonies are referred to as strains, which denotes their origin but individuals within a strain and not geneticallyuniform. A filter contact bioassay was developed and susceptibility of the collected bed bug strains againstdeltamethrin was determined in comparison to a pyrethroid susceptible laboratory strain. Resistance ratios,calculated from LD50-values were between Rr 3.8 and Rr 5.1. Molecular studies regarding two mutations V419Land L925I in the voltage gated sodium channel á?subunit gene, which have been reported to be involved inknockdown resistance (kdr) in bed bugs collected from the USA, were also performed. Pyrosequencing of genomicDNA fragments showed the presence of mutation L925I in each of the four studied field populations with allelefrequencies between 30% and 59%, while it was not detectable in the laboratory strain. Furthermore, none of thetested strains had the substitution V419L. The results demonstrate that decreased pyrethroid susceptibility of bedbugs is present in Germany but resistance levels are considerably lower than reported from the USA and Australia.Quelle: Studies on Pyrethroid Resistance in Cimex lectularius (Hemiptera: Cimicidae), in Berlin, Germany / Arlette Vander Pan... - graph. Darst. In: Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Urban Pests / Gabi Mueller [Ed.] ; Reiner Pospischil [Ed.] ; William H. Robinson [Ed.]. - Zürich. - (2014), S. 89