As if dealing with bedbugs in your home wasn’t bad enough, there are now creatures crawling about called super-bedbugs. They are bedbugs which are resistant to chemicals designed to kill them — so bedbugs are now immortal. Fantastic.
According to a study from the Journal of Medical Entomology, scientists tested neonicotinoid chemicals on four bedbug populations, two that had recently been collected from the wild, and two that had spent a few decades in the lab.
They found that neonicotinoids–a synthetic form of nicotine that overload bedbugs’ nerves–killed 100 percent of the long ago collected populations, but only killed less than 30 percent of the recently collected ones. They believe that the newer bedbugs developed mutations that make it harder for the chemicals to bind to their nicotine receptors.
These scientists, therefore, recommend nuking these super-bedbugs with multiple types of chemicals. Just to be safe, though, never stay in a hotel or board a plane or go to your friend’s house ever again. If you must leave your house, though, Wikihow and USA Today have handy guides on how to check for bedbugs in your hotel room (latex gloves, flashlights, and a screwdriver to remove wall outlets are your friends, basically), and how to pack so that you don’t bring them home with you. We would strongly recommend using these guides to do a sweep of your surroundings every few minutes, instead of doing any sightseeing or getting any work done ever again.
(via Mic)
