Assessment of Conventional Insecticides against Common Bed Bugs Cimex Hemipterus (Hemiptera: Cimicidae) in Jeddah Province, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Bed bugs, Cimex hemipterus (Hemiptera: Cimicidae) are small insects that are considered public health pests and cause many health and economic problems. The efficacy of Organophosphorus insecticides (Safrotin and Actikill) and pyrethroids (Project and Cyper Safe) in controlling C. hemipterus adults and nymphs were investigated using contact and dipping methods. The WHO protocol was followed for insecticides application. The results of the current study showed that the project pesticide from the pyrethroids group gave the highest effectiveness against bed bugs, as the value of the concentration that killed 50% (LC50) of insects was of the adults (264.8, 337.5 ppm) when using dipping and contact methods, respectively. while the LC50 value when applying the two methods of the same insecticide against nymphs was 254.7 and 329.3ppm, respectively. However, Safrotin the more effective organophosphorus insecticide. The dipping method was more effective than the contact method for all insecticides, and the nymphs were more susceptible than the adults (LC50= 1502.6 and 1065.28ppm). The pesticides can be arranged in descending order according to their effect as follows: Project> Cyper Safe > Safrotin > Actikill. Our findings suggest that bed bugs in Jeddah Province may have developed resistance to common pesticides used in public health pest management programs. For this reason, this study recommends a periodic evaluation of the effectiveness of pesticides to be used during emergency pest outbreaks