Study claims cockroaches have become impossible to kill with insecticide

Although it is true that cockroaches are insects that cause countless headaches, considering that they are animals, just by mentioning them we immediately imagine dirt.

It was recently discovered that cockroaches are becoming increasingly difficult to exterminate. News that will not please anyone. A study carried out by a group of scientists affirms that they have become almost impossible to kill.

This study shows the evolution and resistance that cockroaches have to the types of insecticides on the market to combat them. This study was published in the journal Nature.

In fact, the search for ways to effectively eradicate these annoying insects, scientists from entomologists at Purdue University in Indiana (USA) began an experiment, in which they sought to evaluate the resistance of insects to different pesticides, analyzing the most common species of cockroaches , the Germanic Blattella (photo) or better known as blonde or German cockroaches.

They conducted tests with different insecticides on groups of cockroaches in apartments in the United States in Indiana and Illinois for a period of six months.

The first group was exposed to three classes of pesticides alternated each month, the second group was subjected to a mixture of two insecticides for six months, and the third group had contact with a chemical to which they showed low resistance.

Without a doubt, the most optimal result was that of three pesticides, since this maintained the cockroach population exactly at the beginning. It was also evident that in the other groups there was a significant increase in the population that worsened due to the crossing of the insects, since they showed more resistance.

That is, the insects born under these tests were tolerant to the chemicals to which their parents had been exposed and to others.

Tolerance increased 4- to 6-fold in a single generation, said Michael Scharf, who led the research, saying "we had no idea this was possible." The resistance of these insects to multiple exposed insecticides is said to make their control nearly impossible with these chemicals alone, Scharf predicted.

In addition, I point out that management must be done in an integrated way to control them, and recommends combining them with chemicals and traps that can eliminate them.

These insects can be a threat to health, as they are vectors of a high number of bacteria, including E. coli and salmonella. saliva, feces, and body parts can cause asthma and allergies in children and adults.