Geographical patterns and mechanisms of Cimex lectularius Linnaeus, 1758, and Cimex hemipterus Fabricius, 1803 (Hemiptera: Cimicidae) resistance to insecticides: a systematic review and meta-analysis

This study aimed to review published scientific literature on bed bugs in countries where insecticide resistance has been reported worldwide from 2000 to 2021. Electronic databases, including Scopus, PubMed, and WOS, were searched. Out of 606 articles found in the initial search, we selected 57 articles, of which 40 articles had reported on Cimex lectularius ( C. lectularius ), and 22 papers had reported on Cimex hemipterus ( C. hemipterus ). Most studies on insecticide resistance were carried out on C. lectularius in North America (14, 35%) and C. hemipterus in Asia (16, 72.7%). The most common method used to detect bed bug resistance to insecticides was toxicological bioassay with an overall random pooled effect size of 0.38 (95% CI: 0.23–0.53) in C. lectularius and 0.46 (95% CI: 0.27–0.65) in C. hemipterus . Resistance to pyrethroids was reported against C. lectularius with an overall pooled effect size of 0.75 (95% CI: 0.56–0.94) and C. hemipterus with an overall pooled effect size of 0.81 (95% CI: 0.57–0.93) in 33.40 (82.5%) and 19.22 (86.3%) published articles, respectively. A very high resistance level to pyrethroids in both studied species was observed, and resistance ratios at the highest level were 76389.3 and 315.5 in C. lectularius and C. hemipterus , respectively. Resistance mechanisms against pyrethroids were reported from most locations except Iran and Thailand, but these mechanisms were not studied in other insecticide groups. These reports indicate that chemical control options for bed bugs are limited. Therefore, a combination of chemical and non-chemical strategies is recommended for bed bug control.