Common consumer residual insecticides lack efficacy against insecticide-susceptible and resistant populations of the German cockroach (Blattodea: Ectobiidae)

Abstract

The German cockroach, Blattella germanica (L.) (Blattodea: Ectobiidae), is a ubiquitous pest in affordable housing. They represent a major threat to human health due to their contribution of asthma-exacerbating allergens and the potential to transfer pathogenic microorganisms indoors. Despite well-documented pyrethroid resistance, pyrethroid-based broadcast residual insecticide products are often used by residents to control cockroaches in their homes. Additionally, there is little empirical independent testing of these products. Thus, it remains unclear how effective these commonly used do-it-yourself products are at controlling German cockroaches. This study represents a comprehensive examination of the efficacy of these products with direct, limited, and continuous exposure assays on a variety of common household surfaces on field populations of cockroaches with varying levels of pyrethroid resistance. While most products performed well when applied directly to test insects, mortality was substantially lower across all surfaces with limited exposure (30 min). In continuous exposure assays on a nonporous surface, products took at least 24 hr to cause 100% mortality in a field population, with some products taking up to 5 d to achieve 100% mortality. The findings of this study demonstrate a lack of residual efficacy from common pyrethroid-based consumer-use pesticides products. Given that it is not feasible to find and treat every cockroach in a home directly, the residuality of spray-based formulations is critical for products designed to control German cockroaches. Without residual efficacy, as shown in the consumer aerosol and spray products tested, we expect these products to add little to no value to cockroach control.

Keywords: aerosol insecticides; do-it-yourself pest control; pyrethroids; topical applications.