THE DAILY MAIL - A new harder-to-kill species of bed bug is invading the US, experts say — and may already have taken up residence in many northern cities. Once confined to countries near the equator, the species known as Ci mex hemipterus — or the tropical bed bug — has already been confirmed in Florida and Hawaii. Unlike the common bed bug, the blood-sucking insect is resistant to virtually all insecticides — likely thanks to their rampant overuse against mosquitoes. Its body composition means it is also able to evade traps like smooth-walled pitfall traps, which are set up underneath bed legs to catch the critters.
It comes as outbreaks of the pest are rising in as many as 50 countries. Across the US, the cities experiencing the most outbreaks are in the Mid-West. Entomologists at the University of California , Riverside, revealed the worrying spread of the blood-sucking critter in an article published in the Annual Review of Entomology. While nearly all cases were restricted to deprived areas of Africa and Asia after the mass use of insecticides nearly eradicated them in the wake of the Second World War, the insects have now 'resurged' and spread back into parts of Europe and America.