Superbugs: cockroaches becoming immune to insect sprays and nearly impossible to kill
- Roaches are born resistant to toxins they have never encountered, with the immunity developing as quickly as one generation of offspring, researchers say
The shocking study, published on Live Science, concluded the evolution of the German cockroach, also called the Blattella germanica, develops an immunity to new poisons in as quickly as one generation of offspring.
“We didn’t have a clue that something like that could happen this fast,” study co-author Michael Scharf said. “Cockroaches developing resistance to multiple classes of insecticides at once will make controlling these pests almost impossible with chemicals alone.”
The study was conducted in various buildings in central Illinois and Indiana as well as at Purdue’s labs that had roach infestations. Researchers used various combinations of bug sprays and studied several generations of roaches to reach their conclusion.
German cockroaches, which reproduce quickly and scavenge among areas occupied by people, are described in the report as “the species that gives all other cockroaches a bad name”.