NPMA ePestWorld

Save the date! Academy, the annual summer conference hosted by NPMA, will be held July 19-21 at the Westin Kierland Resort and Spa in Scottsdale, AZ. The Academy is a unique opportunity designed to advance the professional and business development of the industry's leaders and emerging leaders in a hands-on, interactive environment.

The United States structural pest control industry is comprised of an estimated 19,820 pest control firms. Mild summer and winter weather, increased insect pest and rodent pressure, and expanded service offerings for public health pests like mosquitoes, appeared to aid the professional pest control industry this past year. The professional pest control industry generated an estimated $8.175 billion in total service revenue in 2016, a 4.6 percent increase from the $7.815 billion measured in 2015, according to the latest report A Strategic Analysis of the U.S. Structural Pest Control Industry from Specialty Consultants, LLC.

Pest management professionals battling the ongoing resurgence of bed bugs are wise to employ a well-rounded set of measures that reduces reliance on chemical control, as new research shows the early signs of resistance developing among bed bugs to two commonly used insecticides, chlorfenapyr and bifenthrin.

Experts at the National Pest Management Association (NPMA) say due to the mild winter and periodic heavy precipitation, Americans should expect a very buggy spring and summer. The prediction was posted in NPMA’s annual Bug Barometer report.

In a research essay published last week in the Journal of Economic Entomology, Robert Owen argues that human activity is a key driver in the spread of pathogens afflicting the European honey bee (Apis mellifera) and recommends a series of collective actions necessary to stem their spread.

Last year's Zika outbreak came as a surprise. That won’t happen again. Public health officials are prepared for the mosquito-borne disease that last year infected more than 5,000 people in the U.S.and hundreds of thousands more worldwide.

Ticks, mosquitoes and other pests may be especially abundant and invasive this spring in the Northeast, according to the Bug Barometer, a bi-annual report produced by the National Pest Management Association.