Bed Bugs: No Area Unbitten!

Forget Twilight vampires, the bloodsucking scourge that is spreading like wildfire in the United States is the bed bug:

The tiny, sneaky insects are spreading so rapidly across the United States that almost no region or area is unbitten, a new survey suggests. Calls to exterminators nationwide about bed bugs are up 57 percent nationwide in the last five years, according to a new survey by the National Pest Management Association and the University of Kentucky. More than 95 percent of 519 U.S. exterminators participating in the survey reported finding at least one bed bug infestation in the past year.

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Previously on Neatorama: Bedbugs attack Hollister | What's Eatin' You?

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I blame Bush.

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I've experience this frustrating phenomenon, and I've read about in numerous press outlets. The one thing that I haven't seen addressed is the question of: why now? Bedbugs have been here all along, but what accounts for this sudden insurgency? The weather? Evolution? The economy? There has to be a reason why this is happening now rather than 10 or 20 years ago.

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Don't cockroaches eat bedbugs? I think I'd rather have roaches than bloodsucking bedbugs.

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Unfortunately, SuperCrap, most bedbugs are now resistant to DDT - in fact studies done in Africa suggest DDT makes them more active.

You do have a point though, if DDT was used to properly eradicate them before it was banned we wouldn't be having this issue.

Further, I suspect that part of the reason for this influx is people being "green" and washing their bedding in cold water (with cold water detergents and high efficiency washers). Items with bedbugs on them need to be washed in very hot water. When everyone washed their bedding in hot water it likely killed off many infestations before people even knew there was one.