Bedbug infestations on rise across U.S.

- For Benton, a 31-year-old graduate student, the bedbugs sparked a seven-month battle that included bug bombs and the tossing out of his and his fiancee's bedroom furniture.
They gave up and moved out of their apartment in New York and eventually moved back to their native Memphis, Tenn. Benton said the bugs essentially drove them out of New York because they couldn't sleep knowing the bugs may be anywhere.
"The main part of it is psychological trauma that they create because of the idea that they are feeding on you at night," Benton said. "It's still hard to talk about if it's anywhere near bedtime." -

Bedbugs are turning up in hospitals, schools, movie theaters, health clubs. Recent reports put them in a New Jersey college dorm and a Los Angeles hotel — where one guest filed a $5 million lawsuit. Apartment tenants have taken landlords to court over infestations.

The current generation of exterminators has been caught unaware by these pests, which were all but forgotten for decades. They blame the comeback on several factors, primarily increased global travel and the banning of potent pesticides like DDT.

“We feel like we’re starting from scratch,” said Eisenberg, who returned this weekend from a conference where bedbugs were a top priority. “The only thing we know is that we don’t know anything.”

The tiny vermin avoid light and attack in the middle of the night. About the size of a flattened apple seed, they hide in cracks and crevices in furniture and walls.

They’re efficient and active travelers, often hitching rides on clothing and jumping from host to host when people brush up against each other on the subway, in elevators or on crowded streets.

And they invade even the cleanest apartments and swankiest neighborhoods.

“We’ve always had pests in New York City — we have rats, cockroaches, et cetera — but bedbugs are new,” said city Councilwoman Gail Brewer, who is calling for a bedbug task force. “We’re not doing a good job focusing on it.”