A scourge of mankind since caveman days, the wingless creatures all but disappeared in the United States after World War II, when the widespread use of DDT and other powerful insecticides apparently spelled their doom.

A general shunning of such chemicals in recent times, and a surge in international business and tourism travel, are most often identified as responsible for the re-emergence, which some say has not yet even peaked.

“It’s going to get worse,” said University of Kentucky urban entomology professor Michael Potter, a scientist not given to hyperbole or melodrama. “We’re in for some very, very interesting times.”

Just how interesting will be hard to quantify, however.

No one is counting the number of infestations nationwide. Because the insects are not believed to spread diseases, there is no federal requirement for city or state public-health departments to report the number of cases they come across. Only a few local health agencies even keep track of the problem in their own jurisdictions.

Pest-control companies provide one of the few gauges available, and they portray a fast-growing market for their services, driven in part by increasing public awareness of the long-forgotten insect, which usually are the size and oval shape of an apple seed, though often flatter.

Industry giant Orkin, Inc. says “bed bugs” is the No. 1 search term it registers on www.orkincommercial.com, and reports that the number of states in which its exterminators have done battle with the bugs jumped from 35 in 2003 to 48 now. (The two missing states are the Dakotas, where Orkin has no outlets, Meek said.)

I’m glad to see the article commenting on how the government is not tracking infestations (as I believe it should be).

It’s no surprise that the article reports Orkin has now had bed bug cases in every state except the Dakotas, where they have no outlets. (Other reports have said all 50 states are experiencing bed bug infestations, so I hope someone is experienced in dealing with them in the Dakotas!)

Another unscientific measure of the problem is an assortment of Web sites operated as victim-support groups, such as www.bedbugger.com, where the afflicted trade tips and tales of woe.

No press is bad press, and I’m glad the Knoxville News did research on our site. I prefer the term “bed bug warrior” to “victim,” though I’ll take the latter if it means people see having to live with bed bugs as a crime, unfair, and something that must be stopped at once!

From these and other sources, a picture emerges of the proliferation of bed bugs — and it is not a pleasant one. Many distraught travelers and tenants describe their experiences as life-changing episodes that leave them emotionally scarred, saddled with hundreds of dollars in exterminating bills, perpetually cleaning, and scared to sleep or travel. Some report suffering with more than 100 bites.

As an example of a “victim’s” experience of bed bugs, the article says,

Listen to “Selma B.,” of Cincinnati, who moved to escape an infestation: “I am still freaked about this. I am convinced my new apartment will get infested. To my friends, I compared this to having a fire destroy all of your possessions. What little things you might get to keep, you have to clean it like a crazy person. It’s just as devastating as a fire, but a fire doesn’t usually come back,” she wrote in January on one Web site.

Oddly enough, after having already mentioned Bedbugger, Hoffman decided not to mention that this was the site where Selma B. had left her comments in January. She’s the sixth commenter on one of Jess’s posts, here. I am glad this reporter read our site so extensively, even if she did not attribute that quotation to one of our commenters. The important thing is that the message gets across about how bad bed bugs are. “100 bites” is the tip of the iceberg: some Bedbuggers have lived with bed bugs for months and months. I don’t think people can fathom what that means, unless they’ve gone through this for even a few weeks.

Lisa Hoffman also covers bed bugs today in Scripps News, where she mentions PCO Sean’s helpful bed bug resource. Congratulations, Sean!

• Tampa Bay and Southwest Florida residents: do not use the DE from your pool
• And so, it gets worse: bed bugs on the move
• FAQ: I am not in the US. Can you tell me where to buy XL ziplocs, or what mattress covers are called in my country?
• Bed bugs in Seattle

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First, WLNS of Lansing, Michigan warns that bed bugs are the pest of the 21st century, that they “wreak havoc on your skin and your life,” their incidence has increased 75% n five years (oh, I’d say much more than that), and fighting an infestation is costly, upwards of $300 per room. After scaring the living bejaysus out of the good (Lansonians? Lansineers?), what one, tiny pithy nugget of practical advice do they give?

When returning from a trip, experts say it’s a good idea to vacuum out your suitcase.

Well, it’s not bad advice, but is that the only thing you’ve got for us WLNS? Looks like your readers might need them a few Bedbugger FAQs.

WVLT in Tennessee also seems to have latched on to the phrase “bug of the 21st century.” (All right, which entomologist let that one out of the bag? Well, if it replaces that nursery-rhyme mumbo-jumbo, then we’re on to a good thing, I guess.)

More suggestions here, including suitcase-vacuuming (again, I’m sensing a pattern here), and the warning to those who are thinking it’s a bedsheet issue,

If you’re leaving for a trip, don’t think taking your own bedding will help. They live in the mattress.

Just make sure and check the bed before bringing your stuff to the room.

Well, sorta, but not quite: they also live in the baseboards, bed frame, electrical sockets, light fixtures, ceiling, floor, and sofa, among other places. The information is more plentiful for Tennessee than for Lansing, Michigan, but the quality is a bit hit-or-miss. They’re obsessed with bed bugs being “in the mattress,” but they also warn people not to toss vacuum bags in the trash, and so on. (Tennesee is also playing a bit fast and loose with the rules of punctuation, spelling, and grammar, so compulsive proofreaders and your high school English teacher should steer clear!)

OSU’s student paper The Lantern reports that an infested grad student dorm at Ohio State University is getting some serious “fumigation” in response to bed bugs. The collection of all students’ non-washable belongings—isolated, bagged, placed in red carts—sounds promising. It’s a bit mysterious what will happen to that stuff (in the red carts, they have to be red carts!), but hopefully it will be picked through with a fine-toothed comb by PCOs with bed bug knowledge, and returned.

If this is so, and if OSU also follows up at 10-14 day intervals (follow-up was not mentioned at all in the article), this would not be unlike the Stanford bed bug protocol, which we believe to be the best reported in any response to college dorm bed bugs. (You can scroll down this list to see past coverage on Bedbugger of Stanford bed bug cases, and gawk at the love fest I’ve put on for Stanford upon hearing the descriptions of how San Francisco’s Crane PCO and the Stanford admin dealt with those cases. It’s beautiful, really.) I only note this because reports have also come from many other colleges of poor bed bug procedures.

Update 5/25: 100 rooms on 3 floors are being treated. Bed bugs were found on the 9th and 11th floors, and they’re treating the 10th as well. (What about the 8th?)

Finally, Australians appear to have been battling bed bugs a wee bit longer than those of us in the US. (Canada, too, a bit ahead in the Bed Bug Olympics.) So no surprise that they’re at the forefront of innovation: this dry steamer does the bed bug killing job, without getting your stuff all wet (that’s dry steam, i.e. no mold!) Their website says,

Duplex Cleaning Machines has a variety of industrial and commercial strength steam products to tackle bed bug epidemic including the Jet Steam, Tosca and JetVac range.

The JetVac Professional Plus is an ideal solution to the bed bug problem as it delivers 160°+ Dry Steam with a tool which applies the steam evenly without blowing the bugs away and then also vacuums away the dead bugs and their eggs.

Wait, they have a steamer named Tosca? Puccini must be tossing in his grave.

But the question on everyone’s mind: when will my PCO have one? I can just see it now, integrated pest management: first, they bring in the bed bug dog. Then the dry steaming and caulking. And finally, the chemical and mechanical onslaught begins. Well, the bug of the 21st century needs the PCO of the 21st century, no?

• Stanford bed bugs: university fights back
• Stanford still fighting bed bugs
• Stanford U bed bugs: being fought with enthusiasm and wisdom
• bedbugs at Stanford University dorms (again)

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