Blood-Sucking Bedbugs Return

Once thought eradicated in the United States, bedbugs, Cimex lectularius, were identified more than four years ago as a growing problem in high-end American hotels. Blame was attached to increased international travel since tourists bring the bugs home after visiting foreign countries.

In 2004, inadequate control measures were blamed for the continuing growth of bedbug infestations. Environmentally-friendly insect repellents were not working. Estimated cost to the tourism industry at the time was hundreds of millions of dollars.

Jumping forward three years, bedbugs are "going ballistic everywhere," says Michael Potter, a professor of entomology at the University of Kentucky.

Seven years ago, a pest control company may have received one or two bedbug calls a year, according to the National Pest Management Assn. Now there may be 50 or more calls a week.

Western Exterminator Co., which serves California, reported a 240% increase in bedbug work from 2000 to 2006. Isotech Pest Management Inc. in Pomona is conducting about 1,000 inspections a month -- 700% more than last year.

It's "a huge problem," said Isotech owner Mike Masterson, whose staff includes a pair of beagles professionally trained to sniff out bedbugs.

Neither the California Department of Public Health nor county officials keep statistics on what the department recently called a bedbug "resurgence," and the state is surveying local public health agencies to get a handle on the size of the problem.

A number of reasons are cited for the infestations, among them the DDT ban and an increase in international travel. "It's not a case of being a lower socioeconomic thing," said William Brogdon, a research entomologist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "These things can happen to anybody."

Therefore, unless an environmentally-friendly insect repellent is found for bedbugs, expect the critter infestations to spread. Fortunately, bedbugs are not known to carry disease.