Bedbugs are not staying in bed. over the past year, the parasites have infested movie theaters, department stores, motels, even Victoria’s Secret. In New York City, complaints about bedbugs more than doubled between 2006 and 2009. In September the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency issued a joint paper informing the public how to combat these pests.
Researchers blame the rapid spread of bedbugs on increased international travel and the bugs’ growing resistance to certain pesticides. The ban on DDT probably also played a role. DDT sticks around for a long time in the environment; this made it particularly effective against bedbugs, which can live a year without feeding. Whatever the reason for the invasion, we weren’t ready for it. “No one since the 1950s has had bedbugs on his mind,” says Louis Sorkin, an entomologist at the American Museum of Natural History. “Public education ...
