Bedbugs Bite Big Apple in Global Epidemic.
NEW YORK - Legions of tiny blood-sucking bugs are munching their way through the Big Apple, making this the city that never sleeps ... tight. Bedbugs are back, and they're not just rearing their rust-colored heads in New York City. Authorities say it's a global crisis: Exterminators who handled one or two bedbug calls a year are now getting that many in a week, according to the National Pest Management Association.Ain't globalization grand?"There's an epidemic going on throughout the country, and New York seems to be the hotbed," said Jeffrey Eisenberg, a pest control expert.
The elusive critters avoid light and attack in the middle of the night. About the size of an apple seed, a bedbug hides among cracks and crevices in furniture and walls, and can disappear into the edge of a picture frame or between buttons on an alarm clock.
[...] The current generation of exterminators has been caught unaware by these pests, which were all but dormant for decades. The recent comeback is attributed to several factors, primarily an increase in global travel and the banning of potent pesticides like DDT.