Insight Pharmaceuticals recently released a list of what they believe to be the top 10 cities that are infested with bed bugs in North America.  Starting from the top infested city: Columbus, Ohio; New York (yay, NYC, at the number 2 spot!); Toronto, Canada; Bloomington, Indiana; Manchester, New Hampshire; San Francisco, California; Durham, North Carolina; Vancouver, Canada; Chicago, Illinois; Denver, Colorado.

With the recent news reports of major retailers and an advertisement agency in New York City being plagued by bed bugs, it was only a matter of time before the finger pointing game began.  As I suspected, customers are now being blamed for bringing the infestations into the retail establishments.

The simple fact is that it may never be known where the bed bugs originated from.  Did an employee inadvertently transport them to work?  Perhaps a customer who had a bed bug infested home returned items to a store and spread their infestation problem.  Because bed bugs are hitchhikers, bed bugs could have entered any or all of the stores in question, on a shopper or shoppers at any point in time.  Many clothing items are transported from third world countries that are notorious for having bed bugs.  Since bed bugs can go for up to a year without a blood meal, and are excellent hitchhikers, bed bugs can easily enter the retail supply chain via other countries.

New York City customers are being advised to carefully inspect any clothing they buy for bed bugs and their translucent looking eggs.  Customers are also advised to dry all of the clothing they purchase on high heat as soon as they arrive home.  That’s good advice for anyone in the United States really.

At the moment, bed bugs are just considered a nuisance pest.  But with evolution being what it is, perhaps they will evolve into something more in the future.  The general public must be diligent and educate themselves in order to try to avoid a bed bug infestation.  Bed bugs are not a do-it-yourself type of pest as they are hard to eradicate.  If you think you have encountered bed bugs or have an infestation, it is wise to contact a licensed pest control specialist who can provide expert bed bug eradication services.