Last Edited: Wednesday, 15 Apr 2009, 8:56 PM EDT
Created On: Wednesday, 15 Apr 2009, 7:07 PM EDT
* From MyFox National Reports
(MYFOX NATIONAL) - Just when you thought it was safe for your kids to sleep peacefully at night comes word bed bugs are making a comeback ... in a big and creepy way.
"Ten years ago we didn't do any treatments. Now our company goes out and does treatments every single day, " entomologist Wayne White said. "[We’re finding] dozens and hundreds and sometimes thousands of bed bugs in homes and apartments," he added.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said five-star hotels, college dorms, homeless shelters and hospital rooms in cities across the country are in trouble, too.
"It's becoming quite a difficult problem for local communities to deal with," EPA official Lois Rossi said.
The EPA has convened a national bed bug summit in Virginia this week, bringing together public health and pest control experts to try and figure out what to do.
"I don't think people really know the real reason for the resurgence. They are resistant to a lot of pesticides that are currently available," Rossi said.
White keeps a colony of bed bugs handy at his pest control shop in Takoma Park, Md. He said it's not easy to tell whether you've got company while you're busy dreaming.
"Bugs are very cryptic ... they're nocturnal ... they love to hide and they're very good at it," he explained.
White advised to look for the evidence of bugs on your mattress, box spring or pillow.
"Dark fecal spots sometimes blood stains from freshly fed but crushed bed bugs [are indicators of them]" according to White.
"If you do have bed bugs, don't throw away your furniture. There are heat and steam techniques, extreme cold techniques, and traditional chemical treatments as well that involve sprays of different sorts," White added.
But he cautioned people not to try to kill bed bugs with pesticides that aren't approved for that use.
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