Philly overtakes NYC as U.S. bedbug capital

Bedbugs are on the rise across the U.S., but they're especially ascendant in Philadelphia, according to a new city-by-city ranking of infestations.

Wed, Jun 13 2012 at 1:24 PM

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Pesticides, Bed Bugs

GOING TO THE MATTRESSES: Philadelphia is now the No. 1 city in America for bedbug infestations, according to an annual ranking released by Terminix. (Photo: Ben Yanis/Flickr)

New York is still the City That Never Sleeps, but maybe it can rest a little easier now. After two years as the most bedbug-infested city in America, the Big Apple has lost its No. 1 ranking to Philadelphia, according to an annual list published Tuesday.

The dubious honor is bestowed by Terminix, a Memphis-based pest-control firm that compiles bedbug data every year from its 300 branches across the country. The city rankings are created "by evaluating service calls from customers, as well as confirmed cases by service professionals," the company explains in a press release.

Philadelphia wasn't the only city to pass New York in the rankings; Cincinnati moved up to No. 2, pushing NYC down to third. Ohio remains a hotbed of bedbug activity in general, with at least three of its cities — Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland — included in the top 15 for the third year in a row. Chicago and Detroit round out the top five, followed by Washington, Columbus, San Francisco, Denver and New Haven, Conn. The rest of the top 15 are Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis, Miami and Cleveland.

"Bedbugs continue to increase their presence across the U.S.," Terminix entomologist Stoy Hedges says in a statement released Tuesday. "While major metropolitan areas are most at risk, it is important to note that bedbugs have been spotted in cities and towns across the country."

Bedbugs were virtually eliminated from the U.S. last century by DDT, a pesticide that was later banned due to its knack for also killing brown pelicans, bald eagles and other birds. The blood-sucking insects have since staged a nationwide comeback, fueled partly by their growing resistance to a variety of pesticides — including DDT.

Bedbugs live inside buildings and typically come out at night, when they pierce the skin and drink the blood of sleeping humans. Unlike mosquitoes, ticks and other animal vampires, they aren't known to transmit any diseases, although recent research suggests they may be capable of spreading antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

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Comments: 6

Northeastern Ex... Jan 08 2013 at 10:41 PM

These bugs are becoming more of a problem every year. i own a pest control company in brooklyn named northeastern exterminating and we have noticed within the past couple years that our phones are ringing off the hooks with bed bugs quotes and bed bug related questions. It is a very real phenomenon. People need to understand what they are dealing with when it comes to bed bugs. If you have any questions please visit my site http://www.bedbugs-brooklyn.com and ask any questions you may have about

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bed bugs and we will try to answer them for you.

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Read Carefully Jun 20 2012 at 8:03 PM

This information should be read with caution. As indicated in the press release (available by clicking the link provided in the posting), these rankings were determined from customer calls for service and confirmed service cases by professionals at Terminex. This does not indicate that Philadelphia is the city with the most bedbugs, per se, but rather the city in which Terminex has found and confirmed the most cases. These rankings do not include information from other extermination service providers

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let alone undocumented cases. These numbers also do not seem to take into account city size. Or, if they do, this is not presented in the press release. By sheer number of people living in Philadelphia and New York City, more cases of bedbugs would make sense. If these numbers, however, are distributed across the population of the city, there may be a more "typical" number of cases and the rankings provided by Terminex may change. While bedbugs do seem to be a problem in Philadelphia, the other cities listed, and (presumably) cities not listed, people should not jump to conclusions without looking further into how the numbers were collected.

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Z Jun 19 2012 at 5:31 PM

Did I miss something? What do bed begs have to do with education?

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Realist Jun 15 2012 at 3:58 PM

I'm not from Philly, but I have great friends who live within the city limits and I've been there dozens of times and it is a lot of fun whenever I visit there. Honestly, I hear so many bad things about the city but I love it there. I think these so called national "polls" aren't very legit. I think the information gathering that goes into these isn't very reliable. It's really just used to write smear articles, reinforce stereotypes, and spark controversy. Don't fall for this garbage, it isn't

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true.

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Traveler Jun 15 2012 at 3:43 PM

Philly is a great city with loving people. I have spent time there and have always felt right at home around these caring and down-to-earth people. Too bad about the bed bugs. I'm sure a solution will be found for all cities with this problem soon.