Growing up my mother said "Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite" to us at bedtime. I had no concept of what "sleep tight" meant but the part about bed bugs really concerned me.
Bedbugs were virtually eradicated from the United Stats after World War II according to what I have read about them. I have heard and read about bedbugs return to the US.
Darn, Columbus was already having trouble sleeping before the news.
I am going back to sleep... or to bed anyway.
I don't know where folks got the idea that bed bugs were virtually eradicated at any time. They are alive and well in a motel in Raleigh, NC.
The bed bugs were hanging out in a Raleigh NC motel since the end of WWII? Now there's a scoop!
Maybe my mother had to tell me it was just a saying and they'd all been eradicated so I could sleep at night. I have read about bed bugs in the last few years and it often said they were virtually eradicated from the US after WWII.
"Bed bugs have been documented as pests since the 17th century. They were introduced into our country by the early colonists. Bed bugs were common in the United States prior to World War II, after which time widespread use of synthetic insecticides such as DDT greatly reduced their numbers."
Bedbugs in a dorm here is a big enough story to make the local paper and TV news.
I think they've been found in most cities in the last few years.... the OSU entomologists article says bedbugs are cosmopolitan.
I suppose in a city that relies on tourism they'd take it seriously.
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