"Across America, Bedbugs Are Biting"

"The American way of life is facing a new threat, one as profound as climate change or pandemic flu.

Bedbugs.

OK, that's a bit hysterical. But without DDT and the other now-banned pesticides that kept bedbugs in check for more than 50 years, the United States is as vulnerable as parts of the world where the insects remain a plague.

From New York to Los Angeles, and everywhere in between, these apple-seed-size vampires are spoiling sleep, vacations, and the bottom line of just about every business except pest control. Not just hotels and apartments, but nursing homes, schools, churches, movie theaters, cruise ships, subways, fire stations - in Manhattan, even such tony retailers as Victoria's Secret - have struggled to vanquish the vermin."

Marie McCullough reports for the Philadelphia Inquirer August 15, 2010.