Tampa, St. Pete Area Makes Top 50 Bed Bug Cities List

TAMPA, FL — Creepy, crawly, blood-sucking bed bugs are one of the banes of frequent travelers’ existence. It also seems they’re more of a pain for folks in some parts of the country than others.

As it turns out, the Tampa-St. Petersburg area is among the worst of the worst, according to the pest control experts at Orkin. The good news, however, is that the Bay area doesn’t rank especially high on Orkin’s Top 50 list of “Bed Bug Cities.”

The list is based on the number of bed bug treatments Orkin handled between January and December 2015 in different parts of the country. The top five worst places in the country based on the number treatments provided by Orkin are, in order, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., New York and Columbus, Ohio.

Tampa-St. Pete was ranked in 31st place. Other Florida cities on the list include:

• Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne, 38th place
• Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, 43rd place

“Bed bugs are the great hitchhiker of the bug world, and they are very difficult to control without professional help,” Orkin Entomologist and Technical Services Director Ron Harrison, Ph.D., said in a release about the Top 50 cities “Bed bugs can travel in luggage and other personal belongings to enter your home,” Harrison said, adding, “They don’t just hide in beds – they can be found in furniture, bed posts, rugs and even electrical outlets.”

Bed bug infestations are not necessarily a sign of uncleanliness, Orkin insists. The company offers these tips for preventing bed bug issues at home:

• Inspect the home regularly for signs of bed bugs. Places to look include furniture, mattress seams, sheets, baseboards and even electrical outlets
• Decrease clutter in the home
• Inspect and quarantine secondhand furniture before bringing it inside a home
• Dry any infested linens on the hottest temperature possible

For travelers, Orkin recommends inspecting a room after checking in and making sure to keep luggage elevated. Once home, examine luggage and dry any clothing that is dryer-safer for at least 15 minutes before putting it away.

While bed bugs are not known to spread disease to humans, their bites can cause reactions in some people. The critters have been on the uptick in America since the late 1990s.

To learn more about bedbugs, visit Orkin online.

Photo courtesy of Orkin