Scientists get serious about bedbugs
Two-day summit designed to address growing problem

This undated handout photo provided by the National Pest Management Association show a bed bug in Gainesville, Fla. The federal government is waking up to what has become a growing nightmare in many parts of the country — a bed bug outbreak. The tiny reddish-brown insects, last seen in great numbers prior to World War II, are on the rebound. They have infested college dormitories, hospital wings, homeless shelters and swanky hotels from New York City to Chicago to Washington.

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‘‘The problem seems to be increasing and it could definitely be worse in densely populated areas like cities, although it can be a problem for anyone,’’ said Lois Rossi, director of the registration division in the EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs.

One of the problems, according to researchers and the pesticide industry, is that there are few chemicals on the market approved for use on mattresses that are effective at reducing bedbug numbers. The EPA, out of concern for the environment and the effects on public health, has pulled many of the chemicals that were most effective in eradicating the bugs from the U.S. over the last 50 years — such as DDT — off of shelves.

Increasing international travel has also increased the chances for the bugs to hitchhike from developing countries which never eradicated them completely.

‘‘This is a worldwide resurgence,’’ said Dini Miller, an entomologist and bedbug expert at Virginia Tech, who until 2001 only saw bedbugs on microscope slides dating from the 1950s. Now she gets calls several times a day from people who are often at their wits end dealing with the problem.

‘‘I can’t tell you how many people have spent the night in their bath tubs because they are so freaked out by bedbugs,’’ Miller said. ‘‘I get these people over the phone that have lost their marbles.’’

Bedbugs are not known to transmit any diseases. But people have had an allergic reaction to their bites. The insects release an anticoagulant to get blood flowing, and they also excrete a numbing agent so their bites don’t often stir a victim’s slumber.

Those often hardest hit are the urban poor, Miller said. These are people who cannot afford to throw out all their belongings or take the sanitation measures necessary to rid them of the problem.

Because the registration of new pesticides takes so long, one thing the EPA could do is to approve some pesticides for emergency use, Miller said.

The pesticide industry will be pushing for federal funding for research into alternative solutions, such as heating, freezing or steaming the bugs out of bedrooms.

‘‘We need to have better tools,’’ said Greg Baumann, a senior scientist at the National Pest Management Association.