HOW TO AVOID BEDBUGS:

After a dormant period following World War II, Cimex lectularius is back. In the 1990s, the insects started reemerging in overcrowded urban settings and of late have catapulted to star bugdom status, surfacing in hotels nationwide, in Manhattan retail stores, in Broadway theaters and in other environments that involve numerous people in a semi-somnolent state.

“They’re all around,” said Wayne White, a board-certified entomologist with American Pest in Takoma Park, who attributes the rise in bedbugs to the uptick in international travel and a shift in pesticide usage. “They’re just finally showing up in places that are more public.”

Well, how about killing them off again? I don’t like this fatalistic attitude: “This is something that we’re going to have to live with for a while.” I miss the days when scientists told us we didn’t have to live with things like bloodsucking parasites.