New York sings blues over bedbug invasion

[JayS]

June 6, 2004, 2:29AM
New York sings blues over bedbug invasion
Both rich, poor kept scratching in their sleep
By AMY SACKS
Copyright 2004 New York Daily News
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2611895


NEW YORK -- Sleep tight, New York.

The city has been infested with bedbugs, and the bloodsucking night crawlers aren't discriminating between swank high-rises and low-income tenements, the Daily News found.

"It's the best-kept secret in New York," said Andy Linares, owner of Bug Off Pest Control Center in Washington Heights.

A decade ago, Linares would see one or two bedbug cases a week, and only in decrepit buildings.

Now he sees about 20 -- and they're everywhere.

"I'm repulsed, I'm horrified and I'm disgusted," said a mother of three, who lives in an upscale building in Queens, N.Y., where the beasties have spread to 26 apartments.

*SNIP*

[Delano]

1. Yes, they are nasty.

We got an infestation when we were living in Miami - apparently not technically bedbugs, because bedbugs are big enough to see, and we never could see them, but we could feel them, and we'd get bites. Frequent vacuuming and sheet-changing didn't work.

Finally, I tried putting a plastic sheet on all the mattresses in the house - not problem ever since. If the plastic feeling under your sheet bugs you, you can put a mattress cover over the plastic sheet.

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. You were attacked in Miami by noseeums.

They're generally found around beach areas.

[WindRavenX]

2. Oh jesus, I did NOT need to read that

Granted I'm not in NY, but dammit, I was just about to go to bed! ICK. x(

[WillParkinson]

3. Good night. Sleep tight...

And don't let the bedbugs bite.

[WindRavenX]

4. ::shudder::

:scared: :scared: :scared:

[malachibk]

6. Great, just great. Not only do I have to deal with imminent terror

but now not even my apartment is safe. Hey, do you think al-queda planted these bedbugs to ruin the sleep of NYers and bring an itchy, sleep-deprived mayhem to Wall Street? Hmm....