Top 10 Bedbug Infested Cities in North America
Thu, Aug 5, 2010
Bedbugs are a traveler’s worst nightmare. And unfortunately, these tiny blood-suckers are everywhere, from hostels to the finest five-star hotels.
But in some places, the rapidly growing bedbug problem is much worse. (I’m getting itchy just thinking about them.)
So to warn unsuspecting people, a company called Insight Pharmaceuticals compiled a list of the Top 10 Bedbug Infested Cities in North America.
If you plan on visiting any of these cities, you might want to sleep in a contamination suit:
#1. Columbus, Ohio
#2. New York, New York
There were 4,084 verified bedbug infestations in New York last year, up from only 82 in 2004. That’s almost 50 times more than only five years prior.
#3. Toronto, Canada
The city had to use bedbug sniffing dogs to locate colonies in hotel rooms before the most recent G-20 meeting.
#4. Bloomington, Indiana
#5. Manchester, New Hampshire
#6. San Francisco, California
#7. Durham, North Carolina
#8. Vancouver, Canada
#9. Chicago, Illinois
#10. Denver, Colorado
Have you ever been the victim of bedbugs?
Jetpacker 
Kal 
Whoa–really? San Francisco?? When I lived in NYC, I worried about bed bugs constantly, but I’ve never heard of anyone having them here in SF! Or maybe just the homeless people… =)
And yes, my husband and I got bed bugs and a budget hotel in Monterrico, Guatemala, and it was one of the worst travel experiences of our lives!
Vancouver? Really? I guess if you include the nasty downtown eastside hotels.
@Kristin: Yeah, I’m with you in thinking that the bedbugs are probably concentrated in areas where beds are considered stacked cardboard. Last year in SF, there were 17 infestations, which is WAY less than NY, yet still made the list.
@Cam: Vancouver seems SUPER clean, so we were surprised to see it on the list too. But bedbugs are like drifters. They tag along wherever you travel, and since Van, like SF, is a major coastal city, perhaps international travelers are inadvertently bringing them back with them.
But the thing to remember is that bedbugs aren’t just confined to hotels. In Colorado, they had a bedbug infestation so bad in a library that they had to destroy old rare books.
What a strange article, with statistics coming from a pharmaceutical company!? Bedbugs and meds?
If the stats are from public health officials then the numbers would be skewed towards derilict buildings and slums.
Even five-star hotels can wind up with bedbugs.
But we wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of the bedbug reports come from older and dirtier parts of the cities listed.
It is probably only a matter of time until ALL cities (large and small) will be dealing with bed bugs…
And yes, to answer one of the comments above, the research and products coming from companies like Insight Pharmaceuticals is very helpful for everyone, but of course it should be taken with a grain of salt (like just about anything you hear or read).