http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11916682/ns/dateline_nbc-dont_let_the_bed_bugs_bite/
MSNBC Reports Rise in Bedbug Infestations
Bed bugs had been shown the “no vacancy” sign in the U.S. for nearly 50 years— they've been virtually eradicated. But now that’s all changed. They’re back. And they’re in expensive hotels and biting the best of people. It’s a national problem, agrees entomologist Dini Miller, Ph.D. The Orkin Pest Control company says that after 50 years more or less without them, it’s now treated bed bugs in all but three states. And according to the National Pest Management Association, bed bug complaints have increased 50-fold over the last five years. They’ve popped up in apartments, mansions or dormitories in nearly every corner of the country. Just a few weeks ago, bed bugs nibbled on the traveling cast of a Broadway musical at a Ramada Plaza in San Francisco. Last summer, a young family vacationing at a five-star Westin resort in Hollywood, Florida had the same complaint.
BBC News on Bedbug Problem
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11165108 
Vampire fiction may be all the rage. But the true bloodsuckers after twilight are not charismatic updates of Dracula but tiny insects living in our mattresses, headboards and pillows. Yes, bedbugs are back and pest controllers are warning of a global pandemic. A recent survey of a thousand pest control firms around the world by the University of Kentucky and the United States' National Pest Management Association, appears to show that the bedbug problem is increasing everywhere. "The results of the global study suggest that we are on the threshold of a bedbug pandemic, not just in the United States, but around the world," said Missy Henriksen, vice president of public affairs for NPMA.
Not a sanitation problem
While travelers may be horrified to find bedbugs in a hotel room, cleanliness isn't a factor in the pests' arrival.
"It's not a hygiene issue, and that's a very important thing for all consumers to understand," Henriksen said. The American Hotel and Lodging Association echoes that message.
"Bedbugs are brought into hotels by guests; it is not a hotel sanitation issue," the association said in a statement. The increase in bedbugs has had little impact on the majority of hotels, the association said.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Florida-Bed-Bugs-Are-Taking-iw-2769443755.html?x=0
ST. PETERSBURG, FL--(Marketwire - 01/19/11) - Bed bugs were once a common problem all over the world, but due to strong toxic chemicals (that proved harmful to the public health) the incidents declined around the middle of the twentieth century. During the 1970's when environmental standards increased dramatically, the use of DDT was banned as a pesticide and bed bugs gained a foothold once again. Now there is resurgence, a mass revival of parasitic vermin.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20014216-10391704.html
As CBS News reported last month, bed bugs seem to have it in for New Yorkers this year. Office buildings - including the Time Warner Center - have been invaded, and retail stores such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Victoria's Secret and Hollister have all been treated after bedbugs were discovered.
It's difficult to say how many apartment buildings have been attacked, but many residents know one sign of an infected apartment: furniture and clothes that appear to be in perfectly good condition piled on the curb like garbage. When bedbugs attack, sometimes it's cheaper and more effective to throw everything out than to get multiple exterminations.
Robin Boyd has scars all over her body -- evidence, she says, that was being bitten for nearly a year by bedbugs..
"They’re in your boots, they’re in your shoes, they’re in your underwear. They’re everywhere," the woman said.
Boyd claims the tiny bloodsuckers came with the second-hand bedroom set she bought from Aaron’s -- a rent-to-own store in Norristown, Pa.
"Got into bed, 4 o’clock in the morning they woke me up. I was bitten everywhere," Boyd said as she recalled the first attack. "My arms, my face, my back, my breasts, my buttocks, my legs."
Robin says her bedbug ordeal caused her lose her hair, lose her job and incur countless medical expenses.
The bedbug invasion is hitting cities throughout the country.
Just this month, officials shut down an AMC movie theater in New York’s Times Square after a moviegoer was bitten in her seat.
In Connecticut, bedbugs climbed the pole inside a firehouse and back in Manhattan outbreaks happened at a Victoria’s Secret and Abercrombie and Fitch.
