While bed bug infestations only started to reemerge a couple of decades ago, most people have now accepted the insects as an ineradicable source of human suffering on this planet. The bugs were largely absent from homes and buildings for nearly a half century, but each year sees a significant increase in infestations all over the United States, and this is especially true within New Orleans. The city saw an 89 percent increase in bed bug infestations within homes between 2008 and 2009.

New Orleans usually makes the top 50 list of various professionally compiled lists of the most bed bug-infested cities in the country. Pest control professionals are reporting a massive increase in annual bed bug infestation rates in areas where people share close living quarters, such as hotels, apartments and condos. In fact, one local pest controller claims that New Orleans is seeing a particularly significant increase in annual bed bug infestations due to the dense clusters of both apartments and businesses where human traffic is abundant and never ceases. The city is also a major transportation hub that receives large amounts of tourists from all over the world, and this explains why the bloodsucking insects are becoming a serious problem within the city’s hotels.

Not long ago, Mavis Early, the executive director of the Greater New Orleans Hotel and Lodging Association claimed that her organization is working closely with the health department and local hospitals in an effort to reduce the rate of infestations occuring in the city. She also claimed that it is now customary to issue all hotels and even small motels with bed bug-education DVDs as required viewing for hospitality employees. Luckily, New Orleans is not seeing bed bug infestation rates as high as those in New York City, Boston and Los Angeles, but experts are pessimistic about the possibility of seeing a decrease in local bed bug infestation rates.

Have you ever encountered a bed bug, or several, within a business?