Philly: Most Bedbug-Infested City in the Country

Ew, ew, ew.

Another day, another city-ranking list. Quite frankly, this is one I would have happily done without. Terminix’s annual ranking of the top 15 most bedbug-infested cities puts Philly squarely in the No. 1 position. I was much happier when New York took the cake on this one.

The ranking comes from Terminix data culled from 300 branches across the country. They looked at customer service-call records and cases confirmed by the Terminix pros.

Five cities—Cleveland, Houston,Indianapolis, Miami and New Haven—were newbies on the list this year, while others, including DC, Dallas, Philly and San Fran, showed a documented growth in bed bug populations. For the record, New York City now falls at No. 3.

According to the Mayo Clinic, bedbugs bite on the exposed flesh of sleeping humans and feast on their blood. The bites themselves look a lot like other insect bites, except that these usually appear in a cluster or line, often on the face, neck, arms and hands. Some people have no reaction at all to bedbugs.

The Mayo Clinic recommends vacuuming, hot water and freezing as nonchemical methods for killing bedbugs. But I’m going to go ahead and say you should probably just give an exterminator a call. Like, now.