Many major U.S. cities are crawling with bedbugs, but Chicago has one of the highest infestation rates in the country, according to a new list.
Chicago ranked third out of the top 50 cities for the fast-spreading, blood-sucking creatures, according to a list compiled by Orkin, a pest control company. Baltimore came in first place, and Washington, D.C., was second. Los Angeles and Columbus, Ohio, rounded out the top five.
Orkin analyzed its own data on where it performed the most bedbug treatments from Dec. 2017 to Nov. 2018 to compile the rankings.
Other cities in the top 10 were New York, Cincinnati, Detroit, Atlanta and Philadelphia.
“Bedbugs are the number one urban pest in many cities today,” said Chelle Hartzer, an Orkin entomologist, in a release from Orkin. “Sanitation has nothing to do with prevention: from public transit to five-star resorts, bedbugs have been and can be found everywhere humans are.”
Bedbugs attach themselves to backpacks, purses, luggage and clothing, among other things, to travel quickly from place to place, and come out of hiding to feed on humans while they sleep or rest. They are notoriously difficult to eradicate.
