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Can’t Sleep Tight

Sixty percent of pest-control customers were more upset to find out they had bedbugs rather than some other infestation.

71
Percent increase, since 2000, of the number of pest-control companies across the United States that receive calls about bedbugs—as many as 50 per week

60
Percentage of customers who were more upset to find out they had bedbugs rather than rodents, roaches, termites or some other infestation, according to a survey of pest-control companies

2
Minimum number of visits recommended by a pest-management professional to stop an outbreak 

1/4
Length, in inches, of the average bedbug (Cimex lectularius), which wedges its flat, wingless body into mattress creases and behind headboards and then crawls out at night to attack humans, leaving behind itchy bites that even doctors confuse with those of other insects

6
Number of times its weight in blood that a bedbug can consume in one meal

35
Number of years since the ban of DDT (an effective but harmful insecticide), which, coupled with increased international travel, is thought to be a major factor in the rise in U.S. bedbug infestations during the past decade

1,000
Number of buildings listed on a volunteer bedbug-mapping Website that helps visitors plan an infestation-free North American trip

28
Number of human pathogens, including HIV, that bedbugs have been found to harbor, though they are not known to transmit disease

1
Primary recommended treatment for bites: anti-itch cream