Asheville takes a bite out of Orkin’s bed bug list

Posted on by Jake Frankel

For the third year in a row, Asheville placed in Orkin’s list of the top-50 cities in the U.S. that have the biggest bed bug infestations.

However, the city did take a bite out of the problem this year, dropping 11 spots down the list, from ranking the 36th worst city in 2013 to the 47th worst in 2014.

The ranks are determined by the number of bed bug treatments Orkin performed throughout the year. For the sake of this list, Asheville is bunched in with Greenville and Spartanburg, S.C. so the ranking may be unfairly weighted by those cities, which lie about an hour south. Orkin does not break down the results between the three cities.

Chicago, Il topped Orkin’s national list for the third year in a row.

Bed bugs are not known to spread human disease like many other pests, but can leave itchy, bloody welts on skin. For more on Orkin’s list as well as the its suggestions for detecting and preventing the pests, visit the company’s website here.

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About Jake Frankel
Jake Frankel is an award-winning journalist who enjoys covering a wide range of topics, from politics and government to business, education and entertainment.
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3 thoughts on “Asheville takes a bite out of Orkin’s bed bug list”

  1. Dahai Dong

    Most bed bug control methods are obsolete. Google “bed sized bed bug trap” to convert entire bed into a trap with sleeper as inaccessible CO2 bait. Heating entire house to kill bed bugs is as nonsense as heating the house to kill ants. Bed bugs detect CO2 at meter distance and exclusively feed on blood, while ants detect poison bait at mm distance and can also eat food. Killing bed bugs by the trap is easier than killing ants by the bait. Mattress encasement is as nonsense as a camper uses a tent as bush encasement to seal mosquitoes inside a bush and sleeps outside the tent. Mattress or bush does not need any protection if the insects can’t bite. Killing bed bugs everywhere every day is nonsense. The bed sized trap stops bite immediately and kills 100% bed bugs in weeks. It is not important when the last bug starves due to no more bite and little effort. Multiple treatments of kill-on-contact (vacuum, steam, and chemical) search bed bugs behind a wall, under floor, and inside electronics in futile. It is difficult for people to find every tiny object bed bug without missing a single one. It is easy for every bed bug to find a large object sleeper and die on the way for food without survivor. It is difficult to get rid of bed bugs with methods preferring endless cycles of killing at daytime, feeding at night, and letting a survived one lay up to 300 eggs. It is easy to stop bite immediately and kill 100% bed bugs and eggs in weeks with little effort.

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