Terminix Releases Prime 50 Mattress Bug Cities as Faculty College students Return to Campus

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Los Angeles is itching its way to the top, making the possibility of a bed bug roommate very real for college students in the City of Angels

MEMPHIS, Tennessee – (BUSINESS WIRE) – Just in time for school back to school, Terminix Global Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: TMX), a leading provider of critical pest, termite, mosquito, and bed bug control services to home and business customers, has announced a List of 50 most bed bug infested cities in America published.

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With college students back on campus this school year, Terminix has become the most bed buggy cities in the country. Did your city make the list? (Graphic: Business Wire)

Students have landed on college campuses across the country, and it could be some annoying and uninvited roommates living in dormitories. Bed bugs are easily spread by hitchhiking luggage, backpacks, and clothing and can crawl through cracks in walls, making dormitory common areas extremely vulnerable to infestation.

“Bed bugs go where people go, so they can be virtually anywhere,” said Rick Cooper, senior director of bed bug services at Terminix. “Bed bugs migrate out of infested structures – be it hotels, airports, schools or university campuses. You can take someone’s clothes or backpack with you. Bed bugs are an extremely difficult pest to control, but Terminix has the know-how, tools and techniques to properly assess and address the problem. ”

Where are bed bugs most common?

The top five cities on this year’s list of most infested cities include Los Angeles, followed by Cleveland, Philadelphia, Detroit and New York City. Thirteen states had more than one city on the list, including Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas.

Terminix based its ranking on the number of requests received from each city in 2021 *. The 50 most common cities for bed bug infestations in the United States are:

Signs of bed bugs and where to look

Some ways to spot bed bugs are small blood stains on your bedding, a musty smell, reddish brown blood stains on your mattress, and bed bugs themselves. In dorms, they mostly live in dressers, clothes, hallways, couches, and mattresses. When fully grown, bed bugs resemble the size, shape, and color of an apple core; However, students should also keep an eye out for newly hatched, cream-colored bed bugs (nymphs) hiding in their fitted sheets.

How to protect yourself from bed bugs on campus

Here are a few simple protective measures to help prevent bed bugs from spreading across campus:

1. Add bed bug-proof covers for your mattress, pillows and box springs to your back to school shopping list. Their protective covers prevent your bed from becoming a breeding ground for bed bugs.

2. Thoroughly search your new dorm room or apartment on the day you move in. Take the time to lift mattresses, move furniture, and look behind headboards for signs of bed bugs, including discarded shells (fused exoskeletons); live or dead insects on mattress seams or furniture joints; a sweet, musty smell; or small stains of blood from previous bite victims.

3. Open your textbooks. It is known that bed bugs travel from one place to another on the “second-hand textbook express”.

4. Wash borrowed or used clothing with hot water (follow the washing instructions marked).

5. Avoid the temptation to pick up discarded furniture. A free futon may be tempting, but a lurking bed bug infestation is not.

6. Never leave backpacks or clothing on, under, or next to your bed, chairs, or upholstered furniture in your room or in the rooms you visit – it’s an easy way to unknowingly hitchhike bed bugs.

7. Don’t let your backpack come into contact with others – brief contact with an infected backpack can be an invitation from an unwanted pest to come along.

For more information, visit Terminix.com or call 1-800-Terminix.

* This ranking was created by compiling bed bug specific data from Terminix stores across the country. The rankings represent Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) with the most leads received between January 1, 2021 and August 20, 2021.

About Terminix

Terminix Global Holdings (NYSE: TMX) is a leading provider of household and commercial pest control. The company provides pest control services and protection against termites, mosquitoes, rodents and other pests. Headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, with more than 11,400 teammates and 2.9 million customers in 24 countries and territories, the company visits more than 50,000 homes and businesses every day. To learn more about Terminix, visit Terminix.com or LinkedIn.com/company/terminix.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210909005092/en/

James Robinson | 901.597.7521 | james.robinson@terminix.com

Drew Blake | 901.201.7151 | draws.blake@terminix.com

Source: Terminix Global Holdings, Inc.