They are annoying, but not a health hazard.
Now people are spending more time indoors, many apartment dwellers in Owen Sound and Grey Bruce are seeing an increase in the number of bed bugs sharing their dwellings.
Andrew Barton is with the Grey Bruce Health Unit and says the miniscule blood sucking pest has been making a comeback over the past five years or so in part because of its resistance to pesticides.
He says the tiny insects prefer to live in in furniture, carpeting and bedding and once they arrive in your home they are almost impossible to evict.
That’s the bad news.
The good news according to Barton is they are not a major health hazard and are not known to carry any disease.
Barton says the worst that could happen is a person would develop a slight rash around the spot where they were bitten.
He says extensive vacuuming and washing cloths and bedding may help alleviate the problem.
Barton says if the situation is very bad, then a professional exterminator may have to be called to try and get rid of the bugs that way.