Millions of homes could be hit by an explosion in the bedbug population, after pest controllers reported infestations of the parasite rose 24 per cent in a year.The bites of bedbugs are not thought to spread disease, but can cause itching.
The growing problem of bedbugs, which feed on the blood of humans during the night, comes after a major epidemic in America where numbers are at their highest since the Second World War.
Pest controllers warned that the world could be on the verge of a "bedbug pandemic", which could be complicated in Britain by the millions of bugs expected to be transported in the clothing of tourists travelling to the 2012 Olympics.
A spokesman for Rentokil said: "Bedbugs are becoming more of a pest problem in this country and around the world.
"A recent international survey conducted by the National Pest Management Association and the University of Kentucky suggests the world is on the verge of a bedbug pandemic".
The insects, which at about a fifth of an inch long are visible to the naked eye, tend to enter homes in clothing or furniture but can also move between properties through wall and floor cavities.
They live in mattresses, bed frames, furniture near the bed and the join between the wall and floor, and come out at night attracted by the warmth of sleeping bodies and the carbon dioxide in breath.
Their bites are not thought to spread disease, but can cause itching.
Bedbugs are notoriously difficult to eliminate but numbers fell in the 1980s and 1990s. Scientists believe their revival could be down to an increase in international travel.
Other theories suggest they could be developing a tolerance to pesticides, the Daily Mail reported.
