Bed bugs have almost certainly been bothering people for ever, particularly in warmer countries.
In fact Aristotle wrote about them in 400 BC, but they were not prevalent in the United Kingdom until after the Great Fire of London in 1666.
People deduced that bed bugs lived in wood because the bed bug plagues only started after 1670; they believed that the bed bugs that had come in with timber imported to reconstruct London.
They have been there ever since, except for about fifty years between the 1940's and 1995.
A similar pattern can be traced in most of the industrialized Western world, because after the Second World War there was a concerted effort to clear out the old bomb-damaged city slums and begin again.
As they worked their way through the cities clearing and cleaning they spread tons of DDT which nearly wiped out bedbugs and some other widespread household pests.
The powers that be in the United States also went on the rampage with DDT with a similar effect.
Then something occurred and we can be quite specific about the date: in 1995 reports of bedbug infestations started coming in again.
One area of London reported infestations of bedbugs doubling every year from 1995 to 2001 and the US National Pest Management Agency reported a 71% rise in bedbug incidents between 2000 and 2005.
A pest control company in North Carolina said that a quarter of the hotels it surveyed between 2002 and 2006 had a bedbug issue.
Bedbugs feed by inserting two tubes through the host's skin, one pumps in a sort of saliva containing anticoagulant and anaesthetic and the other draws blood.
This saliva can cause irritation in some individuals in the form of lumps, which may or may not itch.
Having lots of bites can cause anaemia.
The biggest risk most people run is secondary infection from scratching with unclean finger nails.
In 2008, the World health Organization reported that there was some evidence that bedbugs might cause asthma and that being bitten repeatedly may make the victim more prone to other diseases.
Bedbugs have all the appropriate equipment and behavioural patterns to be able to spread diseases, but there have been no known instances to date.
However, knowing that there are bedbugs around can cause some people to be paranoid about them, which often results in insomnia and irritability.
If you find bedbugs in your motel, you should report it to the manager and if you stay in rented accommodation you should tell the landlord.
If it is your own home you should seek guidance from the local Environmental Health Agency attached to the council, because bedbugs can spread from one house to the next very quickly.
A lot of old terraced houses are not totally sealed off from one another allowing bedbugs to roam and set up new colonies and bedbugs can be taken home from hotels in your suitcase or clothing.
Bedbugs are a concern for public concern, but they are not life-threatening.