TORONTO — Christina Lawson has barely slept in three days.

The 52-year-old's hair is a frizzy mess, bursting out of an elastic. Her eyes are bloodshot and she has dark circles underneath them. When she speaks, she sounds slightly delirious. She can't stop speaking and all of her sentences sound rushed. She can't sit still and yet the last thing she wants is to walk around her house.

She insists her real name not be used for this article.

Lawson has bed bugs and she doesn't want anyone to know about it.

"Do you know what they call this?" she said, lifting up her shirt to reveal three red welts, lined up in a row on her stomach. "Breakfast, lunch and dinner."

Indeed, that's the signature mark of bed bugs, tiny critters that survive by sucking human blood while their hosts sleep.

There's a bed bug epidemic of sorts in big cities across Canada. Records and statistics are not kept but exterminators and public health offices say in the last seven years, they've seen a surge in complaints about bed bugs.

"About 85 per cent of our technicians now continually deal with bed bugs," Dusana Bondy, a spokesperson for Abell Pest Control in Toronto told CTV.ca. "We see them in any transit destination, the Niagara belt, Toronto, Vancouver - pretty much in every city across the country."

In fact, it's been about 30 years since bed bugs have caused such a frenzy. They were practically eradicated from North America as a result of mass treatments using older types of insecticide such as DDT. However, DDT is now considered to be highly toxic and therefore, has been banned from use.

This past week in Toronto, bed bugs were a hot topic of discussion. On Wednesday, industry professionals met in a Mississauga hotel conference room to discuss the problem.

When it comes to eliminating the problem, exterminators face several challenges.

For starters, the pesticides they have been using no longer seem as effective as it appears the insects are a new breed of bed bugs. But more so, exterminators blame the problem on three factors:

• Increased human travel
• Improved treatment methods that specifically target other insect pests
• Lack of public awareness

The solution is an expensive one for homeowners, landlords and hotel management, said Dr. Stephen Kells, an assistant professor of entomology at the University of Minnesota who spoke at the seminar.

He said the only way to get rid of the problem is by using several different methods of extermination, plus constant follow-ups.

"If you miss a spot, there's your infestation -- it's going to continue," he told the crowd. "Offer to do inspections because if you just rely on complaints, you're constantly behind the ball.

"Customers have to realize if you're constantly chasing a problem, you're never going to get rid of it."

Lawson said she was quoted about $1,800 for her house but that doesn't include any following check-ups. She also said it would cost her extra if she wanted them to put back the baseboards, sockets and other stuff they dismantled to get at the problem.

Nonetheless, the price isn't so much a factor for Lawson who at this point, is ready to pay whatever it takes to get rid of the problem.

"The problem is, nobody will guarantee their work," she said, her voice rising with exasperation. "I don't know if they're just trying to get more money or what."

At the seminar, several exterminators asked about guarantees and acknowledged that it was becoming a big problem with their customers.

But because of the behaviour of the bed bug, guaranteeing complete extermination is practically impossible.

Bed bugs can hide anywhere. They are as thin as a credit card, though they swell up considerably after a blood meal.

Exterminators are trained to look for signs of their existence, such as their eggs or feces, but the problem is there isn't a treatment that will prevent a new case of infestation.

Bed bug behaviour

Bed bugs usually hide in the cracks of walls, electrical outlets and the folds of mattresses, but they can also move to other parts of the house.

The problem is when they crawl into knapsacks, luggage or clothes. People bring these items along with them whenever they leave the house.

This means that if a person with a bed bug infestation in their house goes to work on public transit and sets their knapsack down on the empty seat next to them, bed bugs can then latch on to the empty seat. When the next passenger comes along and sits on that seat, bed bugs can latch onto their clothes and eventually be brought inside the unsuspecting victim's home.

The problem is associated with people who travel, or move around a lot. Bed bug cases are most prevalent in rooming houses, homeless shelters, hostels and dorm rooms.

They are also a problem with people who pick up second-hand merchandise. A lot of the time, people with an infestation will throw out their mattress and other infested furniture but someone will drive by and think they are looking at great finds. They'll pick it up and bring the goods -- and the infestation -- home with them.

However, Lawson doesn't fit into any of those categories. She and her family live in a well-to-do neighbourhood north of Toronto. She has a cleaning lady come in once a week to clean her house and she doesn't rent any part of her house to strangers or pick up anyone else's garbage.

She does have a daughter who loves to travel and she believes that's where she could have gotten them.

Kells said there's no way any exterminator can guarantee their work because her daughter might bring in a new case next time she embarks on another adventure.

"Exterminators can guarantee the work from a performance standpoint but can't guarantee they won't come back because if there are people there, bed bugs are likely to feed," he said.

"It depends on how many bed bugs there are but the problem is you never know that," chimed in an industry professional sitting in the audience. "If you think you're going to be free forever, it's a pipe dream."

This is what exterminators say is the best they can do.

• Inspect everything once, moving "clean" furniture to uninfested area
• Use non-chemical treatments such as a vacuum cleaner and steam
• Train staff/tenant/homeowner of preventative measures such as mattress covers
• Apply chemical control
• Inspect neighbouring apartments, rooms because bed bugs spread easily
• More follow-ups are crucial

What cities are doing

Wednesday night, following the bed bug seminar for industry professionals, Toronto held its own forum for people affected by infestation.

Paula Fletcher, a city councillor who also sits on Toronto's board of health, said the first step to controlling the problem is finding out just how big the problem is.

She has asked Toronto Public Health to look into what it would take to get exterminators and the city to start keeping statistics on bed bug infestations. The report is expected to be tabled in February.

"We're all aware there is a growing infestation," she said in a telephone interview Friday with CTV.ca. "If the public health department were to get involved then landlords would be obligated to respond."

She said the report will also look at what other city agencies need to get involved in the problem.

"When we all put our minds together in this city, we do a good job at making a difference."

However, according to an official with Toronto Public Health, the matter is a bit more complex.

At this point, bed bugs are not considered a health hazard, nor will it be because as of yet, there is no evidence that it transmits diseases from one person to the next.

"That doesn't mean we're not concerned," said Reg Ayre, manager of the healthy environment program at Toronto Public Health. "We remain extremely concerned about the potential spread of bed bugs."

A big challenge is when bed bugs hit a building whose occupants are physically or mentally disabled. Sometimes they are unable to determine they have a problem or can't articulate the problem to their caregivers.

Ayre said the municipal agency is working with landlords and other organizations to help fight the problem.

"It's easy to resolve when it's just a dispute between a landlord and tenant, but that's not always the case," he said.

He said he knows of some shelters that have been able to secure funding for exterminators by applying to charitable organizations for assistance.

A litigious problem

An American agency, the National Pest Management Association, has reported a 71 per cent increase in bed bug related calls in the United States from 2000 to 2005.

In the U.S., the bed bug infestation is so rampant that there are lawyers who specialize in bed bug litigation.

Many lawsuits have been brought against American hotels and building landlords with punitive damages reaching millions of dollars in some cases. Laws dealing with the issue have been passed or are pending legislation in Hawaii, Boston and San Francisco.

Timothy Wenk, a New York City lawyer specializing in bed bug litigation, was also a guest speaker at the seminar for industry professionals.

He recounted several cases in New York where the courts ruled in favour of the tenants and ordered landlords to effectively deal with the situation at their own cost.

In one case, a woman sued a Catskills, New York resort, claiming she suffered over 500 bed bug bites during her stay in July, 2005. The case is still pending, but the woman is suing the resort for $20 million, claiming that her "body and mind were scarred."

In 2003, a man sued New York City's Helmsley Park Lane Hotes, owned by the late, infamous Leona Helmsley. The case settled a year later for $150,000.

Wenk said in Canada, the laws vary from province to province but because the resurgence of bed bugs is fairly new, there isn't much legislation on who is responsible for what.

"A lot of the time, the case rests upon proving who brought the bed bugs in the first place," he said. "As you can imagine, that's pretty much impossible to prove."

Wenk said in Canada, there are no reported personal injury cases, mostly because many complaints get settled before lawsuits are filed.

Physical and psychological damage

Outside Lawson's home, a mattress rests up against a tree beside a box spring and other items that have become infested with bed bugs.

Her clothes are in big, plastic garbage bags. Each time she wears something, she throws in into the wash right away in steaming hot water to get rid of any critters that might have crawled on.

The lack of sleep and anxiety are getting to her.

"I've become a social pariah," she said, her voice cracking with emotion. "I can't let anyone come over because I don't want to infest them, I'm too stressed out and exhausted to go out."

She is extremely fearful someone will find out her house is infested. Aside from not wanting to reveal her real name, she refuses to allow pictures of anything that might identify her house.

She said she's been on the Internet non-stop reading about bed bugs and the people who have been affected by it. She's read about people burning their house down, and others walking around their house in a burqa, an Islamic veil that covers the entire body except for the eyes.

"You have to see this, this is what I'm dealing with," she says, logging on to YouTube.

She plays video after video, each edited to resemble a horror flick about creepy, crawly bed bugs that bite and haven't let this woman sleep tight in a while.

Quick facts about bed bugs

• They hit under sensory nerves so that people can't feel them crawling on their skin
• They administer a type of anesthetic that relaxes the blood flow, allowing them to suck more freely
• Once they're fed, they're no longer attracted to heat and want to move away from the body as fast as possible
• They can live about a year without feeding
• Bed bugs will move from their hiding place once they're disturbed

Signs bed bugs might be infesting your home:

• Dark blood spots on sheets and bedding
• Smears on mattresses or nearby areas
• Find welts on your body lined up in a row
• Welts swell to about the size of a quarter