Bedbugs on the increase in N.Y. schools

NEW YORK, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- New York City's school system says bedbugs are being found in its schools at three times the rate they were being discovered last year.

Department of Education statistics show the pests were confirmed in schools an average of 340 times per month from September through January this school year compared to 104 times per month in the 2009-10 school year, the New York Post reported Wednesday.

"In many buildings, bedbugs are not managed correctly, and therefore not eliminated," said Renee Corea, who was on a city advisory board last year on how to contain the insects.

"Why would it be surprising that reports are increasing in schools?"

"If the schools took a proactive role, they could help tremendously," she said. "As it is, with a purely reactive stance, they are not helping the situation."

Education department officials responded by emphasizing that each report was likely prompted by a single bedbug found on a child's clothing, rather than a school-wide outbreak.

"Schools are not hospitable environments for bedbugs," a department spokeswoman said.