DaytonDailyNews.com

Bed bugs spread easily and can strike anyone.

"I can go to a four-star hotel and bring them back with me," said Carla Ealy, a sanitarian with the Middletown Health Department.

Ealy said the worst infestation she's seen was in an otherwise spotless apartment.

Lower-income families can be particularly vulnerable because the bugs are often found in used furniture.

Never take a sofa from the side of the road, said Ealy's fellow sanitarian, Janay Mourer.

"That's a great way to cause them to spread," she said.

The six-legged creatures that range in color from pale white to burgundy or brown were once common in the United States but advances in hygiene combined with DDT usage nearly eradicated the critters in this country by the 1950s, according to University of Kentucky Department of Etymology. They've made a comeback in recent years though, spreading in college dorms, hotels, apartment buildings and even private homes.

Once bed bugs take up residence, getting rid of them can be tricky.

"It's very expensive to treat," said Dan Tracy, an exterminator with Middletown-based Pest-Off Exterminators. "You're not going to get them the first time. Middletown's got a bunch of them too."

The bugs love to hide and can travel easily throughout a home via electrical wiring and plumbing, Tracy said.

That's how Helen Moore believes the insects arrived in the apartment on Wilbraham Road, where she's lived for eight years.

Health officials recommend getting rid of any infested furniture, but Moore said that's an option she can't afford.

Instead, she flips her mattress often and sprays for the bugs as much as possible. The maintenance man at her apartment complex recently sprayed as well, she said.

"I used to not be able to stand to be in the room," Moore said. "They're leaving now because we spray all the time."

Ealy said if you suspect an infestation, the best time to see the bugs is at the end of the night before you start stirring. She recommended taking a flashlight to bed and lifting up the bed sheets in the early morning.

Rusty red splotches — even if there are no bugs visible — can also indicate an infestation, she said.

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2511 or dwells@coxohio.com.