Bedbugs have infested some apartments in a University of Maryland on-campus apartment building, say students who report waking up covered in bites and seeing bugs in their bedding.
The University of Maryland warned students of the bugs in an email to students sent last night, reported News4's Shomari Stone. But the email was no surprise to students such as David Tessler, who showed Stone the red bites the bugs had left behind.
"There's nothing we can do," Tessler said. "They haven't offered to have us live anywhere else."
The bugs attack arms and calves and bite repeatedly, the students said.
The affected students live in South Campus Commons Building 7. The on-campus apartment building has private management. The management company told News4 that they had done an inspection before the semester that did not turn up any sign of the pests.
The email from the University does not say how many students are affected, but those that are were advised to put bedding and soft belongings into plastic bags - and to keep the clutter off the floor in their rooms.
Bedbugs are parasites that feed on blood, often - but not always - at night. The number of bedbug infestations, especially in urban areas in the U.S., has climbed rapidly since the mid-1990s.
