With people’s backs against the wall in various cities of the United States, the CDC and EPA pronounce themselves officially on the case of “alarming” U.S. bed bug resurgence: CDC-EPA Joint Statement on bed bug control in the U.S.

What one can expect from the CDC:

CDC is partnering with experts in the areas of medicine, entomology, epidemiology and environmental toxicology to better understand the resurgence of bed bugs and the methods and tools that are needed for effective bed bug control. CDC will provide timely information on emerging trends in bed bug control with the goal of developing national strategies to reduce bed bug populations. CDC recognizes that very limited research has been conducted on bed bugs during the past several decades and encourages increased bed bug research to determine the causes of the resurgence, the most effective methods of control and the potential for bed bugs to transmit disease.

And the EPA:

EPA realizes that certain bed bug populations in communities across the nation are becoming increasingly resistant to many of the existing pesticides. EPA is actively working with industry and researchers to identify new compounds (or new uses of existing compounds) to control bed bugs. In addition, EPA is working to educate the general public, pest professionals, and public health officials about bed bug biology and IPM, which is critical to long-term bed bug control.

Hopeful/desperate emphasis added.

Read the whole thing, of course. Not every day that the painfully obvious is spelled out so satisfyingly.

There are a thousand quibbles, but I will allow myself one:

In some cases, a coordinated community control program may be necessary to reduce or eliminate bed bug populations.

In some cases?