Bedbugs are back in the news, since Saturday Night Live cast member Maya Rudolph recently made public a lawsuit against her landlord for renting an infested New York City apartment. During the latter half of the 20th century, bedbugs weren’t biting in many areas. Once DDT was introduced as an insecticide, the little cimex lectularius creatures all but disappeared from the North American landscape.

But then that pesky DDT ban went into effect in 1972. Six years later, the airlines were deregulated, and folks who previously had never left the continental U.S. could now afford to fly to exotic locales around the world. The tropical drinks and suntans were nice, but a lot of people unwittingly brought home more than decorative ashtrays; bedbugs who’d been noshing on the warm blood of American tourists decided to hide out in the dark crevices of their luggage and make a new home on these shores.

Bedbugs feed on blood, which makes the typical gel bait trap useless in the fight against them. The tiny insects are about a quarter-inch long and look oval when viewed from above, but are actually quite flat in structure, which allows them to hide away under the buttons in your mattress and in cracks in the bed frame and headboard. They also stash themselves in drawers, under carpets and behind baseboards. They emerge under cover of the night, when the human host is sound asleep, and then they find some exposed flesh and feast away. Much like mosquito and flea bites, bedbugs leave a bit of saliva behind, which causes a reaction in more sensitive folks. If you believe that your bedroom has been infested, consulting a pest control professional is your best defense.