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DC ranks No. 1 city with biggest bed bug problem

Yuck! This was not how we wanted to start off the year.

WASHINGTON — Our nation's capital just earned a new prestigious title. And it isn't something the city would want a plaque for.

Orkin just released its Top 50 Bed Bug Cities list and the District has earned the No. 1 spot.

Last year, D.C. ranked No. 2 on Orkin's list.

What makes this announcement even more devastating, Baltimoreans are now taking a seat back from the top spot and secured the second-place position on the list after being No. 1 for years.

So how did cities receive the notorious rankings?

The cities were ranked based on treatment data from the metro areas where Orkin performed the most bed bug treatments from Dec. 1, 2018 – Nov. 30, 2019.

The top 10 cities are:

  1. Washington, D.C. 
  2. Baltimore 
  3. Chicago
  4. Los Angeles
  5. Columbus, OH
  6. New York
  7. Detroit 
  8. Cincinnati 
  9. Indianapolis 
  10. Atlanta

Flint saw the biggest jump moving 16 spots to No. 31 after only joining the list in 2018. Pittsburgh and Champaign, Ill. both broke into the top 20, and Myrtle Beach and Toledo joined the top 50 list for the first time, according to Orkin.

Although topping the charts broke our hearts. Bed bugs are no joke.

Here are five facts to help identify and prevent these creatures from taking over your personal space, according to the CDC:

  1. Bed bugs are small, flat, parasitic insects that feed solely on the blood of people and animals while they sleep. Bed bugs are reddish-brown in color, wingless, and range in size from 1mm to 7mm.

  2. Bedbugs don't only live in your bed, they can infest seams of mattresses, box springs, bed frames, headboards, dresser tables, inside cracks or crevices, behind wallpaper, or any other clutter or objects around a bed.

  3. Bed bugs have been shown to be able to travel over 100 feet in a night but tend to live within eight feet of where people sleep.

  4. Bed bugs are not considered to be dangerous. Bite responses can range from an absence of any physical signs of the bite to a small bite mark to a serious allergic reaction.

  5. Bed bugs are experts at hiding and traveling. Their slim flat bodies allow them to fit into the smallest of spaces and stay there for long periods of time, even without a blood meal.

For more information about bed bug prevention, visit Orkin.com.

RELATED: Report: Washington DC has some of the most cases of bedbugs in the country

RELATED: VERIFY: Can bed bug bites be harmful to your health?

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