Bedbugs, a pest that was thought to have been completely eradicated from Okinawa after the war are reportedly making a comeback.

According to Okinawa Pest Control Association, the number of people contacting their member companies with consultation and extermination requests of bedbugs has increased lately. Officials at the association say the number of contacts they received from the public and officials regarding bedbugs was zero in 2007. In 2010 there were 24 cases, by 2013 the cases increased to 109, and last year they received 114 inquiries.

They believe the bugs were brought to the island with baggage and furniture from abroad, as the number of people and goods moving to the island from overseas and the number of overseas visitors has increased

There has been a few reports in the prefecture of elderly people living alone who did not notice they had a bedbug infestation in their house for a long time, who had to be hospitalized because they had bites over their entire body.

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