Don't bug out, but Terminix has named its 2017 and inaugural Pest of the Year and the winner of the icky honor goes to bed bug!
The creepy crawler, which has been know to disrupt many a hotel stay, bested scorpions and spiders to capture first prize, which we hear is a brand new, never-slept-on mattress.
Terminix determined the Pest of the Year based on per capita search data for 52 common pests from Google searches that took place January 2017 through September 2017. Americans searched for information about bed bugs more than 7.3 million times throughout 2017, beating runner-up scorpions by nearly three times.
Terminix also analyzed which states have stronger opinions on social media about different pest contenders:
• Washington leads the nation in social media spider chatter.
• Idaho is losing sleep with the most bed bug social media conversation.
• Virginians are swatting mosquitoes all day long with buzzing social media complaints.
Terminix also revealed the pest-iest states of 2017, determined by analyzing social media chatter about common pests in all 50 states. The top five states are:
1. District of Columbia
2. Texas
3. New York
4. Virginia