Bed bugs are making a comeback in the Netherlands. The number of infestations is increasing at an alarming rate, as several pest controllers have confirmed to Radio Netherlands Worldwide.

Pest control company Excellent - based in the Dutch coastal town of Zandvoort some 34 kilometres outside of Amsterdam - says it is called out twice or three times a week nowadays to combat the little bed mites with pesticides.

Bed bugs are small, wingless insects that feed solely on the blood of warm-blooded animals. They like to shelter in the seams of mattresses or dark crevices - out of reach, and then when they detect carbon dioxide in the breath of a sleeping human, they crawl down and feed on the blood. In the 1930s they were common in households, but after World War II, they were largely eradicated, which remained the case until five years ago.

The Dutch pest control association (NVPB) says that the increase in bed bugs is particularly significant in hotels in and around Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. Experts say they can be attributed to international travel, immigration and changes in pest control practices. The city of New York earlier reported a resurgence in the bed mite, as did London.