In fiscal year 2004, the city received 1,800 calls about bedbugs, said Luiz Aragon, deputy commissioner of the Department of Housing and Preservation. By 2007, the number had increased more than threefold, to 7,000.

And it is not just New York.

Bedbugs have become a problem in every state, even as far as Alaska, said Cindy Mannes, spokeswoman for the National Pest Management Association.

Companies that got one or two calls a year are now getting several calls a week. “There are some who call it the pest of the 21st century,” she said.

Even though the vermin are not known to carry disease, having a bedbug problem can be very upsetting, she acknowledged.

“Psychologically, it is a huge issue,” she said. “In the middle of the night, something’s coming out to feed on you. Then they disappear and you don’t know where they are.”

Paula Waller can attest to that. The bugs infested her Vernon, New Jersey, home and she spent thousands of dollars and several months last year trying to get rid of them. She has had to throw out many of her possessions and apply pesticides throughout her home several times.

“I used to have a beautifully decorated home,” she said Wednesday. “I’ve lost everything.”

Reddish-brown and flat, bedbugs were all but eradicated in the United States decades ago. But with the banning of pow3erful pesticides used to kill them and increased global travel, there has been a resurgence.

Their habits make them difficult to get rid of. They hide during the day, not only in beds, but also in all kinds of cracks and crevices, from picture frames to stereos.

Then, like vampires, they come out at night, biting humans to feed on blood. Their victims may not feel the bites as they are happening, only to wake up with red welts.

Often the only evidence of their presence is pepper-like spots of fecal matter or specks of dried blood on bed sheets.

They are also hardy — they can go a very long time without blood, and they lay eggs by the hundreds. And they are as likely to be found in a fancy hotel as they are in a flophouse.

The purpose of the seminars being offered by the housing department is to educate people on prevention and dispel erroneous ideas about how to get rid of them.

For instance, do not use ordinary bug spray — it just spreads them around. Pay attention to your surroundings when you travel — they can hitch rides on clothing and jump between people in elevators and on crowded streets.

Eradication might require fumigating the infested space and laundering or dry-cleaning every piece of clothing.

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