As federal officials report a surge in bedbug infestations nationwide, Los Angeles County has begun tracking the blood-sucking insects and Santa Clarita pest control professionals said they have been killing more than ever in the last few years.

“Bed bugs will nest close to their host, which is us, in nightstands, headboards or any small opening,” said Robert Gallo, the president of Valencia-based Round the Clock Pest Control. “They’re paper-thin, but when they feed, they gorge themselves and really expand.”

In response to concerns raised by the Environmental Protection Agency about bedbug proliferation in the U.S., Los Angeles County Public Health officials in March started keeping track of how many bed bug calls they get each month.

Officials don’t have data to determine how many more bed bugs have infested Los Angeles County homes in recent years, but they get about 25 confirmed bed bug cases each month, said Ken Murray, the director of surveillance and enforcement with the county health department.   Last week, the pest control company Terminix listed Los Angeles as the 10th most infested city in the country based on call volume to its 350 service centers. New York, Philadelphia and Detroit topped the list.

Los Angeles includes the San Fernando Valley, which borders the Santa Clarita Valley directly to the south.

The county gets more calls in the summer because people are more likely to go on vacations and cruises and bring home the insects, which are between 4 millimeters and 8 millimeters long, Murray said. Anyone who suspects their home is infested with bedbugs should call the Department of Public Health, he said.

Bedbugs can live up to a year without feeding on a human host and are highly resistant to pesticides, making them difficult to kill.

In 2008, Gallo’s company received about 10 calls to kill bedbugs. In 2009, that number jumped to about 200 calls in 2009 and 400 calls so far this year.

While he has been getting more calls in the SCV, most are outside of the valley, he said.

Two months ago, a Valencia woman called to get bedbugs out of her home when she saw the vermin crawling on her wall, Gallo said. The woman said she was feeling itchy while on a cruise months earlier but didn’t know why.

She thinks the bugs followed her off the boat and into her home, Gallo said. 

Bedbugs, a common household pest for centuries, all but vanished in the 1940s and 1950s with the widespread use of DDT. But DDT was banned in 1972 as too toxic to wildlife, especially birds. Since then, the bugs have developed resistance to chemicals that replaced DDT.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.