Tiny. Evil. Everywhere.

David Segal (thanks, Raja): NEW YORK — Nobody had seen one in decades. Then, five years ago, they started showing up in homes and hotels across the country, prompting a flood of calls to pest control professionals. And nothing, it seems, can stop them.

No, not bedbugs. Bedbug newspaper stories. Since the return of Cimex lectularius, as the bedbug is formally known, more than 400 articles have wriggled into print, all making roughly the same point: The bloodsucking critters are back, and in numbers that amount to a scourge.

"They're tiny, evil and everywhere in the city," wailed a recent headline in the New York Daily News. USA Today trotted out a "Poltergeist" reference in November with "They're ba-a-ack for a snack. It's easy to say 'Don't let the bedbugs bite' — until the paranoia-inducing, bloodsucking parasites shake you awake."