Bed bugs were first mentioned in ancient Greece as early as 400 BC, and later by
Aristotle.
Pliny's Natural History, first published in Rome, claimed bed bugs had medicinal value in treating ailments such as snake bites and ear infections. Belief in the medicinal use of bed bugs persisted until at least the 18th century, when
Guettard recommended their use in the treatment of
hysteria. Bed bugs were also mentioned in Germany in the 11th century, in France in the 13th century, and in England in 1583, though they remained rare in England until 1670. Some in the 18th century believed bed bugs had been brought to London with supplies of wood to rebuild the city after the
Great Fire of London (1666).
Giovanni Antonio Scopoli noted their presence in
Carniola (roughly equivalent to present-day Slovenia) in the 18th century. Traditional methods of repelling or killing bed bugs include the use of plants, fungi, and insects (or their extracts), such as
black pepper;
black cohosh (
Actaea racemosa);
Pseudarthria hookeri;
Laggera alata (Chinese
yángmáo cǎo | 羊毛草);
henna (
Lawsonia inermis or camphire); "infused oil of
Melolontha vulgaris" (presumably
cockchafer);
fly agaric (
Amanita muscaria);
tobacco; "heated oil of
Terebinthina" (i.e. true
turpentine);
wild mint (
Mentha arvensis);
narrow-leaved pepperwort (
Lepidium ruderale);
Myrica spp. (e.g. bayberry);
Robert geranium (
Geranium robertianum);
bugbane (
Cimicifuga spp.); "herb and seeds of
Cannabis"; "opulus" berries (possibly
maple or
European cranberrybush);
masked hunter bugs (
Reduvius personatus), "and many others". In the mid-19th century, smoke from
peat fires was recommended as an indoor domestic fumigant against bed bugs. Dusts have been used to ward off insects from grain storage for centuries, including plant ash, lime, dolomite, certain types of soil, and
diatomaceous earth or Kieselguhr. Of these, diatomaceous earth in particular has seen a revival as a non-toxic (when in amorphous form) residual
pesticide for bed bug abatement. While diatomaceous earth often performs poorly, silica gel may be effective. Basket-work panels were put around beds and shaken out in the morning in the UK and in France in the 19th century. Scattering leaves of plants with microscopic hooked hairs around a bed at night, then sweeping them up in the morning and burning them, was a technique reportedly used in Southern Rhodesia and in the Balkans.
Bean leaves have been used historically to trap bedbugs in houses in
Eastern Europe. The
trichomes on the bean leaves capture the insects by impaling the feet (
tarsi) of the insects. The leaves are then destroyed.
20th century Until the mid-20th century, bed bugs were very common. According to a report by the
UK Ministry of Health, in 1933, all the houses in many areas had some degree of bed bug infestation. Bed bugs were a serious problem at US military bases during
World War II. Initially, the problem was solved by fumigation, using
Zyklon Discoids that released
hydrogen cyanide gas, a rather dangerous procedure. The decline of bed bug populations in the 20th century is often credited to potent
pesticides that had not previously been widely available. Other contributing factors that are less frequently mentioned in news reports are increased public awareness and
slum clearance programs that combined pesticide use with steam disinfection, relocation of slum dwellers to new housing, and in some cases also follow-up inspections for several months after relocated tenants moved into their new housing. In early 2023,
Orkin reported that
Chicago, New York,
Philadelphia,
Cleveland and
Los Angeles were the top five cities in the United States with most bed bug infestations. In France, these insects re-emerged, despite having disappeared from daily life in the 1950s, due to nomadic lifestyles, consumption of second-hand purchases, and bugs' resistance to insecticides, Between 2017 and 2022, 11% of French households were infested by bed bugs, according to a report from the
National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (ANSES). In the middle of 2023, reports emerged of a
bed bug infestation spread in the capital city of
Paris, when it was first seen in cinemas, then it expanded to homes, trains, schools and even hospitals. Treatment of this outbreak has cost France an estimated €230m annually. In the meantime, the
United Kingdom witnessed a 65% increase in year-on-year infestations across the country, according to
Rentokil. In November 2023, it was reported that
South Korea was experiencing a bed bug infestation. In late November 2025 it was reported that the
Cinémathèque Française in
Paris had to close its four screening halls for a month due to an infestation of bedbugs. ==Society and culture==