Cleveland Federal Office Building Hit by Bedbugs

t’s no sleeping-on-the-job joke for employees in a Cleveland, Ohio, federal office building treated for bedbugs.

Two floors of the Celebrezze building were treated for bedbugs last week.

The government’s real-estate management agency says the infestation was confined to a small area.

Ohio State University’s Susan Jones tells The Plain Dealer that bedbugs in the office are common.

Bed bugs can commute to the office in shoes, laptop cases, clothes and purses. In the office, the bugs will hide in the fabric of chairs, in carpets or in boxes.

A national trade groups says that in 2011 almost 40 percent of pest management professionals in the U.S. treated office buildings for bedbugs. That’s more than double the rate one year earlier.