A Rutgers University researcher won a federal grant this week to help low-income New Jersey communities battle bedbugs, the tiny blood-sucking pests thought to be eradicated in the last century that have been making a comeback.

The nearly $100,000 grant was one of five announced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which has held two national "bedbug summits" in recent years.

Many commercial pesticides do not work against bedbugs, so some exterminators have suggested that the EPA allow them to use DDT, which is effective but was banned decades ago because of the threat to human health.

Bedbugs can be killed by heat, however, and washing sheets and bedding in hot water can work. Special mattress covers that the bugs cannot eat through have also been reported effective. For full article  in the Washington Post click here.