They are sleeping, sometimes outdoors, sometimes in their cars, so the bedbugs can't bite. New Hampshire, like much of the rest of the world, now has a bedbug problem, and troops are being marshaled to combat the invasion. In Manchester an apartment complex is being evacuated for two weeks so exterminators can make war on the blood- sucking insects that infest it. The furniture residents leave behind will be destroyed and clothing laundered and dried at high temperatures to kill the insects, their larvae and their eggs. An attempt will also be made to kill the cockroaches, which unlike bedbugs, can transmit diseases to humans.

Bedbugs have been found in habitations both humble and, like Leona Helmsley's New York hotel, luxurious. They've invaded a hotel in Nashua, apartments in Concord, homeless shelters and college dormitories. Their presence is not a sign of poor hygiene. But people who buy used furniture or luggage that could harbor the insects, or who bring home castoff items found on the street, are more likely to suffer an infestation.