BOSTON -- They're creepy, they're crawly and they live on human blood.

Bed bugs are everywhere, and a true infestation can mean up to 500 bites a night. In Boston, some say the pests are making a comeback.

On the Boston University campus, officials admit that they've had a problem with the insects in recent weeks. They have been candid about the situation and they said they are not alone.

"I try not to think about it," said one BU student.

"There's a really big creep factor," said another.

BU is one of a number of area schools that has battled the bugs in its dorms and living areas.

"I've heard about it and I was pretty surprised because some of them seem like really nice places. Like we've heard about the student village right over there and that's a brand new dorm, relatively. So it's not just the quality of the place, it's anywhere really," said a third student.

Bedbugs are also popping up at apartments, assisted living facilities, hospitals, airplanes, buses and trains and hotels.

"There certainly has been a big explosion," said Mike Tache, whose beagles are trained like bomb-sniffing dogs to zero in on the bugs. He said no bed, couch or carpet is immune.

"People have to realize it has nothing to do with cleanliness. I've been in immaculate condominiums, homes, apartments, so forth, that have problems," he said.

That's because bedbugs are great hitchhikers. Once you accidentally bring one home, they quickly multiply.

"Once a female is impregnated, it remains pregnant throughout the course of its life. It will lay two to four eggs a day, up to 400 in a lifetime," Tachet said.

If you get them, you will need a professional to get rid of them. Your best bet for prevention: keep your guard up when you travel.

"I check underneath the sheets, I check out the cord around the mattress, I check out the box spring and especially the head board," Tachet said.

The problem remains more of a nuisance than a health threat in the city, but federal health officials are closely monitoring the resurgence of the problem in the area because while there is no evidence that bedbugs can transmit blood-borne illnesses, they can be carriers, just like mosquitoes.