BOSTON -- Coast to coast, bedbugs are invading cities and towns, not just in the bedroom, but in public places, including restaurants. They're very difficult to get rid of. But one non-toxic extermination process could be getting the job done.

Suzanne has bedbugs in her Melrose apartment.

"Just thinking about it make you itchy," she said.

Fifty-one of the 150 units at the McCarthy apartment complex are infested.

"You are changing your sheets all the time, you are checking everywhere. It's exhausting," said Suzanne.

Call it the summer of the bedbug. From New York City's stores and movie theaters,to private residences across the country, the pesky insects may not carry disease. But they bombard the bed sheets and bite humans.

"People stay in hotels, people go overseas, people come home, and they are bringing the bugs with them," said Ken Bogdanoff of "Pure Heat" Extermination.

"Clean people, dirty people, rich people, poor people, inexpensive hotels, expensive hotels. This is just a function of bad luck," said Bogdanoff.

Many of the chemicals used to obliterate the bugs require multiple treatments and sometimes don't work.

"I talked to four or five different housing authorities and they had used the chemicals over and over again and were still having a bedbug problem," said Ann St. Pierre, director of the Melrose Housing Authority.

St. Pierre called in the company Pure Heat to wipe out the wingless insects. They use no chemicals, just extremely hot air.

"When we get to 130 to 140 degrees, we hold that temperature for 2 to 3 hours. At that temperature, we'll kill the living bugs and we'll kill the eggs," said Bogdanoff.

In Boston, droves of college students are moving in and out of residences. All the stray furniture could be a breeding ground for the quarter-inch crawlers.

"Where people are trading furniture and leaving furniture over the summer that people keep, that's a perfect storm for bedbugs," said Bogdanoff.

Boston inspectors spray paint furniture to discourage pickers, and public works crews call for prompt removal. Inspectional Services say that's why complaints about the creatures in Boston are low.

In 2010 there were 200 complaints, 90 less than the year before. On the most infested cities list, Boston just missed the notorious top 10.

To help keep bedbugs away, the Environmental Protection Agency recommends reducing clutter, keeping rugs and furniture clean, and using mattress covers. They also suggest cracks and crevices be sealed and sheets be washed and dried at high temperatures.

The wingless insects do not carry disease but they do bite. If you do have bedbugs the EPA issued a warning not to use pesticides indoors intended for outdoor use.