The mere mention of the “B” word and any New Yorker will visibly flinch at the thought of those voracious, teeny tiny minions from hell itself and the havoc they can wreak on a person’s life, damaging property and disturbing one’s social status. So it’s safe to say no one’s excited to hear that bedbugs (ugh) have been riding alongside commuters and tourists alike on one of New York City’s subway lines.

Reuters reports that two trains on the N line — which runs from Queens to Coney Island in Brooklyn — were taken out of service over the weekend and a third yesterday so they can be fumigated, after riders and subway staff started spotting the little bloodsuckers riding the rails alongside decent people who don’t deserve to be infested.

“When we found them, we exterminated them,” a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority told the New York Daily News of the traveling bedbugs.

It might be a good idea to keep your eyes peeled, however — bedbugs can travel home/to work/to your best friend’s house with you on your clothes or in personal items like a purse or messenger bag.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we are also doing spot checks inside crew rooms,” another MTA rep explained.

I tried to find a photo that encapsulates the all-consuming fear of bedbugs that possesses the average city-dweller, but you’ll just have to imagine yourself a social pariah covered in itchy red bites, buried in thousands of dollars in fumigation bills and expenses to replace everything you own. Then you’ll get the idea.

Bedbugs found on at least three N line subway trains [New York Daily News]
New York City subway cars fumigated after bedbug sightings [Reuters]

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