WATERBURY, Conn. -- Residents of multiple Waterbury apartment buildings have been expressing concerns over bedbug infestations.

Channel 3 Eyewitness News reporter Leon Collins reported that about 20 to 30 people are claiming to be victims of the bugs.

Complaints have been received from residents of 42 Pine St., 148 Grand St. and 182 West Main St., according to health officials.

City Health Director Bill Campbell told Eyewitness News that the parasites can get out of control in any neighborhood.

"It's on the rise nationally, and of course, on of the factors in the rise is the increase of international travel, bringing in bedbugs from parts of the world where they were never really eliminated," he said.

Campbell said that while the bugs aren't known to transmit diseases, they take between three and 10 minutes to get the blood flow needed to turn into reproducing adults.

"It's going to get worse in the near future," he said. "The people who do extermination, their stock should rise."

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