"I have seen bedbugs firsthand on the subway," he said. "I called the [Metropolitan Transit Authority], and they said they were looking into it. … They didn't do anything about it."
Eisenberg said that considering the rise in reports of bedbugs in New York City in recent years, it should come as little surprise if the bugs have been found on the subway system as well.
"It's an epidemic in the city, and it's certainly growing," he said. "It just goes to show that this is not some unusual circumstance and it's not going to go away anytime soon."
Still, reports of such infestations have been uncommon so far. Sylvana Hoyos, a spokesperson for Philadelphia's Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, said that there have been no such instances of similar problems there.
Cindy Mannes, spokeswoman for the National Pest Management Association, said her organization has not received any such reports.
"I have not heard of anything relating to bedbugs in the subways of New York City or anywhere else," Mannes said.
She added that such infestations could be possible, especially considering the steady human traffic in such facilities.
"If you think about large groups of people, in many cases this is how bedbugs are transported," she said. "I know they've been found in movie theaters and other strange places. I know of nothing specific to any subway station, but if there's upholstery anywhere, they can live in it."
Despite a shortage of upholstered surfaces in most subway trains, Eisenberg said bedbugs, much like humans, can use trains to move from place to place.
"Subways don't have a lot of [upholstery], which I think is their saving grace," he said. "But buses do have upholstery, so that is a problem."
If the New York City subway is infested with bedbugs, it will be a problem that will warrant quick action. After a long-term decline, bedbugs have rebounded in the United States in recent years partly because of increased international travel.
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