They're tough to rid yourself of, because they can survive come sprays used for things like silverfish, roaches, etc. And many landlords in this city don't actually go out of their way to fix the problem. They just want to give the impression that 'well, i tried'. Heat is apparently the one thing that really, really kills them (45-50c apparently in under 5 minutes). But it's a pain and costly. Plus they can live in furniture, tiles, cracks in wood, the walls.
It doesn't help that people like to collect junk from the street corner. It's pretty dangerous though when you consider you might end up with bedbugs, and just continue the spread.
I have thankfully never had to deal with bedbugs, and I hope
http://bedbugregistry.com/ keeps me that way.