By Nina Mandell
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Bedbugs have moved into Manhattan's most iconic building as the city considers hiring specially trained hounds to sniff out the pesky critters.
The insects, which have forced businesses to close and created a bonanza summer for fumigators this year, have hitched a ride into the Empire State building, the New York Daily News reported.
The pests apparently got into the building on an employee’s clothes and were discovered in the basement.
"The occurrence was specific to a uniform storage area in the basement of the building. The area has been treated and fully cleared,” the building said in statement released to the News.
But building visitors weren’t amused by the invasion of the creepy crawlers.
“That's nasty and gross," Allison Schoenfeld, 23, of Long Island, told the News.
Bedbugs have recently been found in the Abercrombie and Fitch store, Hollister store, a Times Square movie theater and other buildings across Manhattan.
The city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development is considering getting a pack of dogs specially trained to sniff out the insects, the Wall Street Journal reported.
"We are exploring the option of acquiring bedbug-sniffing dogs since we feel they could be an asset in the city's ongoing efforts to address the growing problem," a department spokesman told the paper.
