Bedbugs have proved a growing bugbear for the city's population with complaints against them increasing by 40% in the past three years.

Among those affected were Bill Clinton, who battled an outbreak in his Harlem office, lingerie store Victoria's Secret and countless Manhattan hotels.

People have spent thousands of dollars attempting to rid themselves of the unwelcome visitors, who like to nestle in furniture and suck the blood of humans and animals.

Now the city said it will use $500,000 (£320,500) to inform the public of how to kill off the mites and finally put the issue to bed.

Last year some 33,000 people called a bedbug complaint hotline to ask for help in dealing with them.

New York City councillor Christine Quinn said the city's high population, buoyed by constant tourism, was proving too attractive for the tiny bloodsuckers.

"Everyone wants to come to New York, including bedbugs," she said. "But we have a message for them ... drop dead."

Although they don't carry disease, the mites can be difficult to clear and - according to another councillor Gale Brewer - can cause "emotional, psychological and economic anguish".