Residents of a Glasgow community are resigned to living with bed bugs, according to an academic.

Dr Heather Lynch, a lecturer at Glasgow Caledonian University, says some people in Govanhill in Glasgow have accepted they have to adapt and accept the little creatures.

Writing in The Conversation, which uses information and research backed by academics, Dr Lynch said some residents had decided the best response is to learn to live “side-by -side” with the insects.

She said: “The experience in Govanhill, a locality just south of Glasgow city centre, is that once these insects [bed bugs] become endemic they are effectively impossible to remove.”

Dr Lynch said the area reflected the challenges and opportunities of 21st- century Europe.

She added: “Govanhill has become renowned for poor housing, poverty and crime – as well as for artists and vibrant community activists. And it faces major environmental issues, with rubbish dumping and infestations of bed bugs.”

The article says in the early 1900s, the world took its lead from the “Glasgow system”, which educated tenants about cleanliness and bed bug behaviour. This included regular visits from the public health department.But now the area has seen “a significant rise” in bedbugs similar to international parts of New York, Australia and France.

Govanhill has attracted massive funding, including a dedicated pest control unit to deal with “hundreds of cases” every year.

But Dr Lynch warned there were few signs of this making a difference, as bed bugs can lie dormant for extensive periods.