To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports HTML5
video
People in France may never sleep tight again as a wave of bedbugs continues to bite.
The brown tick-size critters, infamous for making hotel mattresses their home, were almost wiped out in France in the 1950s.
But politicians have been under increasing pressure from bite-scratching people and health officials since the insects came back with a vengeance in the 1990s.
ANSES, a government agency which assesses health risks, found that one in 10 French households had experienced bedbugs between 2017 and 2022.
In its July report, the agency said: ‘The upsurge in bed-bug infestations in recent years has been due in particular to the rise in travel and the increasing resistance of bed bugs to insecticides.’
From seats on trains and cinemas to the Paris Metro and airports, a new wave of bedbug sightings has appeared on social media in recent weeks, raising fears of the insects stowing away on people and crawling into their homes.
Bedbugs are known to hide in bedding, mattresses and behind headboards (Picture: Reuters)
The blood-sucking pests are drawn to the warmth and carbon dioxide exhaled by humans (Picture: Reuters)
Bites aren’t generally too painful and tend to be more itchy than anything (Picture: Reuters)
Paris is especially crawling with the critters, its deputy mayor has said (Picture: Reuters)
With tourists expected to flock to France next year for the Olympics – and right now for Paris Fashion Week – officials are trying to stamp out the pests.
Transport minister Clement Beaune vowed to ‘reassure and protect’ the public on Friday. Posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, he said he is speaking to transit operators this week.
The RATP, which runs the Paris’ public transport network, said any train spotted with bedbugs aboard was taken out of service for treatment, according to The Local France.
Speaking to French TV station LCI, the capital’s deputy mayor Emmanuel Gregoire said the bugs that love a belly full of blood have become ‘widespread’.
‘You have to understand that in reality no one is safe, obviously there are risk factors but in reality, you can catch bedbugs anywhere and bring them home,’ he said.
As a heavily connected city, Paris is facing a particularly bad case of bedbugs and they ‘don’t stop at the periphery’, Gregoire added.
How worried should I be about bedbugs?
According to the NHS, bedbugs are small parasitic insects that feed on the blood of sleeping humans and warm-blooded animals.
‘Their bites can be itchy but do not usually cause other health problems,’ the health service says. These bites look like red or purple welts.
While they aren’t too much to worry about health-wise, health officials say they can cause a lot of mental distress.
As they hitchhike around on clothing, furniture, luggage and second-hand bedding, food isn’t that big of a concern – they can live up to a year without any.
In more nightmare fuel, they lay hundreds of eggs each and are drawn to people’s mouths as the carbon dioxide they exhale acts as a flashing neon ‘open’ sign for the buffet of blood beneath the skin.
Indeed, bedbugs aren’t that fussed about cleanliness. It’s warmth, blood, carbon dioxide and darkness that they prefer.
However, bedbugs also don’t mind emerging out of their hiding spots when the lights are switched on at night.
Speaking of, when found inside the home, bedbugs tend to be found in the seams, labels and edges of mattresses and behind headboards.
Bedbugs are thought by researchers to have originated at least 100 million years ago, sucking blood at a time when the T Rex casually roamed the earth.
ANSES recommends dry-heat treatments – cranking up the thermostat in the infested room – and freezing bedbug-riddled clothing over chemicals.
‘Before any treatment is applied, ANSES reiterates that the infested room should be cleaned, vacuumed and tidied up,’ it added.
Health officials also recommend people who have bedbugs contact their local council or pest control service.
Gregoire wrote to prime minister Élisabeth Borne last Thursday asking for an ‘action plan’ to deal with the ‘scourge’, though warned against ‘hysteria’.
‘Bedbugs existed before and they will exist afterwards,’ he added.
France is all too familiar with bedbugs. Three years ago, the government launched an anti-bedbug campaign, including an emergency hotline.
The number of Euros in a person’s bank account can make a massive difference in how persistent a bedbug infestation is in their home, Anses stressed.
Pest treatment averages €866, while the cost for treatment nationally was on average €230,000,000 a year from 2017 to 2022.
The agency said: ‘In 2019, the health cost was €83,000,000 for the French population, including €79,000,000 associated with a decline in quality of life, sleep disorders, and effects on mental health, €1,000,000 linked to work stoppages and around €3,000,000 for physical care.’
A societal safety net for dealing with bedbugs could make all the difference, Asnes added, ensuring people have the means to pay for treatment.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.