Paris is crawling with bedbugs and even riding the trains and a ferry

The French capital, Paris, is currently dealing with a bedbug infestation, just 10 months before the start of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.

The small bugs were initially found in hotels and vacation rental apartments throughout the city during the summer. There have been sightings of bedbugs in movie theaters, and recently, there have been reports of bedbugs crawling on seats in both national high-speed trains and the Paris Metro system. A metro train driver was upset to discover some unwelcome guests in his driver’s cabin.

Scared train passengers have posted videos of bugs on social media, causing other travelers to be more careful before sitting down or placing fabric bags or coats on the floor. According to one person, passengers on the train were very scared when they found out there were bedbugs. They couldn’t leave the train until the next station. Some people even left their current situation and went to Morocco.

Port authorities in Tangiers discovered bedbugs on a passenger ferry that came from Marseille, a city in southern France, on Monday. The alert about the bedbugs was raised during the ferry’s journey across the Mediterranean Sea. This was the first time that officials in Morocco had seen bedbugs from France spreading. When the ship arrived in Tangiers, passengers had to wait while the ship and its cargo were cleaned and disinfected before they were allowed to get off.

According to Moroccan media outlets, Tangiers port and health authorities have implemented extra monitoring procedures after a ferry arrived. These measures aim to identify and stop the spread of bedbugs from other ships coming from France.

Companies in Paris that specialize in treating insect infestations say they have been very busy and have had more work than they can handle in the past few weeks. Parisians pay around $500 on average to have their homes treated if they find the small bugs.

Paris City Hall is very concerned about the possible dangers that visitors to the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the summer might face.

“Bedbugs are a problem that affects public health and should be officially recognized as such,” Deputy Mayor of Paris Emmanuel Grégoire wrote to Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne. He asked the government to create a plan of action to solve the problem on a national scale.

The Transport Minister, Clément Beaune, has announced that he will be meeting with different public transport operators this week. The purpose of the meeting is to provide reassurance and protection for travelers.

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How to protect yourself from bedbugs?

Bedbugs are very small, but you can see them without using any tools. Bed bugs can easily spread and like to hide in mattresses and other soft items like curtains. They can also be found between floorboards, in electrical sockets, and even behind wallpaper. They come out during the night to drink human blood.

In a busy city like Paris, tourists may unknowingly bring unwanted bugs in their suitcases from a hotel with an infestation. They can then travel by metro or other public transportation and leave the bugs on the seats.

If you see bedbugs, exterminators recommend taking action promptly. Put any clothes and bedlinens that might have germs in garbage bags and seal them tightly. Then, wash everything on a high temperature setting. Experts say that cleanliness does not affect the spread of bedbugs. Instead, bedbugs reproduce quickly, so once they find a place to eat and reproduce, they spread rapidly.

A report published by France’s national organization for food, environment, and work hygiene, Anses, found that two main factors are responsible for the recent increase in bedbugs in France. These factors are an increase in tourism and the insects becoming more resistant to insecticides.