The city of Paris has been grappling for weeks with a massive infestation of bed bugs that have invaded bus seats, subways, cinemas but also private homes. Bed bugs, technically Cimex lectularius, are hematophagous insects, that is, they feed on blood. They have dimensions that for females can even reach 6-8 millimeters (the size of a watermelon seed) and a color that varies from light for the young bedbug which then with subsequent molts acquires a reddish color when it becomes an adult. They live on average 4-6 months, but can survive without feeding for up to a whole year. A female bedbug lays 1-5 eggs per day and up to 500 throughout her life. each egg hatches in about 9 days and becomes an adult in about a month. Unlike lice which need a constant temperature and therefore are in contact with the skin or on the hair or clothes, the bed bug does not live on humans and their clothes: contact with humans is limited to the time necessary to feed on blood . sensitive to high temperatures and dies within minutes if exposed to the sun. It also dies in sudden cold.
October 3, 2023 | 5.09pm
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