Paris is dealing with a bed bug infestation

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In recent days in Paris, the capital of France, an infestation of bed bugs has reached worrying proportions to the point of requiring the highest city officials to intervene.

Bed bugs are bloodsucking insects, so they feed on blood. Their bites are annoying, but do not pose a danger if you are not allergic. Insects nest in bed frames, mattresses and sofas, but they also do not disdain crowded areas such as restaurants, theatres, cinemas, offices and hotels. Disinfestation can cost thousands of euros, and before you can go back to your habits you need to take some precautions, such as keeping your clothes in sealed plastic bags to prevent bedbugs from nesting there and laying their eggs.

According to ANSES, the French agency for food, environmental and occupational health and safety, bedbug infestations have affected 11 percent of French families. In recent days, the presence of these insects has been reported in very crowded public places such as the subway and the waiting rooms of Roissy airport.

The deputy mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Grégoire, said that a possible solution to this problem would be to integrate a special clause against bedbug risks into the home insurance contract. In fact, due to the rather high disinfestation costs, many families give up on preventing possible infestations. “It’s too expensive, so people give up on intervening on their own apartment which, once infested, contaminates neighboring apartments,” Grégoire said on Friday, interviewed by LCI TV. «Coordinated measures are needed that bring together health authorities, communities and all stakeholders to prevent risk and act effectively. No one is safe.”

🫠 No one is safe.

Faced with a bedbug infestation, coordinated measures are needed that bring together health authorities, communities and all relevant stakeholders to prevent the risk and act effectively. pic.twitter.com/QRms9DSU1Y

— Emmanuel Grégoire (@egregoire) September 29, 2023

The municipality of Paris has urged the government to consider the bedbug infestation as a public health problem, and has asked that a communication campaign be organized on trains and the Paris Metro also in view of the Olympics and Paralympics in program next summer.