Paris is burning its luggage and bed linen as it battles a “scourge” of bedbugs, stoking fears of infestation around the world as pest controllers report an uptick in inquiries and transport operators and hoteliers seek to assuage concerns.
The city of light is reportedly under siege from the nocturnal bloodsuckers, leading the French transport minister, Clément Beaune, to meet transport operators. “It’s a real nightmare,” says Yacine, a schoolteacher in Paris who declined to give his surname. “I’m so afraid to take the Métro, I don’t go to the cinema – it’s very alarmant.”
Seraient-ce des punaises de lit dans vos trains @SNCFVoyageurs @SNCFConnect ????? pic.twitter.com/NyJKrdtvy0
— Dana Del Rey (@DanaShaam) September 18, 2023
With the city having just hosted Paris fashion week and the Rugby World Cup, bringing hundreds of thousands of visitors to the city, there are mounting fears of the problem spreading as visitors return home with an unwelcome souvenir.
In the UK, Eurostar has sought to reassure travellers that the textile surfaces of its trains are “cleaned thoroughly on a regular basis”, including with heat, and that the presence of insects such as bedbugs is “extremely rare”.
In a statement, it said that trains would be cleaned “on request, or as soon as there is the slightest doubt”. There were also plans for an “preventive treatment across our entire network”, though no further details were given.
Transport for London said it would continue monitoring and “rigorous” cleaning of its networks. The UKHospitality chief executive, Kate Nicholls, said that while the organisation was aware of “reported challenges” in France, “there is absolutely no indication or reports of this happening in the UK”.
But social media has already stoked fears that it may be too late. This week there was a surge in Google searches in the UK for bedbugs, while tensions on the trains and streets are running high. “My friend is on a train from Birmingham to Leicester and she’s just seen a bedbug,” tweeted Londoner Tian-Demi Douglas on Monday. “The whole carriage is screaming. It’s game over, lads. We’re fucked.”
Douglas later said that her friend was planning to take precautionary measures, soaking her shoes in boiling water, washing her clothes at 90C (194F) and even rubbing alcohol over her handbag.
In London in particular, which receives 15 Eurostar trains direct from Paris every day, there is a sense of bracing for impact, and a new undercurrent of threat to every houseguest and fortuitous street find.
“There was a lovely armchair left on the road that I wanted to take, but I didn’t – because of the bugs,” says Izzy Brooks, a recent graduate in south London.
Pest professionals have received an increase in inquiries from Londoners concerned about the coming invasion. David Lodge of Beaver Pest Control has had a 17% increase since last month (and 10% over the past year), while Joseph Terrence of Simply the Pest London says he has received requests from people travelling to Paris, “asking for advice on what to do to protect themselves”.
Among many emails received this week, Blago Manov, the director of Bed Bug Hunters, was contacted by a woman with concerns about her French flatmate.
“I was like: ‘Please don’t worry, just because he’s French,’” he says. “Bedbugs don’t discriminate.”
For those already losing sleep over phantom bites, the experts’ take on the “scourge” reported in Paris may not bring peace: there are just as many bedbugs now as there ever were – and probably much the same number in London and New York.
“The French public is just becoming more aware now,” says Manov.
Daniel Neves, from France but operating in London as Inoculand, says he has not heard of “any massive wave” from his colleagues in Paris. He agreed that knowledge of the problem – and even the pest itself – was generally lower across the Channel.
“When I am in France and attend conferences or speak with people and tell them what I see in London, they show mostly disbelief,” he says. “Some do not have a clue what punaises de lit are … In France, it would be perceived as such an incredible thing to suffer from that it would cause a huge uproar.”
While bedbugs are found wherever there are people in large numbers, major cities periodically experience surges. New York buckled under an “invasion” of bedbugs in 2010, which claimed the mammoth Niketown store on 57th Street and the city’s Google HQ.
But the periodic nature of bedbugs’ bloom is hard to separate from a variety of factors, such as rising temperatures – they thrive in warmer climates and buildings – and media attention.
In recent warmer summers in the UK, pest control exterminators have been struggling to keep pace with demand. As Lirian Graca of Mercury Pest Control says: “it’s always been an increasing issue with bedbugs.”
While there may be no greater risk than usual of bringing home a bedbug in one’s baggage, pest professionals say that the panic over Paris may help to make people more conscious of the threat. “It’s better to be aware, and tackle the problem sooner,” says Manov.
An infestation nearly always begins with a bug cadging a lift into someone’s home inside a suitcases or item of furniture. While they do inevitably make occasional stops on public transport or cinema seats, sightings are uncommon, and infestations even less so.
That said, the risk is ever present, and elevated anywhere with a high turnover of warm bodies. It is impossible to protect yourself entirely, says Lyubo Kiryakov of Bed Bug Specialist. “The cinema is a dark place: what are you going to do, bring a torch and start looking under your seat? Unless you catch them crawling around, you won’t be able to see them.”
His London business is booming, he says – but no more than usual. “I wish we were less busy, to be honest … It’s not just London and Paris, it’s every major city, all across the world – it’s a nightmare.” Kiryakov says, The most infested places in the world, he adds, are airport luggage departments.
The global bedbug boom is in fact a problem of our own making. After being nearly globally eradicated in the early 20th century, thanks to the development of powerful insecticides such as DDT, the wily bloodsuckers evolved a resistance just as international travel took off.
“It allowed them to advance and enhance their skills, basically: they’ve become smarter,” says Manov.
Today’s streetwise bedbugs – now with a tougher exoskeleton – can easily tell which areas have been treated with pesticides and avoid them, just as they can tell the difference between a blood meal and the bag they rode in on.
An estimated 30% of the human population do not react to being bitten, often allowing an infestation to go untreated for longer. This seems especially common among older people, who may be immobile or even bedbound and more vulnerable to distress.
But anyone is fair game. Manov’s clients have included members of the royal family – Dutch, not British, he points out – and a “very famous fashion director” (he declines to say which brand). “We’ve also had some of the richest people in the UK. Nobody’s insured against bedbugs.”
But between a few straightforward preventive measures (see below) and swift action in the event of a find, Manov says bedbugs need not spell disaster, and death to your wardrobes and bed linens by boiling at 60C. “The general assumption is that you need to burn your house down.”
Some of his clients have even considered putting their bedbug-infested house up for sale, Manov says. But bedbugs do not lie in wait indefinitely: they are drawn out by the promise of a night-time feast and, once detected, they can be speedily eradicated by professionals.
“It’s a myth that they can survive for months without a blood meal – and it’s unfair, because it scares people,” says Manov. “I’m trying to reassure them, and put their minds at ease … It’s not so difficult to get rid of bedbugs. People shouldn’t be overly stressed.”
Certainly, he added, “don’t be quick to blame your French flatmate”.
How to protect against bedbugs
Check your lodgings
When away from home, Blago Manov recommends “DIY inspections” of the bed frame and beneath the sheets for traces such as exoskeletons, eggs and faeces (which leave a telltale dark mark on mattresses that is hard to get rid of). The adult bugs themselves are visible to the naked eye, resembling “flat apple seeds”.
Don’t unpack your bag
Lyubo Kiryakov of Bed Bug Specialist advises against keeping your suitcase near the bed and unpacking your belongings into the wardrobe or drawers. Unwashed clothes are also a risk factor: “Bedbugs can smell you on your belongings.”
Check for hitchhikers
Manov also identifies baggage handling through airports as ground zero for bedbugs: “When I take my bag from the belt, I always give it a quick shake and inspection.” Whether you will be able to spot a bedbug inside or on your luggage “depends on how many bedbugs you’ve picked up,” says Kiryakov – but it helps to know what you’re looking for. “If you look thoroughly, you’ll be able to find them.”
Look for bites – don’t trust that you will feel them
Given the high proportion of the population who don’t react, you may sleep tight even if bedbugs do bite. “A lot of people are not actually aware that they have been bitten by bedbugs, or that they have them at their properties,” says Manov. If there’s any cause for suspicion, check for visible signs on skin that’s exposed while sleeping, such as the face, neck, wrists and ankles, and spots of blood on bedding.
Don’t attempt to DIY
While quick fixes and silver bullets for bed-bugs abound online, they are unlikely to do the job and may drive them further into hiding. “You’ll only disturb the infestation, and make our job even more difficult,” says Kiryakov. “What you can do is thoroughly hoover the mattress, bed frame and bed board and, if you have a steamer, apply steam that gets rid of bedbugs, instantly.”
Find an accredited professional
Many unscrupulous pest providers will cut corners, allowing the infestation to worsen. Council services, too, can end up being insufficient due to funding cuts. Manov recommends enlisting someone accredited by the British Pest Control Association.
At a minimum, make sure the entire property is properly prepared and treated: spot applications do not work. A one-bedroom property should take about 40 minutes, says Kiryakov. “If it takes less than that, the treatment’s not going to work.”
