Bedbugs could be lurking in the “dark crevices” of furniture as well as mattresses, an expert has warned amid fears that an apparent outbreak of the insects in Paris could spread to the UK.
Despite their name, bedbugs can also be found in cabinets, sofas, seats, skirting boards and other wooden fixtures.
Professor Mary Cameron, a medical entomologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told the Daily Star: “They come into the bed to bite you when it’s dark, but then they scurry away into cracks and crevices within the bedroom.
“So you wouldn’t find them so much in the bed, you’d probably find them inside bedside cabinets, in cracks and crevices, or behind the headboard or in wardrobes, because they like to be in dark places during the day.
“So, after you’ve got up, it’s unlikely that you’ll see them in your bed unless you’ve got a really bad infestation, and you’ll be aware of it then because you’ll have lots of bites.”
The academic warned that people with bedbug infestations will likely need professional help, adding: “It could be that they have to dismantle furniture, go behind skirting boards, and they’ll have better equipment to be able to reach the bedbugs that are hiding.”
A wave of panic was sparked in Paris and other French cities when people started posting videos on social media of bedbugs on public transport seats and other places.
Dylan Rubens, 33, a London-born teacher living in the artist quarter of Montmartre, Paris, spoke of his “nightmare” after finding bedbugs in the seams of his bed and bedroom curtains.
He told The Independent: “I wake up in the middle of the night and turn my phone torch on, expecting to see them in bed with me.
“Bed is usually a comfortable, relaxing safe space. Now I just feel itchy and paranoid.”
He added that his landlord had refused to pay for bug control services as they were spread throughout the building, costing him nearly £1,000 for three separate callouts.
A wave of panic and disgust was sparked in Paris and other French cities when people started posting videos on social media of bedbugs on public transport
Last week Eurostar stepped up cleaning on its trains after the blood-sucking insects were spotted on trains.
There have also been reported sightings on the London Underground, with mayor Sadiq Khan saying Transport for London was “taking steps” to prevent the insects from spreading across the city.
Bedbugs feed on blood by biting people, creating wounds that can be itchy but do not usually cause other health problems.
Over the years they have become increasingly resistant to insecticide and are notoriously difficult to get rid of.
Pest control firms in London recently said they had been inundated with calls about the critters.
Tony King, owner of Pied Piper Pest Control, said they had been found in offices and cars, as well as homes.
“We’ve been inundated with calls about bedbugs – we’ve been flat out for at least the last eight or nine months with them,” he said.
He added that there was a “bedbug epidemic in west London”, with flats in Victorian houses being a particular source of cases.
Mr King said he believed the increase was down to international travel opening up following the pandemic.
He added that another problem was that “a lot of people have got bedbugs and are not reporting them”.
David Cain, founder of Bed Bugs Limited, said there had been “exponential growth” in bedbug cases over the last 20 years and that they are now “out of control”.
