Pharmacies have warned of a shortage of a cream used to treat bedbug bites amid a surge in demand.
Dr Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the Association for Independent Multiple Pharmacies, claimed that supplies of hydrocortisone cream were “patchy” following concern over a bedbug outbreak in Paris.
Bedbugs do not carry disease and most bites clear up on their own in a week, according to the NHS.
Hydrocortisone cream helps to soothe itching and inflammation following a bite. It is also commonly used to treat symptoms of eczema, psoriasis and contact dermatitis.
Dr Hannbeck told the Standard that many pharmacists were struggling to source new stock.
“I’ve been asking pharmacies across the country and many of them have said there is a shortage. This is a very common medicine but we have seen high demand following media coverage of bed bug outbreaks in France.
“Some people may want to stock up before they travel to France, or they may have been bitten by a bedbug in the UK.”
She urged Britons struggling to purchase hydrocortisone cream to use calamine lotion or antihistamines to help reduce the itchiness and swelling of a bedbug bite.
Anyone who has been bitten should avoid itching, she said, as it will aggravate the skin and increase the risk of infection.
The Standard contacted 30 London pharmacies. Half said they were “worried” about a shortage of hydrocortisine cream.
Soheb Ganchi, manager of Vicarage Pharmacy in Stratford, said: “A lack of the cream is concerning. It reduces inflammation and there have been bedbug cases as we understand, so a shortage of it is not helpful.”
An employee at Bower Chemists, in Leytonstone, said: “People can buy smaller tubes but, because of the shortage, most people cannot buy cream over the counter. So they will have to come back in stock otherwise people will find things difficult.
“There are other things to help such as sprays, but the most effective method of treating people is hydrocortisone, so it’s a worry if we don’t have that.”
Bedbugs feed on blood by biting people, creating wounds that can be itchy but do not usually cause other health problems.
The insects often live on furniture or bedding and can spread by being on clothes or luggage.
Dr Richard Naylor, director at the Bed Bug Foundation, said there had been “exponential growth” in bedbug cases over the last 20 years and that they are now “out of control”.
“The problem is worse now than it’s been since probably the 1930s and 1940s”.
He said the number of bed bug cases he dealt with had increased from around four to five a week in 2007 to 15 to 20 this year.
Footage posted on social media earlier this week showed a bedbug climbing over a passenger’s leg on a Victoria Line train.
Mayor Sadiq Khan said the threat of France’s bed bug outbreak spreading to London’s public transport network was “a real source of concern” and that Transport for London (TfL) is “taking steps” to prevent the insects spreading across the city on its services.
