Bedbugs are popping up in Paris hotels, homes, and even public transport, and with the Olympics just 10 months away, that has city officials' skin crawling.

Just 10 months before the opening of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics, the French capital is battling an invasion of bedbugs.

The tiny pests were first reported in hotels and vacation rental apartments across the city during the summer. Then there were sightings in movie theaters and, in recent days, there have even been reports of bedbugs crawling around on seats in both national high-speed trains and the Paris Metro system.

One metro train driver was dismayed to find some of the unwelcome guests in his driver’s cabin.

    • darq@kbin.social
      145·
      1 year ago

      I’ve had bedbugs before, they got into my luggage on an extended trip. And I just have to say screw bedbugs. They’re absolutely miserable little things and difficult to get rid of.

      At first it’s not so bad. Just some itchy bites, nothing serious and they aren’t a major disease vector. But they interfere with your sleep. And they mess with your mind after a while. Eventually it feels like they’re crawling all over you whenever you’re in bed, wherever your skin touches the linen, even if they aren’t actually there.

      So yeah they aren’t the end of the world. But I’d do a lot to avoid them.

      • captainlezbian@lemmy.worldEnglish
        57·
        1 year ago

        Yeah and if you had an infestation that wasn’t treated probably you wind up paranoid for years.

        Also they take the place you should feel safest and make it a place of discomfort and unease

    • GONADS125@lemmy.worldEnglish
      59·
      1 year ago

      As someone who worked as a caseworker for adults living in various residential care facilities (RCFs) and assisted living facilities (ALFs), some infestations absolutely require professional intervention…

      I’ve watched some facilities try to tackle them on their own with every home remedy, failing and just allowing more residents to suffer. I’ve hotlined facilities for their failure to manage and properly treat bed bugs.

      I’m not saying it can’t be done, but I have yet to see home remedies or heat treating rooms actually solve an infestation. All I saw was one room get marginally better while another room or two had them grow in numbers.

      I luckily managed to dodge bringing them home all those years. Some of my team members weren’t so lucky, and they had a hell of a time and spent thousands of dollars to eradicate them. One team member brought them to her house twice…

      I greatly feared bringing those little bastards home, and that fear was warranted.

      • Anamnesis@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        1 year ago

        Wait, you’re saying heat treating isn’t effective? I thought that was the most effective method.

        • GONADS125@lemmy.worldEnglish
          18·
          1 year ago

          I’m saying it may not cut it and it can still be a real battle. Those things a pain in the ass to get rid of… One RCF I worked with literally just shut down one of their facilities because I kept getting them in trouble with DHSS and DMH for not adequately treating the bed bugs. I had a client so covered in bites I raised so much hell… They were using the heat treatment and they just couldn’t get rid of them doing it themselves instead of hiring professionals, which are expensive. This sort of situation was all too common in my region.

          I’m not an expert on bed bug removal. I’m just saying the fear surrounding bed bug infestations is not unfounded. And I’m just offering skepticism of simple home treatment from what I witnessed at that job. The idea that you don’t need to hire professionals just doesn’t align with what I witnessed or my team member’s home infestations.

        • Morcyphr@lemmy.oneEnglish
          15·
          1 year ago

          With the right equipment, proper preparation, and proper knowledge of use, heat treatment can be the most effective, especially on mass infestations. I’ve had training and used this method professionally many times effectively. But it’s not a DIY home remedy.

    • a1studmuffin@aussie.zoneEnglish
      18·
      1 year ago

      This seems like bad advice. A friend of mine literally developed panic attacks due to bed bugs. His family spent so long trying to get rid of them for good, and during that whole time none of them were getting proper sleep. Once they were gone, any hint of a bite or an itch triggered him. They can take a huge mental toll in addition to physical.

      • Nheea@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        Encountered bed bugs in an airbnb in Lisbon 2 years ago. It was probably a new infestation, there weren’t too many and I wasn’t affected cause I took all the precautions to not take them home with me, but I still have small panic attacks when I see a small red spot on me.

        They even freaking bit my scalp. They are horrible.

  • nouben@lemmy.mlEnglish
    47·
    1 year ago

    Man with bedbugs PTSD here. Let me tell you what will happen if you notice bedbugs at your place :

    • You will call a company to get rid of it

    • They will tell you that they can’t come in less than 2 weeks and that they will charge you 400€ min. Deal with your itches until then, sleep well.

    • The company will tell you their prerequisites, usually : get rid of ALL your fabric/clothes and wash it at 60°c or freeze it for 4 days at -20°c

    I assure you that you never know how much fabric/clothes you have before you have to wash it ALL of it. My SO and i had forty 100L garbage bag of fucking stuff. The garbage bags are here for storage but also to keep your clothes and fabric sealed, to avoid the fuckers to either get away or get in. It will cost you money, you will lose time and about half your clothes thanks to the hot temp and shrinking.

    If the infestation is too big, you will also have to fucking freeze your books if you have some (they can hide between pages), throw away your mattress and eventually your bed.

    Also, the company will come at your place at least 2 times, best is 3, with a week interval. So during 2 to 3 weeks you will live among garbage bags, breathe insecticide for weeks, and eventually repeat the process in a few months cause one bedbug escaped and was hosted by your neighbor. Good luck to you ! (be brave)

    Ps : if you have animals, you will also have to deal with them during 5h the day the company is at your place. Spoiler : that will cost you days off and about 1000€ in total.

    [edit] typos, formatting and adding ps

    • Kale@lemmy.zipEnglish
      21·
      1 year ago

      You mention bedbug PTSD. That’s not hyperbole. I think it’s about 10% of bedbug infestations cause diagnosable conditions that meet clinical definitions of trauma or anxiety.

      • nouben@lemmy.mlEnglish
        6·
        1 year ago

        me, with flashbacks, shivers and feeling of swarming while writing my previous comment : not surprised.

        I just thought it would be higher

      • The_Lurk@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        1 year ago

        I’ve dealt with bed bugs three times now. It’s been over a year since I’ve had them, but if I feel something out of the ordinary on my bed the sheets get washed, the bed gets examined and for good measure I bug bomb the room.

    • AllBlue22@lemmy.worldEnglish
      125·
      1 year ago

      Hate to burst your bubble but per the Center for Invasive Species “they are thought to have originated in Europe, the Middle East or in India, but moved across the world as humans did.”

        • ShakeThatYam@lemmy.worldEnglish
          36·
          1 year ago

          I’d like to know why the fuck Americans are traveling to Paris to go to Disneyland. We have two perfectly good Disney theme parks in the US. Why not go to France and enjoy French things??

          Edit: OP is an idiot. Another commenter determined that less than 10% of visitors to Disneyland France are American.

        • dogslayeggs@lemmy.worldEnglish
          35·
          1 year ago

          A) Your source is behind a paywall, so I can’t read it.

          B) So Disney Land Paris is ONLY popular with Americans? Because if you honestly think that the reason Disney Land gets bedbugs is because Americans visit it, you might be a moron. Just because it is popular with Americans doesn’t mean that no other countries visit it.

          In fact, let’s look at the numbers: in 2016, 49% of visitors to DL Paris were from France, 17% from the UK, 9% from Spain, and going down through Europe. The rest of the world (U.S. included) is only 9% of the visitors. In 2011, the numbers were 51% France, 12% UK, 9% Spain, and going down through Europe, with the rest of the world (US included) being 9%. I can’t find any newer numbers than 2016, but if the percentages are almost identical from 2011 to 2016, then I’m guessing they are similar for 2023. So the entire premise of your argument that DL Paris gets bedbugs because of less than 10% of its tourists is so unbelievably stupid that I don’t even know where to go from here.

    • Bilb!@lem.monsterEnglish
      25·
      1 year ago

      It doesn’t matter where the bedbugs came from, they are everywhere. Paris is an international destination; this is entirely Paris’s failure to manage it a problem that comes inevitably with that status.

      • Voyajer@lemmy.worldEnglish
        19·
        1 year ago

        He thinks bed bugs originated in the new world. (They’ve been present in Europe for 900+ years.)

        • Kale@lemmy.zipEnglish
          2·
          1 year ago

          If you want to blame the Americas for anything, blame syphilis. That wasn’t in Europe until the late 1400/early 1500.

  • atk007@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Having lived through a bedbugs pandemic, this shit is more serious than COVID. It’s impossible to get rid of them except burning all your possessions and changing apartments. As someone who reside a train ride away from Paris, I demand border control now.