The 2024 Olympics weren’t the only thing France hosted this summer. Ten months before the opening ceremony, the city of Paris was thrust into the global eye over concerns of a citywide bed bug infestation.
Videos of bedbugs crawling all over the historic city made rounds on social media. Hotels, trains and private residences were shown to be victims of these parasites. According to Dr. Jean-Michel Bérenger, a medical entomologist and France’s leading bedbug expert, it will get worse.
Bed bugs are nocturnal parasites that invade places humans reside. They hide during the day in cracks, mattresses, linens and corners of furniture. At night, they come out to feed on any available body part.
Bed bugs leave bites that can cause intense itching and rashes, but they are not pathogenic. However, their presence can have severe psychological impacts, and their victims can come down with anxiety and depression.
The Regional Health Directorate of Île-de-France revealed that in the first half of 2023, more than 8500 cases of bed bug infestation were reported. These reports were made by homes and hotels of all statuses from the city’s richest residents to the less affluent.
Bedbug infestations were thought to be eradicated in the 1950s with the advent of pesticides. However, recent decades have seen a resurgence in their population. Experts attribute this to an increased resistance to pesticides, little to no awareness of the bugs, and increased globalization.
These pests are typically carried by traveler’s flying into the country, be it for tourism or business. They are picked up from hotels and hostels, hiding in clothes and luggage. They then slowly and opportunistically disperse into the chairs of buses and trains, off to colonize a new destination.
According to a 2023 report by the National Health Security Agency (ANSes), 11% of French households reported bed bug infestations, up 7% from 2014. The report stated bed bugs cost French households €230 million per year between 2017 and 2022.
Due to the reduced efficacy of common pesticides, most infestations require the professional application of specialized pesticides. Each visit can cost as much as $1200, and typically require multiple visits to eliminate the pests completely.
Though Paris was in global spotlight, the City of Light is no worse off than other urban metropolises in the U.S. and Europe.
“All large cities where tourism is very developed are more impacted, and Paris is not an exception,” Bérenger says.
The global uproar was due in part to the just-concluded Olympic games and concerns over whether participants and vistors were at-risk. Jean-Noel Barrot, the French minister for European affairs, revealed to TF1 television that Russian troll bots amplified an existing scare with the intention of linking it to the arrival refugees from war-torn countries.
The connection was traced by the Viginum service. Viginum was created in 2021 to detect attacks that aim to destabilize public opinion in France.
The uproar had some benefits. It public awareness about the parasitic pests, their method of spreading, and what to do to prevent the spread of infestations. In addition, the French government invested considerable resources to ensure that the endemic is contained to sustainable numbers.
Places involved with the Olympic Games underwent a thorough search and cleanse.
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