Bedbug crisis sparks political row in Paris as insect ‘scourge’ continues

[Yeri]

Quite interesting video from Mark Rober about bedbugs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JAOTJxYqh8

[w23j]

Great video! Thanks for the recommendation.

[SettembreNero]

Bedbugs have been a problem for years in Paris, but of course the government starts to think about it for the Olympics. Regular people can rot in hell for what they care

[bsaul]

for sure, public transport would be different if politicians were using it.

[bsaul]

Paris subway is and has always been an horrible pathogen nest. My life in the winter changed when i stopped having to use it everyday, i basically stopped being sick.

Now with the record high amount of homeless in the street at the moment i'm pretty skeptical this is going to get any better.

[prox]

Subway ventilation can be really bad or badly maintained at least.

[bratwurst3000]

So true. I am very very often on France and had to throw away my bed and couch in France and Germany because of those shitbugs. We tried products and professional help but they came back or where still there. Since we changed interior and take precautions when we travel they are gone. But it’s hell. Because I also rent apartments for holiday, that I own, and there I change the mattress regularly and everything else is leather now.

Many of my friend have them also. Didn’t realize it was a problem on national level but it feels like it. Btw Germany has them also .

[curiousgal]

Well I lived in Paris for three years, sat on countless metro/train seats, hotels, shared appartments, hostels, and I have never had an issue with bed bugs.

[laurent_du]

My grandmother dealt with bedbugs in 1950s Paris. I always thought of them as a thing of the past that couldn't possibly resurface in the present day. Clearly, I was wrong. Given that this is France, the likely solution is to commission a task force to spend five years working on a white paper that ultimately concludes more taxes are needed.

[unsupp0rted]

> a thing of the past that couldn't possibly resurface in the present day

What would be stopping them?

[bob1029]

This is why I don't mind the spiders so much.

They do a really good job of vacuuming up the smaller insects around my home. You can tell how well they're working by the density of crap in their webs. I go out of my way to not harm them if possible. I used to spray for everything but I think that just makes things worse in the long run.

[TacticalCoder]

I always let the spiders in the house alone. I know they kill mosquitoes and the like.

But nonetheless around last september we had bedbugs in our main bedroom (France, but not Paris : rural south east of France). I couldn't find any but they were obviously sucking our blood at night: these weren't mosquitoes bites.

Thankfully that bedroom is "zen": one huge bed and that's it. So we bought all the chemicals needed to kill the bedbugs (yup, sorry for the planet about these chemicals but you cannot live with bedbugs) and I quickly repainted the entire room, figuring out that bedbugs probably wouldn't like it much to get both the anti-bedbugs chemicals plus brand new painted walls.

Chemicals, painting the whole room, washing the sheets, vaccuum cleaning. Rinse and repeat for two to three days.

No problem since.

So you can get rid of these little mofos but spiders alone aren't sufficient.

[tamimio]

Exactly this why I keep them around as long as they don’t invade my personal space, also house centipede, scary looking, but harmless to humans, deadly for small insects.

[cf141q5325]

In case anyone is afraid of spiders, confrontation therapy does wonders. Doesnt have to be drastic, letting one set up a net in a visible area already does wonders.

[mongol]

Not the same, but I recently have got problems with moths. So has my parents. This also used to be unusual.

[giardini]

I encountered a bedbug-like problem and used a two-pronged approach:

a) ivermectin and

b) permethrin, which I added to laundry and sprayed on clothing and bedclothing.

Permethrin could harm pets so I keep them away from any application until clothing is dry.

Ivermectin kills most bedbugs, fleas et al and stops the young from molting, but they have to bite you first usually. Nonetheless, there's something satisfying about being the bait and knowing that each bite means another bug dies.

[Raed667]

knowing the current french government, i would say their response is going to be:

1- create a green number with an automated response that tells you “you should have paid better attention”

2- blame immigrants

ps: this is not limited to paris , a friend of mine found one bug in her train near Cannes

[bratwurst3000]

I am often on south France and yes they are there in abundance.

[throwaway290]

It mentions various downsides of bedbugs but doesn't mention blood borne diseases... Isn't that how it works, if it bit a guy with hepatitis then bit you, you will probably get it?

[thelastgallon]

While bed bugs carry a lot of stigma, they are not disease carriers.

To date, no published study has demonstrated a causal relationship between bed bugs and infectious disease transmission in humans. Also, we present and propose to expand on previous hypotheses as to why bed bugs do not transmit human pathogens. Bed bugs may contain “neutralizing factors” that attenuate pathogen virulence and, thereby, decrease the ability of bed bugs to transmit infectious disease: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5007277/

[mmasu]

I had bed bugs a 15 year ago while living in Bahrain. I had never heard of them or had any idea about what they were (in Italy, where I am from, they are not common at all) so when i started to notice bites all over my legs i did not know what i was facing. But: my sleep quality deteriorated, and with it my personal well being. So while it might be true that they do not bear diseases, if not taken care of they can severely affect your health anyway

[unsupp0rted]

* for some values of "probably"

[rayiner]

Paris could try being less filthy. New York has the same problem. After getting bed bugs from the Sofitel, the remediating of which involved plastic bagging literally everything and nuking the place with insect killer, I refuse to stay in Manhattan anymore. I stay in Westchester or sometimes Jersey.

[earthling8118]

This attitude is a contributor to the problem. Bed bugs have nothing to do with filth. They aren't cockroaches. They don't care how clean a space is. Only that they can find blood to consume.

[dctoedt]

Funny, for years (apart from pandemic years) we've been going to Manhattan once or twice a year for museums and shows; we've never had problems with bedbugs or "filth."

[baz00]

I've just removed that AirBnB weekend in Paris from my things to do this year list :)

[kergonath]

It’s not unique to Paris. It is a scourge in the UK as well, and an American friend told me that it was a problem in New York as well (I know, not a great source… I read NYT articles about that but they don’t immediately show up in my history).

[brohee]

Writing this article without mentioning AirBnB is quite the exercise in avoiding talking about root causes.

[sylware]

Did they mention _american_ bedbugs?

airbnb being a really good propagation vector as you cannot have the same grade bug fighting than in a classic hotel.

Basically, all big international tourist destinations are at "risk" of no severe bug control is done (airbnb...).

What are we going to end up with? if hotel syndicates push mandatory severe bug control (aka expensive) in the regulation, that would make 99% of airbnb illegal?

[thefounder]

Isn't this a sanitary/personal hygiene issue?

[Shaanie]

In what sense? Bed bugs don't care whether you're tidy or not, they drink your blood and hide during the day. You can have an absolutely spotless home and flawless personal hygiene and still have bedbugs living in your floorboards.

[kergonath]

No, it is not. They eat you, not your waste or byproducts. It is a human problem. Or do you think also for example that mosquitoes are a personal hygiene problem?

[pleoxy]

Living in a home without clutter helps you deal with them because there are fewer places for them to hide. But this will not prevent spread or occupation by them.

Steaming is an effective treatment but only reasonable if there is no clutter and minimal furniture.

[andrewstuart]

Why would you rent your home out with the risk of bedbugs?

[blakblakarak]

Homes? Nah they’re ‘investments’. I live in Brittany, France and new buyers, low earners etc are completely priced out of the market. My partner is a nurse and at her hospital they are closing wards because nurses, cleaners, healthcare assistants and even junior doctors can’t find, let alone afford accommodation.

[zer0tonin]

Money is used to purchase good and services.

[swarnie]

Risk and reward.

You can rent out a property and have it go perfectly fine, sometimes you encounter Degens who trash the place.

The trick is minimising your risk upfront to get a better result.

[throwaway290]

Because you will probably never live in it yourself

[Ensorceled]

It’s been a while since Airbnb rentals were actually a room in someone’s home and not an investment condo/home used as a full time rental.