Bedbug crisis sparks political row in Paris as insect ‘scourge’ continues (opens in new tab)

Great video! Thanks for the recommendation.

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

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

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.

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

What would be stopping them?

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.

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.

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.

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

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/

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

* for some values of "probably"

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.

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."

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).

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?

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.

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?

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.

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.

Money is used to purchase good and services.

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.

Because you will probably never live in it yourself

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.