It is a real invasion of the “punaises de lit”, the bed bugsto Paris. For a few months now, cases that have exploded in homes have become increasingly frequent, with families having to undergo long and difficult disinfestations, often with unsuccessful results.
The lower case parasiteas big as a watermelon seed, it spreads on mattresses and sheets, leaving stings, bubbles and reproducing vortically. The alerts concerned the health authorities until a few days ago, kits for the difficult disinfestation work are being snapped up in pharmacies, but since entire train and metro carriages were invaded by the “punaises”the authorities try to take action.
Photos and videos taken by travelers are making the rounds on social media with images of bedbugs walking on the seats of TAV trains, the Parisian subway, or airport waiting rooms. So much so that the Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune, announced this morning the convocation, for next week, «of transport operators, to inform them on the actions taken and act better at the service of travellers. To reassure and protect”, he specified on “X”.
301 days before the start of the Paris 2024 Olympics, the Municipality yesterday asked the government for a decisive action plan against bed bugs, calling it “a scourge”: «bed bugs are a public health problem – has wrote the deputy mayor Emmanuel Grégoire in a letter to the prime minister, Elisabeth Borne – the state must urgently bring together all the protagonists involved to launch an adequate action plan”. Having disappeared or almost disappeared after the 1950s, the “punaises” have made their return about thirty years ago in various countries, also developing a fair resistance to insecticidal products. They are very active at night, they feed mainly on human blood, they prefer mattresses and bedspreads and are transported in clothes and luggage.