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.

  • nouben@lemmy.mlEnglish
    42·
    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
      19·
      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
        5·
        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.

    • darq@kbin.social
      130·
      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
        55·
        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

    • WarmSoda@lemm.eeEnglish
      7212·
      1 year ago

      You’ve obviously never had to deal with bed bugs.
      Fuck off.

        • WarmSoda@lemm.eeEnglish
          754·
          1 year ago

          I am nice. Bed bugs are not nice.
          The video this person linked to advocates to “simply” wrap your bed and all of your clothes in plastic for a year.
          How is that something that’s not horrible?

          These bugs will ruin your sleep, your health, and your home, along with anyone else’s home they catch a ride on, and do cause PTSD. Downplaying them is stupid.

          • Sanctus@lemmy.worldEnglish
            16·
            1 year ago

            Anyone whose dealt with a bad bedbug infestation can tell you just how horrible they really are. If you don’t deal with them quickly they infect every non-hard surface in your home. You usually have to vacate your home and leave extreme heaters running for an entire 24-48 hours to get rid of them and even that is not a guarantee. I had drenched my entire room in chemical killer and literal hundreds crawled up onto the walls to get away. Fucking terrifying and disgusting. I don’t let people in my house anymore if I don’t know where you’ve been.

    • GONADS125@lemmy.worldEnglish
      55·
      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
          181·
          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
          16·
          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.

    • pimento64@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      176·
      1 year ago

      Are you really trying to do an end run around anti-immigrant xenophobia by downplaying bedbugs?

  • Treczoks@lemmy.worldEnglish
    209·
    1 year ago

    So after charging outrageous prices and general rudeness to people who happen not to speak Fench (while still bringing in loads of money), they now try bed bugs as a tourist repellent strategy. Maybe it works this time.

  • atk007@lemmy.worldEnglish
    11·
    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.