Travellers to France Concerned About Bedbug Infestation Ahead of Olympic & Paralympics Games.
Passengers of French rail transport have shared pictures and videos of bedbugs in train seats throughout the week, raising concerns that this type of transport is unsafe.
After such reports circulated, the transport minister Celemnt Beaune urged travellers to remain calm and noted there is no need for psychosis or fear, also claiming there is no outbreak of bedbugs in public transport.
However, social media users have reported such an outbreak in Paris’ trains, while the Paris City Halls have urged action against the problem, addressing the problem in a letter directed to PM Elisabeth Borne.
Bed bugs are a public health problem and should be reported as such. The State must urgently bring together all the stakeholders concerned in order to deploy an action plan commensurate with this scourge as the whole of France prepares to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2024.
In order to prevent the problem, SNCF suggests that the authorities carry out regular deep cleaning and anti-pest procedures, such as traps and insecticides, in several areas. Typically, the preventive treatments are carried out every 60 days, but due to recent reports, the authorities have enhanced checkups to every 15 days for at least the next month.
Although the bugs are not considered to be severely dangerous, as they do not spread diseases, their bites can be uncomfortable and itchy. Another concern is the fast spread of them, and dealing with them usually costs a lot and is a difficult procedure.
The French National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (Anses) points out that the problem impacts all households and it costs, on average, around €866 to fix, as non-chemical treatments have to be used to disinfect places, with extreme heat or freezing being the most recommended methods.
Anses also reveals that between 2017 and 2022, more than one in ten French households had a bedbug infestation, indicating that it puts the rise in infestations down to the growth in travel and increasing resistance of bedbugs to insecticides.
Some of the reports of bedbugs so far have been made for a TGV train from Marseille to Paris, as well as another two sightings reported in the same week on other SNCF trains. Last week, a passenger shared a picture on social media, claiming there was an insect resembling a bedbug on her seat at the low-cost train operator Ouigo. Paris Metro was also reported for a similar issue at line eight and TCL busses in Lyon.
