PARIS — Sniffer dogs will help inspect French trains and the Paris metro for bedbugs after dozens of reports of infestations, the transport minister said on Wednesday, adding that so far not a single bedbug had been found.
With the Paris Olympics less than a year away, French authorities want to make sure the bedbugs don’t bite during the games and have started a drive to exterminate the pests.
Social media users have been publishing footage of the insects crawling around in high-speed trains and the Paris metro, alongside a rash of online articles about bedbugs in cinemas and even Charles de Gaulle airport.
The reports have reached the highest levels of government.
“The state urgently needs to put an action plan in place against this scourge as France is preparing to welcome the Olympic and Paralympic games in 2024,” the capital’s deputy mayor, Emmanuel Gregoire, said in a letter to Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne last week.
Transport Minister Clement Beaune said there had been about 10 traveler reports about bedbugs at Paris public transport operator RATP and 37 at rail operator SNCF in recent weeks.
“When there is a problem, we deal with it, we won’t deny it. There is no outbreak of bedbugs in public transport,” Mr. Beaune said after meeting with transport operators and travel associations.
Mr. Beaune said all French public transport operators will boost health procedures in general and the fight against bedbugs in particular, notably with canine sniffer teams, which he said were the most effective means of detection.
He added that every three months, data will be published about all bedbug reports and any confirmed infestations.
“Total transparency will bring total confidence,” he said, adding that there was “no need for psychosis or fear.”
Mr. Beaune also plans to meet pest control companies and aims to organize a conference about solutions to any potential problem by the end of this month.
At the Paris Gare de Lyon train station, travelers last week said they doubted whether authorities would be able to get on top of the problem.
“I’m worried about it. I’ll keep my luggage closed to stop (bedbugs) getting into my home. Once I get home, I’ll have to wash all my clothes,” Laura Mmadi, a sales worker heading to the south of France said.
Coming into Paris from Nice, Sophie Ruscica said she had inspected her seat closely for any signs of the insects that feed on human blood and can live in a wide range of habitats as well as beds.
“It stressed me out. I had to take the train and I wondered whether I would find bedbugs. But then again, one can find them in cinemas and just about everywhere,” she said.
In a report published in July, health agency Anses said that between 2017 and 2022, bedbugs had infested more than one in 10 French households.
“Everyone is panicking,” pest control store manager Sacha Krief said. “People can really get depressed, even paranoid over it.”
Deputy mayor Mr. Gregoire called on insurers to include bedbug cover in house insurance policies, as low-income people rarely had the means to call in pest control firms. — Reuters
