It turns Out This is the 'Cause' of The Bed Bug Explosion In Paris

After living side by side with rats, Paris is now overshadowed by a bedbug epidemic. The government there is worried because it will soon be holding the Olympics next summer.
Quoted from Reuters, local officials held an emergency meeting on Friday regarding the crisis caused by bed bugs, including with pest control experts. Bed bugs are actually small, flat, wingless insects, measuring about a quarter of an inch.

These bed bugs usually hide in mattresses and beds, like to feed on blood and bite at night. Bed bugs are considered one of the main nuisance pests in the world, the main host for bed bugs is humans,

Although parasites can be infected with human pathogens, no scientific studies have found them to transmit disease.

Female bed bugs can lay one to five eggs a day and can lay 200 to 500 eggs in their lifetime. "They survive for months while waiting for their next meal," say pest control experts.

Sadly, train tourists, cinema goers and US influencers in Paris who attended Paris Fashion Week were also affected by the insect bites.

MP Mathilde Panot brought a vial she said contained bedbugs to parliament. He told Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne that bedbugs were everywhere and he criticized the government for inaction.

"Madam Prime Minister, these little bugs are spreading despair in our country. Do we need to wait for Matignon (the PM's office) to be infested with bedbugs before you act?" Panot said.

Sniffer dogs are checking French trains for bedbugs although none have been found on public transport so far, the transport minister has claimed.

Flea Plague in Paris

"Between 2017 and 2022, one in ten households in France was infested with bedbugs," health authorities said.

The National Agency for Food, Environmental and Workplace Safety (ANSES) says the presence of bedbugs does not mean poor hygiene.

An organization of pest control companies said bed bug reports in the June-August period increased 65 percent compared to the same period last year. Pest control is expensive and often out of reach for low-income families.

Paris is not alone. Pest control group Orkin this year released a list of top bed bug cities in the US. Chicago, New York and Philadelphia occupy the top spots.

"We certainly have more bedbugs than ever before, just like other big cities in the world," said Nicolas Roux de Bezieux, co-founder of pest control consultancy Badbugs. "But this is not the explosion you imagine when watching television."

Entomologist Jean-Michel Berenger told Le Monde newspaper that decades ago, bed bugs could be controlled with cheap and powerful insecticides. These insecticides, including DDT, were later found to be dangerous to human health and were banned.
"Bed bugs are unfortunately already resistant to other milder insecticides," the scientists said.

The latest suspected increase in bedbug numbers in Paris is partly due to a resurgence in tourism following the global COVID-19 pandemic. Bed bugs are often carried in clothing and luggage.