Paris’ Exploding Bed Bug Issue—What’s The Solution For Travelers?

It's every tourist's nightmare—arriving on that trip in the French capital, to discover you are not the only creatures in your hotel room. This week, the deputy mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Gregoire announced that "no one was safe" and that the bed bug issue was "widespread." It begs the questions: Is it such a huge issue? Is it just Paris? And what can hoteliers and tourists do about it?

So, Is The Bed Bug Problem Getting Worse In Paris?

The "punaises de lit" issue is all over the French press, predominantly because aside from being something that disgusts us, it's likely to feature heavily in the planning for Paris' upcoming Olympic Games in summer 2024.

France's Health magazine this week labelled bed bugs a source of stress, the reason for incredible itchiness and a social isolator, saying that since September, people have been talking about them more on social media (#punaisedelit), claiming they have been discovered in not just greater numbers in hotels but also across public transport (France's long-distance TGV train service) and in Parisian cinemas.

However, the French capital is probably not worse because of any reason pertaining to France—bed bugs are on the rise everywhere, and France is the No. 1 visited country and Paris, the most visited city in the world. Put simply, people are on the move more and social media makes us more aware.

For the past few decades, bed bugs have managed to increasingly pervade countries around the world and in greater numbers, because of increased globalisation, the increase in shipping container movement and as DDT and other chemicals have been banned. Also, as we find cockroaches less and less in our homes, we have also lost one of bed bugs' main predators.

Plus, according to expert Jean-Michel Berenger, an entomologist at Marseille's main hospital and France's leading expert according to the BBC, we would expect a large increase in September because it’s when travelers return from holidays in July and August. The BBC adds that the claims they have been seen in cinemas and trains have also not been officially proven.

It is a concern, though, because of the increase year-on-year. The French government launched a campaign in March 2022 because the situation had gotten so bad; between 2017 and 2022 it was estimated that more than one in 10 homes were infested with bed bugs. They are a great social leveler—they can be found just as often in clean homes and hotels as in dirty ones. Due to the fact that everyone is equally affected, eradicating the city of them has formed part of political campaigns, as was the case for the Paris mayoral race in 2020.

Between 2019 and 2020, in mainland France, there were about 72,000 trips to the doctor that reported or were concerned about bed bugs. At the moment, there is a concern because of the expected surge of visitors next summer in Paris for the 2024 Olympic Games.

France is once again promising to take further action, but it’s problematic and expensive for accommodation providers. Once they are discovered, hotels must often get rid of not just the mattress but the bed frame, too, and that's expensive. Then they need to replace soft furnishings, and in the U.S. particularly, there has been an increased fear of litigation, which itself has seen an increase this century.

Can I Spot Bed Bugs, And What Do They Look Like?

They are called bed bugs because they come out mostly at night, attracted by the warmth, the vibration and the smells and gases that humans release when we sleep. During the day, they can also be partial to sofas, curtains and nooks and crannies in walls.

As France's Santé magazine says, they aren't the same as nits because they don't live on us humans; they don't jump about much or fly. They just like to come and taste our blood from time to time, taking about five to 20 minutes to do so, before heading back to nap after their dinner. Rather horrifyingly, they can also last a very long time without food, up to a year.

Females can lay about 200 to 500 eggs during their lifetimes, often found in clusters that look a little like grains of white rice. The good news is that you can see adults much more clearly, when they are likely to be between 4 and 7 millimeters long, brown or red (because of the blood they drink), looking a little bit like an apple seed. You can also see their tiny black droppings, usually on pillows, curtains or bed sheets.

We don't often feel them when they drink our blood because they have a little analgesic in their saliva—sometimes it's only after several months that we may realise that we often wake up itchy, or we notice little bites grouped together in three or four places, or because we spy something that looks like one of these creatures. Try not to scratch any bites to avoid scarring.

A study by Sentinelles (Inserm and the Sorbonne University) discovered that there is little risk of them transporting any dangerous pathogens, but it's more about the physical and psychological consequences—the icky factor, if you will. Bed bug infestations can also lead to insomnia and stress, something that can add to the cost overall for the French government in its management of the issue.

How Are Bed Bugs Transported?

They love coming home with tourists in suitcases or on their clothes. The advice from the French Ministry of Health to really avoid bringing them back is to not put your clothes on the bed or in hotel drawers and make sure that you really check your suitcase before leaving and when you get home. If you really want to be sure, put your suitcases and bags inside plastic wrapping when you stay in hotels, so bugs cannot jump aboard.

The American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA) recommends that if you find them during a stay, it's best not to take another room directly surrounding the infestation—bed bugs can "easily hitch a lift with housekeeping carts" or through sockets in walls to the floor above or the room next door.

How Can We Get Rid Of Bed Bugs?

The great news is that these bugs are really fussy about very cold or very hot temperatures. Wash clothes at 60 degrees, even if they haven't been worn, hoover your suitcases and put the full hoover bag in a closed plastic bag (or wash the hoover case out with hot water).

That said, you have to move quickly before they invade further into your home, your clothes and other soft furnishings. Disinfect mattresses and hoover and clean your entire home. Some professionals are also calling for fewer chemicals to be used in the process—as it is the increased use of chemical products to battle bed bugs that is leading to an increased resistance.