France’s Transport Minister has insisted there is “no resurgence” of bedbugs on public transport in Paris as the country seeks to put an end to the crisis ahead of the Olympics next summer.
Clement Beaune urged people not to “fall into psychosis or anxiety” over the bloodsucking insects, saying cases are no higher than normal.
He said all recent bedbug reports on trains and other modes of Paris's public transport had been checked – and “zero” were proven.
“There … may be cases in the coming weeks or in the coming months, as there are in all major cities and major metropolis,” Mr Beaune said, insisting the phenomenon was nothing new.
More than one in 10 households in France was infested with bedbugs between 2017 and 2022, according to a report by the National Agency for Health and Food Safety, which relied on a poll by Ipsos to query people on a topic that many are said to prefer to avoid discussing because they fear being stigmatised.
Mr Beaune said protocols would be strengthened and updates provided on a quarterly basis, but he said it was important not to “fall into the idea of an acceleration or a resurgence” because that is “not the case”.
The small insects often live on furniture or bedding and can be difficult to eradicate. While their bites can be itchy, they do not usually cause other health problems.
Without any blood, “they can slow their metabolism and just wait for us”, said Jean-Michel Berenger, an entomologist who raises bedbugs in his lab in the infectious diseases section of the Mediterranee University Hospital in Marseille.
The carbon dioxide that all humans give off “will reactivate them … and they’ll come back to bite you”.
For now, Mr Berenger said panic among the public meant “bedbugs have infested the media”.
It began about a month ago after reports surfaced of bedbugs at a Paris cinema. Videos started popping up on social networks, showing the insects on trains and buses.
Now, Socialists and centrists of President Emmanuel Macron’s party want to propose bills to fight bedbugs.
Far-left politician Mathilde Panot recently brought a vial of bedbugs to parliament to chastise the government for, in her view, letting the creatures run rampant.
Bedbugs, an age-old curse on humans, had seemingly disappeared with treatment by harsh, now-banned insecticides.
They made a reappearance in the 1950s, especially in densely populated cities such as New York, and they travel the world due to commerce and tourism.
That adds up to a bedbug challenge for the Paris Olympics starting in July.
“All human population movements are profitable for bedbugs because they go with us to hotels, on transport," said Mr Berenger.
But Mr Beaune is hopeful that steps can be taken to ease the public fear.
The transport chief conceded, however: “It’s hell, these bedbugs."
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Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
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Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
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