“A little creature gets into your clothes and that’s it.” Bed bugs, on the rise in France since the 1990s, are no longer limited to mattresses and bedding. Public transport, hotels, cinemas, hospitals… No place open to the public is really safe from this little parasite.
In recent weeks, several Parisian cinemas have been highlighted on social networks, while Internet users report having been bitten or infested inside. In Lyon or Boulogne-sur-Mer, Hospital services even had to close for several days. due to a bed bug infestation.
These small creatures, about the size of an apple seed, are carried on clothing and luggage and usually hide on the edges of beds to feed on human blood at night. Although they are not dangerous or transmit diseases, they do cause significant discomfort such as sleep disorders, anxiety or social isolation.
Traditional cinemas due to the fact
The problem is not new, according to the cinemas, which insist that they did not wait for this new outbreak of cases to address the problem. The UGC Ciné Cité des Halles, for example, explains to RTL that its rooms are “treated every week” in a preventive manner. “And as soon as there is a complaint, we process it again,” we specify.
Even when there are no suspicions of invasion, sniffer dogs pass through the theaters of the independent cinema “Les 7 Parnassiens” in the 14th arrondissement of Paris three or four times a year. “This is the most effective way to detect their presence,” according to the room’s operations director.
MK2 cinemas also have companies specialized in the detection and eradication of bed bugs throughout the year. And they periodically summon canine detection brigades to ensure the health of a place.
“The dogs guide the company to determine if we are facing an infestation,” confesses an employee of the group who prefers anonymity. “They smell eggs and live insects.” If no bed bugs are detected, the company issues a “certificate of non-infestation.”
In case of suspicion, as may have happened in a Parisian room at the end of 2018, decontamination companies can resort to enteric treatment, that is, raising the temperature of the room or building to more than 60 ° C for several hours . Smoke bombs or 180°C dry steam generators, such as the Cimex Eradicator, are also used more locally, on seats and in the corners of rooms.
Traps, insecticides… The challenge of public transport
But these pests are not limited to cinemas and public transport, full of people, is especially vulnerable to this little parasite. For example, last July bedbugs were discovered in Marseille metro trains, despite the decontamination operations organized every year by the RTM. They are carried out in spring for two days, “on all materials” and “with products that may be toxic.”
“As a rule, this is sufficient to limit the development of these pests,” explained Denis Costopoulo, RTM deputy general manager in charge of operations, interviewed by BFM Marseille this summer.
At the SNCF we assure you that everything is under control and that no bedbug has ever been detected on the TGV lines. As for the Intercités fleet and night trains, “the number of reported cases” on them has decreased drastically or is almost zero for several years, in particular due to the purging and renewal of the carriages that began in 2020 and was completed at the end of 2020. summer 2023.
In addition, a “treatment framework” has been designed to follow in case of suspected pests (cockroaches, ants, bedbugs, etc.) for TGVs and Intercités. Thus, in addition to cleaning the cars daily, the teams apply a preventive anti-pest treatment every two months at most.
In case of an isolated report, specific traps are placed throughout the train, insecticide is sprayed in all carriages and diatomaceous powder (a non-toxic biocide) or anti-pest gel is applied, if necessary in humid areas or areas not accessible to the clients.
Subsequently, this device is renewed every 15 days for a minimum of one month, with the train being inspected every week. In the event that a greater presence of pests is reported, the train is removed from commercial service to be subjected to intensive daily treatments until the pests disappear (with disassembly of a certain number of elements inside the carriages if necessary. ). This can last between 3 and 5 days, before the train is monitored and checked each week for the month following its return to commercial service.
“Hospitals armed to manage this risk”
In hospitals, it is not uncommon for departments or rooms to be invaded by bed bugs. “They call us 8 to 12 times a year about bed bugs,” says Delphine Grau, medical head of the hygiene unit at the Montpellier hospital, who considers that the number of reported cases is “largely underestimated.”
However, hospitals are generally “better equipped” to fight parasites than other places open to the public, according to Jonathan Debeauve, communications director at the Besançon hospital centre. And rightly so, they are at least equipped with a bacteriology and hygiene department, or even a medical entomology unit, as is the case in Nice, within the Parasitology-Mycology department.
“We are used to managing these types of risks, such as lice, cockroaches or galls,” explains Jonathan Debeauve. “We have specialists who master the subject and today in most hospitals everything possible is done to prevent the transmission of nosocomial infections.”
“You will notice, for example, that the mattresses, beds, benches and armchairs are no longer made of fabric, but now almost everything is laminated to prevent bacteria or parasites from settling there,” he points out again.
For Dr. Delphine Grau, the difficulty in the hospital lies in the “rapid identification” of bedbugs. “Their detection is extremely difficult because these small creatures only come out at night and hide during the day. Only small blood stains on the bedding or lesions on the patient’s skin can alert us and allow us to take appropriate measures to prevent infection.” spread.
At the Nice hospital center, the medical and paramedical staff are sensitized and trained on the problem, and the hospital center’s hygiene department has developed precise action procedures to react correctly to the slightest suspicion. A photograph of the suspected insect is systematically sent to the Entomology unit for identification, as well as the insect itself in a waterproof box.
A binding procedure for the hospital
And if it is confirmed that it is indeed a bedbug, actions without insecticide (cleaning, heat, freezing, etc.) are mainly proposed to eliminate them, and a pest control company is contacted within 12 hours. To prevent transmission in the facility, caregivers should protect their clothing with long-sleeved gowns, gloves, and single-use shoe covers, and careful handling of patient bedding.
In case of suspicion, Delphine Grau, from the Montpellier hospital, also recommends isolating the patient as much as possible in a single room, although she recognizes that this is usually “complicated”; and above all limit your trips.
Your clothes are then treated according to a very strict procedure: they are isolated and double-packed in bags, sprayed with an anti-parasitic product and left to act for a few hours. Then the sheets and pillowcases go in a specific and identified bag to the laundry, where they will be washed in the washing machine at a temperature of 60°C to eradicate bed bugs in all their stages of development.
Finally, home restoration counseling is provided to the patient’s loved ones in preparation for discharge. “It is absolutely necessary that the home be treated, often by a specialized company. This is the basis, but it is not always obvious to everyone.”
Chemical control is particularly restrictive within hospital establishments, given the tensions faced by the sector in terms of places. “To avoid any resistance from bed bugs, it is recommended that these specialized companies intervene at least twice in the room a few weeks apart to ensure that the larvae that emerge from the eggs do not hatch again and that there is total effectiveness” . Which means that infected spaces must remain closed for the same amount of time.
Between 2017 and 2022, 11% of French homes would have been infested by these pests, according to an Ipsos study carried out last July for a working group created by the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Labor Safety (Anses ).
Source: BFM TV
