“It’s an endless nightmare, I no longer have a life.” Émilie, on sick leave due to a bedbug infestation that has plagued her home since February, launched a call for help in a victims’ group on Facebook. Because of these harmful invaders, the forty-year-old from Digne-Les-Bains (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence) fell into a “deep depression”, to the point of social isolation. He is now under psychological monitoring.
“How can you stay positive?” she asks desperately in this support group. “I’m at the end of my rope. I only think about that, I don’t allow myself anything anymore… These creatures have taken control of my life…” says this woman, who threw away all her furniture and sealed all her belongings to prevent proliferation.
Since spring, he says that “he no longer dares to leave his house, not even to take his children to school” for fear of contaminating other places.
“I have the impression that we are going to take it everywhere,” she says, embarrassed.
The weight of “preconceived ideas”
Likewise, Robin decided not to tell too many people when her small 300-square-foot apartment was infested with bedbugs this summer. “I only told a small handful of people I trusted,” explains this 25-year-old, who lives in Arcueil (Val-de-Marne). What it boils down to is his parents and his three best friends.
“I was afraid that people would judge me. I knew well what the preconceived ideas about bed bugs were: we immediately think that they are related to dirt… at least it is an idea that floats in people’s heads. I didn’t want them to people take me for someone who lacks hygiene, or that some of my friends decide to stop seeing me because of that,” he confesses again.
The spread of bed bugs, however, is not related to any lack of hygiene. Extremely resistant, they move from one habitat to another hiding in travelers’ bags or suitcases, but they do not jump or fly. According to the canine detection company Éco-Flair, a specialist in the field, it is very unlikely that you are carrying a bed bug with you.
“The feeling of being a victim of a plague”
Since then, the young man no longer allows himself to invite people to his house, although he used to organize parties in his apartment. “We restrict ourselves a lot when it happens to us. Although the risk of carrying it is low, as soon as we go out to a public place we think about it,” says Robin, who has sometimes felt like a “victim of the plague.” ”. During his final internship, the young man preferred to keep it to himself, for fear of being judged by his classmates.
This is also what young Lola, 17, chose to do at her vocational training institute, until the day a teacher commented on her clothing, which did not suit her training in hotel management, without knowing that the teenager’s wardrobe was completely piled up in garbage bags in her home in Bar-Le-Duc (Meuse), in the only room not contaminated by bedbugs.
“When I told him that we were contaminated by bedbugs, he didn’t believe me!” The young woman is still surprised, and she had to ask her mother for help to make the teacher aware of the problem.
At school, Lola also avoids spreading the news to “not become famous.” “It’s a shame, and rumors spread quickly in my establishment! This is how I avoid staying with people,” breathes the teenager, frustrated by not having access to her belongings and having to wear the same clothes for 3 or even 4 days. a week to avoid contaminating all your clothes.
A completely sealed house
His mother, on constant guard, is dedicated to cleaning the apartment from top to bottom and has not slept a wink since she discovered these pests a month ago. She and her three children (ages 3, 14, and 17) sleep on the same sofa bed, which she scrupulously surrounds with double-sided tape to trap bugs and diatomaceous earth dust to keep them away at night. . Angèle even leaves the television on 24 hours a day in the hope that the bedbugs won’t come out when they see the light.
This has the effect of seriously disturbing the sleep of her youngest son, who has tended to fall asleep in the middle of his class since the beginning of the school year. “J’ai prévenu sa maîtresse de ella qu’on vivait une période difficile, mais pas plus”, raconte this femme de 38 ans, qui passe au peigne fin et à la vapeur toutes les affairs de ses trois enfants chaque soir et chaque matin avant l ‘School. And at the social center where she works as a volunteer, Angèle Lalande no longer dares to sit on the fabric chairs.
“It affects our entire life. I honestly feel like I’m going crazy. I feel helpless. The worst thing is that I feel like I’m seeing them everywhere, at night I have the feeling that “they come up to me, although sometimes.” there is nothing,” he describes.
Angèle Lalande does not hide that “she cries a lot.” “This pushes us to the limit. We no longer have any normal life: we no longer dare to go to people’s houses, we have completely isolated ourselves from the outside world. At night I look after my children like a madman, pocket in hand, “so they don’t get stung. While during the day I yell at them as soon as they take out their belongings or don’t respect the protocol. I also covered the car seats with tent tarps.”
In homes, cinemas, libraries, schools and other public transport… In recent weeks, bed bugs have proliferated on social networks, and are causing great concern among the population and public authorities. Henry Buzy-Cazaux, president of the Institute of Real Estate Services Management, considered on Thursday on BFMTV “that one in six homes” could be affected in France.
Source: BFM TV
