France closes schools over 'piling' bedbug infestations

French Education Minister Gabriel Attal has ordered the closure of seven schools, warning against the worsening situation of the bedbug “scourge” in the European Union's biggest country, raising fears of spreading to other places.

Bedbug infestation "cases are piling up ... an immediate response is needed, Attal told France 5 television on Friday. "Bedbugs were detected at various levels in... I believe 17 institutions, and currently as I speak to you, seven institutions are closed for this reason."

“It’s a real nightmare,” said Yacine, a schoolteacher in Paris who declined to give his surname.

Media reports said the French capital is burning its luggage and bed linen as it battles a “scourge” of bedbugs.

France's bedbug crisis sparks political row as insect ‘scourge’ continues

A wave of panic and disgust has spread across the country as social media users have been publishing footage of insects crawling around in high-speed trains and the Paris metro.

The bedbug crisis has sparked a political row as the country makes the final preparations for next year's Olympic Games.

Leftwing La France Insoumise party leader, Mathilde Panot, said bedbugs had “caused hell for millions of families in this country” and the government must take necessary action to address this very serious issue.

The deputy mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Gregoire, told French TV, “No one is safe. You can catch them anywhere and bring them home, and not detect them in time until they have multiplied and spread.”

He said Paris authorities had received an increase in calls for help, and private companies had had an unusually high level of requests for fumigation in recent weeks. He said the government must coordinate action at every level of the state “as fast and as efficiently as possible”.

Bedbugs, which are small resistant insects that feed on blood and cause skin rashes, had been eliminated from human lives with the improvement of hygiene.

However, the French public health and hygiene organization found that in past years the pesky bugs -- which usually attack at night during sleep and can create psychological problems, skin rashes and allergies -- have made a resurgence.

French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES) estimated that between 2017 and 2022, more than one-tenth (11 percent) of French homes had been infested by bedbugs.

Bedbugs have been spotted on trains, in cinemas and accommodation across France.

Experts say bedbugs are found wherever there are people in large numbers and they enter into someone’s home inside a suitcases or item of furniture.

Public transport or cinema seats are also sources of infestations.

For spreading of bedbugs, international travelers and household animals have been cited as two main sources.

Lyubo Kiryakov of Bed Bug Specialist says, “It’s not just London and Paris, it’s every major city, all across the world – it’s a nightmare.”

The most infested place in the world are airports’ luggage departments, according to Kiryakov.

In the meantime, despite becoming almost extinct with the development of powerful insecticides in the early 20th century, bedbugs have evolved a resistance.

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