Paris, France will host the Summer Olympics in 2024. However, with less than a year left to prepare for the intense preparations, a bed bug scare has spread in France, especially in Paris, and has even become a political issue. Politicians even worriedly said that “no one is safe”, as if talking about Terrorist attacks are actually about bed bugs. Not only Paris, but also Incheon and Daegu, South Korea, were reported to be invaded by bed bugs, causing the city government to launch a comprehensive pest control war.
This is not just a single-country problem in France or South Korea, nor is it a sudden outbreak of bedbugs just now. Bedbugs originally disappeared around the world in the 20th century, and people forgot about the fear of bedbugs causing blood spots on bed sheets. However, in the past 20 years, bedbugs have benefited from global tourism, the rise of B&Bs, and the emergence of Insecticide resistance has long since made a comeback.
Although bedbugs are not an infectious disease, their bites can cause unbearable itching, so humans hate them deeply. This wave of bedbug panic in France originated from the spread of a video on public transportation, cinemas, and airports in Paris showing bedbugs on public transportation, cinemas, and airports in Paris. The authenticity of the video has not been confirmed, but one The thought of taking bed bugs home when taking a ride scares French people away from taking the MRT. In fact, France’s bed bug problem is not particularly serious – it has been getting worse over time. From 2017 to 2022, more than 10% of French people had bed bugs in their homes.
The presence of bedbugs gives people a bad impression of being “not a clean person”, which is a big blow to the image of France, which is about to host the Olympics. However, in South Korea, which has always given people a clean image, bedbugs have also made a comeback. In the 1960s, South Korea launched a large-scale nationwide campaign to eradicate bed bugs. Since then, bed bugs have been completely eradicated, and there are almost no traces of bed bugs anymore. Recently, bed bugs have appeared in Incheon and Daegu, causing great alarm. Not only the Incheon and Daegu city governments, but also Seoul have also launched a comprehensive campaign to eradicate bed bugs. Bed bug eradication program.
Bed bugs are not only found in Paris, but also in many major cities such as New York and Chicago in the United States. In the past 20 years, bed bugs have made a major resurgence.
The problem of bed bugs has been more serious since ancient times. It is almost impossible for a hotel to be free of bed bugs. As long as there are fewer bed bugs, it is considered good. There are so many bed bugs in London hotels that guests have to be half drunk before falling asleep, otherwise they will be bitten by bed bugs all night long. Couldn’t sleep at all. This situation was completely reversed in the 1940s, because humans used DDT on a large scale to eliminate mosquitoes, mainly to fight malaria. They also used DDT to eliminate lice that can transmit diseases such as typhus. After DDT was sprinkled all over the place, the bed bugs suffered a disaster. , were also annihilated.
Since then, at least in developed countries, bedbugs have been almost extinct. Even if DDT was banned in 1972, bedbugs in developed countries in Europe and the United States have been unable to recover. Europe and the United States have been bedbug-free for a while.
However, bed bugs have made a major resurgence since the 21st century, with a full recovery in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and even Japan. Bed bug cases in Australia increased 45-fold from 1999 to 2006, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned of a significant increase in bed bug numbers as early as 2010. Now France is panicking, and even South Korea has fallen. How do bedbugs get back on their feet?
Several basic reasons are beneficial to bed bugs. First, the increase in urbanization is conducive to the proliferation and spread of bed bugs; globalization and closer international exchanges have allowed bed bugs to re-invade advanced countries that no longer have bed bugs from many backward countries. “Shared” accommodation methods such as Couchsurfing and Airbnb also make it easier for bed bugs to “share”, because ordinary B&Bs do not necessarily treat bed sheets with high temperatures to kill bed bugs like professional hotels. But most importantly, bed bugs have gradually developed resistance to major insecticides over the past few decades.
The only still effective way is to eliminate it by high temperature
In ancient times, whenever bed bugs were discovered, the most extreme solution was to burn the entire house. Of course, it is impossible to do this in modern times, so when bed bugs are discovered, humans spray pesticides. After decades of spraying, bed bugs have evolved resistance to almost all pesticides, regardless of mainstream pyrethrins. DDT or DDT has become increasingly difficult to kill bed bugs. The effectiveness of non-pesticide pest control methods has also been greatly reduced. In the past, diatomaceous earth was used to absorb the moisture of bed bugs and dry them out. However, bed bugs have also evolved to be more resistant to drying and can no longer be easily killed by diatomaceous earth.
The only completely effective method is to eliminate bed bugs at high temperatures. Bed bugs can be eliminated by heating the room temperature to above 45°C. Bed bugs cannot withstand high temperatures no matter how they evolve, and bed bugs can freeze to death even in cold weather. In terms of pesticides, fumigation is still effective at present. However, regardless of fumigation or heating, the same problem is that the cost is high, so households and B&Bs may not be able to afford frequent pest control.
In particular, low-income communities where bed bugs are infested cannot afford this. As a result, low-income communities cannot eradicate bed bugs and become shelter hotbeds, from which bed bugs continue to invade other communities. The promotion of mass transportation in order to reduce carbon emissions, the Airbnb business model, and the massive recovery of global tourism after the epidemic have all become new driving forces for the comprehensive spread of bed bugs.
Bed bugs may be difficult to eradicate in France. Even if bed bugs can be eradicated in South Korea, international travelers who accidentally take bed bugs abroad may bring bed bugs back to South Korea at any time, making it difficult to prevent them. It would be quite annoying if you go abroad and bring bed bugs home, but what is even more horrifying is that if someone takes bed bugs on public transportation, it will be a disaster if someone catches bed bugs without taking the MRT outside the country. This is also the cause of bed bugs in France. Reason for panic, although the actual situation is not that serious.
How to prevent bed bugs? In fact, bed bugs are not difficult to find. After sucking blood, bed bugs defecate and leave dirty brown-red blood stains on the sheets. If you find blood spots in the bed and breakfast, you will know that the room has bed bugs and you should change it. The problem of bed bugs has become so common in Europe and the United States that experts not only recommend that if you suspect that you live in a room with bed bugs, your luggage and clothing should be heated and dewormed before you go home, and that you should not pick up any furniture or even books that others do not want when you see them on the street. In the home, it is generally necessary to heat and eliminate pests first, and use the heat in summer, or put it outside for a day or two in temperate winters when the weather is freezing and wait for the pests to freeze to death.
Human beings now recall the horror of bed bugs, but the resurgence of bed bugs is unstoppable. People can only be wary and careful not to let bed bugs enter their homes.
(Picture source: Dazhi Image)
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2023-11-08 23:52:14
