For several years, they have been gaining ground. After Paris, Lyon, Marseille, bed bugs are gradually arriving in the major cities of western France. And the fight is organized: to complete the range of insecticides and treatment by heat or cold, an Angevin has developed a preventive solution.
It’s the souvenir that you don’t want to bring back from vacation. Virtually extinct for decades, bed bugs have been making a comeback in recent years.
Invented during the Second World War, DDT had almost eradicated them. Problem, this pesticide had also led to the collapse of amphibian populations and it tended to accumulate in human fatty tissue, leading to health problems. Since the DDT ban in 1971, bedbugs have therefore returned gradually, then faster and faster.
Many people first think they are cockroaches, because bedbugs are still poorly understood.
Damien Maid
Extreme Hygiene Services Company
In France, the problem first concerned the big cities, Paris, Lyon, Marseille, but their colonization seems to be accelerating, and now affects medium-sized cities like Angers. “The number and pace of calls intensified in the spring. Many people first think they are cockroaches, because bedbugs are still poorly understood.“, explains Damien Pucelle, manager of the company Extrême Hygiène Services in Beaucouzé (Maine-et-Loire).
This professional had been observing the progression of the parasite from afar for several years, and he was not surprised to see it arrive in the Angevin metropolis. Discreet, the bug remains hidden all day, and only comes out at night to take its blood meal on sleepers. It is spotted because of the itching caused by the bites, or by noticing its reddish-brown droppings.
“People are not equal in the face of bites: some will feel them, and others will not.“, specifies Damien Pucelle. This is the misadventure that happened to Louis Gérondeau, in 2019: “I had an infestation, couldn’t smell the bites, and didn’t know about bed bugs at the time.“This engineer, who at the time was working in another field, took six months to get rid of the parasites that had had time to proliferate in the corners of his apartment.
In response to this misfortune, the engineer imagined a system inspired by traps existing in the United States, then created his company, BugSafe. A footboard specially designed to incorporate a smooth cup, into which the parasites fall when they try to reach the sleepers.
“In a hotel of 100 rooms, there are on average 5 infestations per year, which entail costs of treatment, immobilization, and reputation. Our devices prevent 70% of these bedbug invasions“, believes Louis Gérondeau.
If the company has started its development in Paris and in the Paca region, hotels in Nantes and Angevin have recently expressed their interest, as well as the Angevin social landlord Soclova, which intends to distribute these bed legs during the next infestations, to affected tenants, but also to their neighbours.
In Nantes, the metropolis warns against these tiny invaders, with an advice page on its website. Faced with bed bugs, the best prevention is to inspect the mattresses of hotel rooms, and to avoid putting your suitcase on the beds or on the carpet.
For people who have stayed in an infested place, cleaning is necessary: with steam, in the washing machine at 60 degrees, or putting the clothes in the freezer for 72 hours.
Suspicious objects that cannot be cleaned, as well as the vacuum cleaner bag that sucked up the bugs or suspicious areas, must then be thrown in the garbage.
In the event of an established infestation, a specialized company can intervene, with vapor diffusers or insecticides, for prices between 150 and 200 euros, knowing that most of the time, you have to come twice to break the cycle of bedbugs. bed.
#Faced #invasion #bedbugs #fight #organized
