2023-07-20 13:00:12
Bedbugs, exhibited at a conference in Washington, in 2011. JEWEL SAMAD / AFP
In October 2022, Jules (who did not wish to give his name), 24, decided to rent an apartment on Airbnb in Tours with a friend, to spend a weekend there. The stay goes smoothly, in an apartment “rather old, but very clean”. A month later, when he is back in his Paris accommodation, Jules discovers several red marks on his body, which he initially takes for mosquito bites. But after inspecting his box spring and mattress, he finally realizes that bedbugs have taken up residence in his apartment.
Read the survey: Article reserved for our subscribers The tenacious anxiety of victims of bed bugs: “It is the insect that most destabilizes human beings”
” At this moment, we had no idea how we had been able to bring it home. But by doing research, we understood that our infestation correlated with our vacation dates in Tours ”, he says. No way, however, to be sure of the origin of bed bugs. A few months later, he again rented accommodation, this time in Annecy. The first morning of the stay, her friend wakes up with pimples all over her body. On the strength of his first misadventure, he decides to check the apartment from top to bottom. This time, no doubt. “We looked under the mattresses, and we found bed bugs everywhere,” he confides.
Of course far from being systematic, the story of Jules is not an isolated case. Press articles, publications on social networks, testimonials collected by the editorial staff of the Monde…many tenants of various tourist accommodation (like rentals on Airbnb, Abritel, Booking, etc.) report having come across bedbugs during their stays, and it is clear that the phenomenon is worrying. “In essence, these rentals are among the places conducive to infestations, supports Stéphane Bras, spokesperson for the trade union chamber for the disinfection, insect control and rat control industries. They are occupied over short periods, with high frequency. We have people arriving from everywhere, either from France or from around the world, and each of these travelers can potentially be a vector of propagation. »
The “bare minimum” made by Airbnb
It is, in fact, our own movements that allow this small blood-drinking insect to travel, and therefore to proliferate. While bedbugs had been virtually eradicated in the 1950s, they made a comeback in the 1990s, in particular because of the proliferation of international trade. Today, this health scourge continues to spread. In 2020, disinfestation professionals had to intervene nearly 889,000 times in France, according to figures communicated by the trade union chamber for disinfection, insect and rat control industries. By 2022, that number was over a million. In addition, between 2017 and 2022, more than one in ten French households would have been infested by bed bugs, according to a recent expert report from the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (Anses), published on July 19.
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