South Korea said Tuesday it had sent its first dog trained to detect bedbugs to Seoul airport in a bid to prevent an infestation after athletes return from the Paris Olympics.
South Korea won 32 medals, including 13 golds, finishing eighth in the medal table, and about 140 of its athletes returned to Seoul over the past week.
The sniffer dog, named Ceco, was used at Seoul’s main airport as part of an initiative between the South Korean government and the country’s largest pest control company, Cesco.
Two-year-old beagle Ceco is trained to detect the scent of bed bug pheromones and can locate them within two minutes with 95 percent accuracy, Cesco said in a statement.
“From August 9 to September 8 – the day the Paralympic Games conclude – the bedbug detection service will be available at Incheon Airport for anyone who wants to use it,” said a spokesperson for the Korean disease control and prevention agency.
The initiative also includes bedbug control in luggage by experts with more than ten years of experience. Disinfection of the planes was also increased from once a month to once a week, with special attention being paid to the Paris-Incheon route.
South Korea was free of bedbugs for years, but the number of bedbugs has increased with the return of travel after Covid-19.
More than 950 cases were detected between November and February, according to official statistics.
Paris suffered a bedbug infestation last summer and fall, causing several schools to close.
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2024-08-17 08:00:02