Britain is facing an invasion of mutant “super” bedbugs as the Parisian pests learn to shrug off insecticides, experts have warned.
The blood-suckers are “harder to kill than ever” after developing a resistance to pesticide sprays, French exterminators have revealed. Now hotels and transport firms across the UK are bracing themselves for an onslaught of unwelcome visitors.
Nicolas Roux de Bezieux, of pest control website Le site des spécialistes des nuisibles domestiques – Comparateur, diagnostic en ligne, conseils – Badbugs, warned: “It’s harder to kill them than it’s ever been. Pest controllers have to return to kill them again because they survive the spray.” The parasites – whose bites cause painful itching – have sparked panic by infesting schools, trains and cinemas around the French capital.
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In a desperate bid to contain them, Air France has vowed to ground any aircraft with bedbugs detected on board. Eurostar has promised to disinfect its trains between London and Paris if there is the “slightest doubt” of infestation.
And Transport for London bosses have said they are “monitoring” the Tube network. But commuters claim they may already be too late – after shocking viral footage showed what looked like a bedbug on the London Underground.
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An anonymous traveller, who uploaded the video to TikTok, wrote: “Minding my own business on the Victoria Line, a f**king bed bug is on my leg. Said he’d got a great deal on the Eurostar and wondered if I could take him home. No!!” At least one major hotel chain has even started quizzing guests at check-in to find out if they have arrived from France.
The rooms of those who have are given a deep clean by pest control experts when they leave. Staff at Millennium Hotels and Resorts, which operates 18 hotels in the UK, revealed all new guests are asked whether they have travelled from Paris.
A manager at one of their London sites added: “As soon as the guests leave, we put that particular room out of service and we just clean everything again.” Yesterday a TfL spokesperson said: “We are not aware of any outbreaks in London, but we will monitor our network and continue our rigorous and thorough cleaning measures which have been proven to keep both the interior and exterior of our trains clean.”
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