HEALTH
DR CHRISTIAN GIVES HIS TAKE ON THE HOT HEALTH TOPICS OF THE WEEK
‘THERE’S NO NEED TO WORRY ABOUT BEDBUG INVASIONS!’
Parisian schools have closed due to bedbug infestations, and people who have been on holiday to the French capital are panicking that they’ve brought them back. But Dr C says we need to keep a cool head
You’ll have heard plenty about the bedbug infestation in Paris and people’s worries that it’s spreading here. If you were in a Parisian hotel that was absolutely crawling with them, you probably would bring them back in your things, so the worry is vaguely justified, but I don’t think it’s going to bring the country to its knees.
CHECK THE BED
People ought to be aware of them, because if you do have an outbreak of bedbugs they can be a real pain to get rid of – but the most important thing is to check for signs of them where you’re staying. If you haven’t seen any tell-tale signs of them, if you’re not itchy and you don’t have any bites, I think you’re OK. If you have, you may have brought them back. You can look for little spots of poo on the sheets, or little spots of blood – and of course any bites. If you have been bitten, you could wait until it’s dark, grab your phone and flash the torch on to the sheets and you should see them run away and hide. People advise not putting your suitcase on the floor in your holiday accommodation – which might help a bit – but they feed on humans, not dust and dirt, so if there’s someone sleeping in the bed, they’ll stay on the bed rather than crawling into a suitcase. They don’t live on your body, like lice, they live on furniture – primarily bedding, bed frames and mattresses, then bite you as you sleep.
THEY LOVE CITIES
There was a bedbug infestation in New York in 2010, and places like Niketown and the Google HQ got infested, so it does happen. Big events like the Rugby World Cup and Paris Fashion Week mean lots of people were visiting Paris but, to be clear, there are already bedbugs in big UK cities like London, because they thrive in warm buildings full of people. Experts who study insects have said Paris may be suffering now because the particularly mild weather in September and October sped up the hatching of bedbug eggs.
LIGHT IS THEIR ENEMY
While there have been reports of people saying they’ve seen bedbugs on UK trains, I think that’s unlikely. It probably wasn’t a bedbug because they don’t like light. They tend to come out in the dark – so you don’t see them on train carriages. I suspect people have seen other types of insects. Adult bugs are visible to the naked eye – they’re usually brown or orange-coloured, little things resembling flat apple seeds. If they
