Everywhere, they seem to swarm. In subways, trains, cinemas, libraries or private homes, cases of bedbug infestations have been reported. On Sometimes it’s another insect, but that doesn’t matter. Anxiety is mounting – to the point that the use of the keywords “bedbugs” on Google reached its record peak between September 22 and 29, according to the Google Trends tool. At the coffee machine, there is this colleague who tells us that he checked the seat of his train during the weekend. And this friend who, anxious, mechanically carries out research on the hygiene of the Ile-de-France cinemas to which he regularly visits.
Over the last 30 days, the Google queries associated with bed bugs which have recorded the greatest growth are precisely “bed bugs + train”, “bed bugs + insurance” or even “how to avoid bed bugs”. The concern particularly affects Ile-de-France: over the last seven days, the region is the one which recorded the highest percentage of searches for the words “bedbugs” on Google compared to the total number of searches on the rest of the territory. And psychosis goes beyond simple internet queries. Nicolas Roux de Bézieux, founder of the site Badbuggs.comnoticed an explosion in calls to his company’s switchboard: in four days, his teams received the equivalent of a year’s worth of subscriptions for anti-bedbug treatments or insurance.
“However, the subject is not new, and infestations have not particularly exploded in the last two weeks. They have been increasing continuously for five years, with an acceleration in recent months,” underlines the specialist, who recalls that he There is always “a peak in infestations” during the summer, particularly due to population movements. Stéphane Bras, spokesperson for the professional group Chambre syndicale 3D (Pest Control, Disinfection, Disinfestation), for his part, evokes “a chain reaction”: “Cultural places are affected, then means of transport, everywhere on the territory. “Videos are published every day on the Internet, which creates a feeling of novelty and legitimate concern… Although these situations have existed for well over two weeks.” Since the start of summer 2023, its union has observed a 60% increase in calls compared to the previous year. And for a week, the increase has continued. “I would say that we have at least 50% more calls compared to last month,” he breathes.
“Everything gets mixed up a little”
L’Express tried to dissect the triggers of this tsunami of content related to bedbugs. While the number of searches on Google concerning this pest has been rather stable since October 2022 (with a search proportion index between 10 and 14, out of a maximum of 100), everything picks up around July 19 2023. At the start of the school holidays, a consultation peak is then reached (the index reaching 32 on July 20), at the time when ANSES publishes a very complete report on the subject of bedbugs. Between 2017 and 2022, the health organization indicates that more than one in ten French homes (11%) was infested by these pests.
The document, more than 300 pages long, specifies that there is no link between the level of income of a household and being the victim of an infestation, but emphasizes that the cost of this fight can be a factor in the persistence of pests. On average, disinfestation cost bedbug victims 866 euros – or 1.4 billion euros spent nationally between 2017 and 2022. Public interest is then intense, but in short: from the July 21, the number of searches returns to its usual level. Even the alert of the National Association for Border Assistance for Foreigners (Anafé), which withdrew on July 27 from the waiting area of Roissy airport, “infested with bedbugs”, does not interest the public. In the heart of summer, the French are more caught up in the Women’s Football World Cup or the worrying disappearance of little Émile.
At the end of August, searches for bedbugs began to gradually climb again, with the index stabilizing between 9 and 20 from August 25 to September 25, before exploding last week, reaching its record of 100 on September 29. During this period, reports of stings, notably in Ile-de-France cinemashave multiplied on social networks – like this series of Pictures published by a user on August 26, 2023 and seen by more than 260,000 people. In public transport, too, Internet users flush out small insects, publicly calling on the SNCF or the RATP to react.
A video published on September 22 and filmed in a TGV Ouigo has been viewed more than 6.1 million times. Nearly 42,000 Internet users also viewed a short film taken in the RER C and published on September 28, and nearly 81,000 this sequence recorded on an Ile-de-France bus the same day. At the same time, scattered infestations in the region make the headlines in the local media, such as this library closed in Amiens after the discovery of bedbugs on September 26, the closure of the emergency room at the Reims University Hospital on September 18, or suspicions of infestation in Lyon public transport. “There are obviously affected places, but also videos which show other types of insects, such as garden cockroaches or carpet beetles… Everything is a little mixed up”, estimates Nicolas Roux de Bézieux.
“The ogre feeds itself”
The media machine has started. “Continuous information and social networks can be compared to an ogre that must be fed in quantity, constantly. Competition is exacerbated, and everyone is looking for what will allow them to stand out from the crowd: content is multiplying, “feed each other, even opening the door to crazy debates”, analyzes Isabelle Veyrat-Masson, research director at the CNRS and specialist in political and media communication. Thus Pascal Praud, flagship host of the show “L’heure des Pros” on CNews, set the Internet on fire after mentioning a possible link between immigration and bedbugs, Friday September 29. The reactions were immediate: several political figures announced that they had contacted Arcom, the media regulator; the associated queries “bedbug + immigration” and “bedbugs + Pascal Praud” have taken off on Google Trends over the last seven days. “The ogre feeds itself,” summarizes Isabelle Veyrat-Masson.
This strong concern about bedbugs is seized by the political class. “When a social demand is both pushed by the media and social networks, and when it uniformly affects a large part of the French population, politics cannot get rid of this media pressure,” considers Isabelle Veyrat -Masson. Even more so if the problem has a health dimension.
On September 28, the Paris town hall asked the government for “an action plan on the scourge” represented by these small parasites, expressing its wish to organize a “conference on the fight against pests”. The next day, the president of the deputies of France Insoumise (LFI) Mathilde Panot called for an emergency plan, to stem “this hell experienced by millions of people who do not know how to get rid of it”. The same day, the Minister for Transport Clément Beaune announced that he would bring together transport operators in the coming days to “inform them about the actions undertaken and act more to serve travelers”. This Tuesday, October 3, while the Renaissance, Démocrate and Horizons groups announced that they would defend a proposed law on the subject in December, the Minister of Health Aurélien Rousseau considered on France Inter that bedbugs were not a ” reason for general panic”, and that the government will work “to limit the prices” applied by disinfestation professionals.
As of this Friday, September 29, the RATP indicated to AFP that an entire train of line 8 of the Paris metro, suspected of infestation, was assessed, and “that no presence of bedbugs was noted in the train”. “All our equipment benefits from regular thorough cleaning […] In recent days, no proven cases of bedbugs have been observed in our equipment, whether metro, RER, tram or bus, said the public transport company. The same goes for the SNCF, which indicated Friday that after inspection, “no proven case of bed bugs has been confirmed in recent days” on board TGVs. Cinema groups MK2 And UGC have, for their part, each published press releases on this subject on social networks.
In the meantime, Stéphane Bras would like to emphasize the “positive” side of such media coverage. “The more people are informed about the phenomenon, the more they will be able to protect themselves from it and take the right actions to get rid of it,” he recalls. Public interest is inherently ephemeral. On Google Trends, the evolution index for the search “bedbugs” fell to 28 this Monday, October 2. The appeal of the “Champions League” search surpassed it.