A veritable parasitic scourge, bed bugs experience a boom in propagation during the summer, due to our movements and the various drop-off points. How to avoid bringing it back in your luggage? A few simple gestures are recommended.
Bringing back sand and souvenirs full of luggage is not a bad thing when you come back from vacation. But in the opinion of specialists who fight against parasites, another element sometimes takes advantage of our suitcases: bed bugs. A real summer scourge, these have already been present according to ANSES in 11% of French homes, causing significant psychological and economic damage.
Summer is a good time for the spread of bed bugs
Why does summer promise to be more dangerous than any other period? Simply because from May to September we move more. The spread of bedbugs is like this “very travel-related” indicates in the ParisianNicolas Roux de Beziéux, founder of the badbugs.fr platform.
And the idea that the risk would only come from traveling abroad does not hold here: the simple fact of multiplying the nights in different hotels, mobile homes or apartments in France can be enough to bring new roommates home.
A phenomenon that is tending to spread: according to professionals, requests for interventions have also increased by 30% compared to the summer of 2022.
What are the right things to do to avoid bringing bedbugs home?
Fortunately, there are precautions to avoid bringing back bedbugs as a souvenir in your travel bag, relayed by professionals and collected by the Ameli site.
Upon arrival at the vacation spot
- On arrival in a hotel or accommodation, it is therefore advisable to inspect the mattress and the bedding: in the event of the presence of bedbugs, droppings in the form of small black dots appear in the corners of the mattresses in particular;
- Also check furniture and walls, especially furniture frames and upholstery, using an object with a hard edge such as a credit card;
- Place your suitcase on the rack after inspecting it and not on the bed which may be infested. Leave your luggage closed when you don’t have to take anything from it;
- Do not put your clothes on the bed or in the cupboards before having examined them scrupulously.
Back from vacation
- Do not put your luggage on a bed or an armchair;
- Take out your clothes and personal effects;
- Take the time to inspect your luggage and its contents.
If you detect the presence of bedbugs, or bites
- Inform the hotel or the owner;
- Wash all your belongings at 60 degrees, and use the strongest drying programme. Or place infected linens in the freezer for 5 days.
