Never, EVER, take a couch from the side of the road.

I once worked in a hostel that encountered a bedbug infestation and I can tell you it's no joke. If you really want to get rid of them in a singular building you have to clear the building, spray it, leave it unoccupied for a few days to a week, then check again for any signs of eggs and possibly spray again. Herein lies the problem: most businesses that rely on a constant flow of customers like hotels, cinemas etc. can't afford to completely shut down for a few days, and they only partially spray rooms at a time. And then again you might get completely rid of them and a month later a guest brings a new infestation on their clothes.

10 years ago I stayed in a hotel that about an hour after I turned out the lights I had this incredibly uncomfortable feeling so I quickly turned on the light. I saw a couple bugs on the wall. I looked behind the headboard and found more. Looked on the edges of the bed and there were tons. I placed my suitcase on the bathroom counter. Took a very hot shower ... blew dry my hair. Kept the lights on all night. Left as soon as possible. When I got home I left my suitcase outside way away from the house. Took my clothes off outside ... ran to my shower and took the hottest shower and blew dry my hair. Lice and bed bugs cannot survive heat.

I was an Integrated Pest Management specialist in bed bug eradication and it's no joke. They hide in your CD players, your remote controls, all furniture, wall plugs especially, closets, boxes and clothing. For a six month infestation, with cooperation with the client, it will take approx 30 days and three treatments to eradicate them. Which means that if you live in the same place you're killing them have to basically live out of clear plastic bags for a month. You have to be careful who you visit because you can infest another person's home- which is why people don't discuss it, the shame factor and the same goes for other people who come from an infestation. These are really the most tenacious, time consuming and costly pests to get rid of. When checking into a hotel, the FIRST THING you must do upon entering the room is to place all your luggage in the bath tub (dry) or shower while you turn up the mattress. You'll want to look under the mattress in the folds of the seams near the head and at the foot. You are looking for thousands of tiny dark brown specks, their feces and dried blood. These spots will be in groups, you may not see the hundreds of actual bed bugs. Bed bugs have five growth stages and the smallest is barely seen without a flashlight. If you see this, grab your things and go to the desk and report it immediately. You may not want to stay because they travel between the walls into adjacent rooms. You will find them in airplanes, cargo holds of the plane, movie theaters, buses, trains, restaurants, sofas in cafes. They are attracted to carbon dioxide, your breath and high blood sugar if you're diabetic, while you are sleeping and they come out to feed nocturnally, usually around your legs. Their characteristic bites are in 3's, usually in a line- we call them the "breakfast, lunch & dinner bites." The most effective and least costly is to use a chemical sprayer and get the chemical specifically for bed bugs, diatomacious earth powder that needs to be put in a "bellow" squeezer with an aperture that gets the earth into crevices and plastic containers sold to hold a pesticide gel that emits vapors- use these in the plastic bags where you keep your clothing. You will need to coat the legs of your bed, tables and chairs with petroleum jelly so they cannot use the legs to climb up into beds, tables & chairs. You'll need to treat the entire apartment three times every ten days. My advice- stay away from bed bug high traffic areas. I've successfully treated apartments while occupied and the hardest job is getting the occupants to comply with keeping their belongings in CLEAR plastic bags- clear so you can see if bugs are in there. Your purse, wallet, cel phone, keys, anything with a hold or crevice they will hide in- guaranteed.

I can feel tingles all over my body just thinking about it... Hopefully this get solved soon.

Why does it feel that the whole world has regressed a few centuries? 😥

Anyone else feeling itchy all of a sudden?

My complete sympathies. I dealt with bedbugs in the apartment I lived in Vancouver in the early 2000s. These pests are horrible to manage and they can make life very difficult.

Honestly I'm glad this is making international news. I'm hoping it will make the national and local governments do much more than what they're doing now

Never put your luggage on your hotel bed or floor. Keep luggage as far away from bed as possible.

I once let a family of three sleep in my guest bedroom for a month. Once they moved out we discovered that they carried bedbugs and were ashamed about it and were ashamed to admit it. It took 6 months and thousands of dollars in pest control to get rid of the problem.

And the worse part is, bedbugs can get into your luggage and thus, transfer to your home. Yikes!

I'd rather take dealing with the COIVD over bed bugs anyday

Whoever decided to use padded seating on urban public transportation like subways and city buses messed up horribly.

I encountered bed bugs once when I stayed in an Air-Bnb in Amsterdam. My gf and I arrived there completely knackered, after a bike ride of 120km with luggage in the Summer heat. At around midnight, while I was sitting on my bed and planing next day's bike route, I noticed those insects in the wall. I didn't know what they where but after I killed a bunch of them I noticed that one contained red blood. Then it dawned on me that this must be bed bugs. I was grossed out and tried to kill every bug I saw. The idea of going to sleep in that room and potentially infesting our luggage with bed bugs gave me shivers! At 2AM I contacted AirBnB and told them about the incident, while my gf was on the phone calling the nearest hotels. At 3AM and dead tired, we left the air bnb and rode to the Hotel, where we washed the clothes that we had been wearing and spread out and inspected all our belongings for bed bugs. Found around 5 more. Next day, our first stop was the laundry, where we washed all our stuff with hot water. Half a day wasted, but fortunately never saw a bed bug again!

Never saw a bedbug for the first 64 years if my life, then rented a house that had them. It was quite an ordeal, one I hope never to experience again. I recently read that they can survive for months, allegedly up to a year, without eating, which explains why they're so hard to get rid of.

I get chills when I think of bed bugs. One of the most horrible experiences in my life. I wanted to cut my skin off.

You CAN be highly allergic to the toxins in their saliva. I rented a flat in NYC 13 years ago and they didn’t even know there was an infestation until I got there because I unfortunately am one of those rare people who are highly allergic. I had sores on my legs that looked like termite mounds it was a jarring and traumatizing experience. It took 9 years for the intensive scarring to finally fade from my legs 😢

I was planning a trip to Paris next spring, but I just changed my mind. I’m not bringing these horrible bugs back home with me to the US.

We battled with bedbugs for over a year. After two chemical treatments, we finally hired someone with a powerful mobile furnace to heat our entire house to about 140°F (60°c) for several hours. We had attempted to remove anything that would be damaged by the heat (food, medicines, candles, etc), but some plastic items like plastic window shades were warped during the treatment. I have read that a slightly lower temperature (113F, 45°C) will eventually kill the bugs, but the difficulty is reaching that temperature in all the places the bugs hide, like between towels, inside clothing, etc. For that reason, most exterminators bring the entire house to a higher temperature and hold it there for a few hours.

On another note, I was on a plane from the mainland to Hawaii and there was a woman with extremely thick hair in a bun sitting right in front of me and the amount of LICE she had crawling in and out of her hair on the back of her neck was just absolutely insane that I asked if I could be moved, I just pointed at the lady's head when the hostess quietly asked why...

I was once loaned a tent by a friend .I put it up and then during the night what seemed like hundreds of bed bugs started swarming me. At first i thought they were little seeds that got in the tent. Got up washed everything including the tent in hot water at the campsite laundry, that was over 20 years ago in Australia. Once they get into your home they are extremely difficult to remove.

Toronto actually have the same problem, some old apartments are infested with these bugs. There're actually mattress case overs that are bed bugs resistant, also bed bugs don't like metal bed frames so don't use wooden bed frames. I knew someone that was in this situation. He solved the problem by switching to metal bed frame using the mattress case cover.

I once lived in a 12 unit apartment building that had an outbreak beginning at top floor and worked its way down to all other floors. It was a nightmare!! No sign or trace of it when exterminators came to my unit multiple times. My only proof were the bites and red welts on my skin and then I’d turn the lights on and see a couple crawling on my bed trying to scurry away. the unit was bombed multiple times although true professional exterminators advise against that. Bagging my clothes in plastic storage units for months on end. I wouldn’t wish this issue on anyone. I always advise my son after coming from Public places, put the clothes directly into the laundry.

They can set up in a mattress but then can live in the wall board if they set up in your house. Put your clothing/luggage in the bathroom of your hotel or where there’s no fabric or upholstery. Check the head of the bed for dark red spots, bedbug poop. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Buying used furniture can also bring bedbugs in your home 😮

I wish this video would address what to do to protect yourself when travelling. We're going through France and Spain to Portugal using trains (including a sleeper). How do we protect ourselves? This is keeping me awake worrying about it.

I have worked with residential rentals a fair bit. We had a unit that was empty, treated for bed bugs multiple times. Before the last treatment we cranked the heat to get them to come out of the walls and stuff. It helped.

I live in Toronto, Canada, and have had bed bugs in 3 different apartments that I stayed at! Gotta say the psychological side effects are long term and very real, because my current place also experienced an outbreak and it's been so difficult to fall asleep at night knowing this.

Bedbugs are terrifying. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. ☠️

I had bed bugs in my apartment, I live in New York, and it is traumatizing. I treated in the beginning but I want to let you know it is hard to get rid of them. I used products that I bought in Costco, but I also bought a steamer, and used even on the carpet, to make sure they had disappeared.

I travel often and I had bed bugs in Cambodia, Sweden, Uruguay, Italy and Cyprus but luckily never took them home due to never putting my luggage on or directly next to my bed. Even though I recognised the bites immediately it was still a tramautic experience every time because the days and weeks after you think of every itchy feeling that youre getting bitten again by bedbugs. Most say that at most of the accommodations were I had bedbugs had a good response to me because I know some places dont know about bedbugs or are simply denying it to their customers when they get bitten

So who else was itching the entirety of this episode? I have never seen one Myself but the paranoia is definitely there

They have to get rid of all those fabrics and paddings on public facilities.

Living in a bedbug-infested hostel was traumatic, and I can't imagine the distress of living in a city infested by these pests. My thoughts and best wishes go out to the people of Paris.

when i lived in Japan i suddenly had bedbugs in my apartment. no idea how they got there. never stayed at hotels or so. it was an absolute nightmare. i fell asleep and woke up an hour later to see if there are any on the walls next to my bed or in my bedsheets. killed all i could and eventually got rid of them this way as i was quick to handle the situation. but it affected my sleep pattern as well as my work and school-life because of the itchings. bad times for sure and i wouldnt wish bedbugs even for my biggest enemy

hostels should use metal beds and also use mattress covers to ensure bedbugs have nowhere to survive

I once caught a bedbug in the bus here in Canada. The good thing about them is that they're not stealthy. It felt a bit like an ant walking on my clothes so it's noticeable. It's if one gets in your bag that it could be harder to spot. They're not stealthy and armored like wood ticks.

Wouldn’t this be classified as a public health crisis due to the potential health risks reactions for children and adults? This is horrible! I’m wondering what they are doing to eliminate this problem.

When I've been to Italy, even in 5-star hotels, I've always had bed bugs biting me. It just puts you off travelling because the itching and rashes can be painful and irritating. Their not easy to get rid of either. It's a long process, and heat doesn't always work.

We bought an old house in the sticks and fought them for a few years. Eventually I got rid of all the furniture and went through the house from top to bottom looking for nests. We *very carefully* killed the nests with 70% rubbing alcohol (don't use if you lack common sense to ventilate and the discipline not to light a cigarette.). Pro tip, they like to make nests in and around power sockets, electronics, etc. We remodeled to a very minimalist layout and have not had any problems since. These evil things love clutter and places that don't get cleaned regularly.

I was bit by bed bugs at a hotel once and the itching was so intense and the bites lingered for almost 2 months. No joke!

Years ago I worked in a St Vincent DePaul thrift shop. The place was sprayed for bedbugs and other pests twice a week. It's amazing how many people donated soft goods and upholstered items with cooties.

2012 in Montpellier i had a terrible experience, I am allergic while i was a French Language Student in a Hostel there. Nobody could find them... i move apartment an wash all my clothes with boiling water... i think now the enemy is Airbnb, once was concentred only at hotels, hostels... now travelers are settled everywhere, with luggages and all. DDT now needs to come back... for the good or worst...

We just had a flea infestation. It was a nightmare, yet I realize that bed bugs would be even worse!!

Always read hotel reviews before traveling! If there are any about bed bugs in the last months, do not go there even if it is a 5 star hotel.

I once read a feature about how bedbugs were the worst in certain wealthier neighborhoods here in NYC like the Upper Eastside because of the shame, so they'd become terrible infestations before being treated. Bedbug specialists would arrive in unmarked vans in the dark of night! One guy said one place was so bad the walls were CRAWLING with them. ::shudder::

The bites are usually identified as in 3s (in a line) and raised red bumps. The bite marks won’t go away until a couple of days later.

It's incredible people are so ignorant about bedbugs. You should NEVER travel anywhere if you have bedbugs in your house, for one. That horrible irresponsible. About hotels, I was wonderings the same thing the British guy mentioned in the end. Hotels should be LEGALLY obligated to take preventative measures and practices to stop these foul insects from spreading all over.

Is anyone else itching while watching this?😮

OMG!! This is my fear!!! I'm currently traveling, and I find myself looking and checking beds, towels, etc. Goodness ..

Was it just me or did she not answer a single question about how to get rid of them?

There was me blissfully unaware when I was in Paris in June. Maybe it’s for the best!

I lived through that nightmare once in a 7-unit apartment house. It was SO hard to get rid of them. Seriously almost lost my mind from fear and lack of sleep! I can't stand to look at a picture of one, now! Pure evil. They can live for YEARS without feeding. 😱😱😱👾👾👾

I live in Toronto, Canada, and we have bedbugs in diffrent apartments and homes, as well as public transport. Its psychologically effecting lot of us. Our government don't do much to help.

"Sleep tight , dont let the bed bugs bite" i never knew they were real.

Wow…that’s really bad if it’s in the trains…that means that you can bring them home and to get rid of them will be impossible!

Good night sleep tight dont let the bugs bite 😢

DEAR FRANCE, I too have dealt with bedbugs. #1, please protect you mattress and box springs with covers. BBs cannot eat through them. But get durable ones that don't rip. If you protect your bed, you will not have to throw it out. This is 80% of the battle. Also use double sided tape to protect the bed legs. They can't dross double sided tape. I wish you all the best.

In every country there should be a law that if a business has bedbugs, hugr noticed need to be placed on doors and again right inside and another twenty feet away.

Here in South Africa it's in my hygiene practices to take my mattress outside once a month on a hot sunny day. I sprinkle with bicarb and leave it in the sun for the day. Then beat it out with a stick and I've never had a bug in my bed ever.

I used diatomaceous earth to kill bed bugs. I used once a week for about four weeks, which is about the whole life cycle of bed bugs from an egg to an adult bug.

Wrong, bed bugs are not just a few millimeters long. Their average sizes about a centimeter long.

I actually visited France just last weekend, took 9h in different trains, also busses and the métro. Neither there, nor in the hotel did I encounter any insect friends. But maybe I was just lucky

I’ve never encountered them (to my knowledge), but I’m terrified of them. I know they are insidious once they catch hold. Once a group of us were at a hotel and there was a rumor that someone saw a single bedbug. When I got home, I stripped just inside the door and emptied my bag and threw everything straight in the wash

The bed bugs in my house have been immune to pretty much everything under the sun except for diatomaceous earth and extreme heat. Like, 140F+ for 8 hours kind of heat. And even then it doesn't guarantee everything in the room got killed. It's horrible. I bet burning down the house wouldn't even get rid of them all, a few would survive and reproduce.

Back in year 2007 bedbugs became our nightmare it literally infested our house and it followed me when I rented an apartment close to my work place.. I tried using Baygon a roach killer insecticide spray and it actually worked and until now no more bed bugs

Got it once from a hospital in a rural area of NC… heat treatment at my home cost $3,000 and countless sleepless nights.

If you're afraid of bed bugs, don't come to Memphis TN either

I live in nyc. Paris should get rid of the fabric on public transportation. Change your clothes when you get home before you sit on your furniture or your bed. Wrap your mattress up on a bed hug protector. When you stay in a hotel I ALWAYS check the mattress and sheets for bedbugs.

Once you get them im your home it is a nightmare to get rid of them. Usually have to toss all furniture. One thing to do is after your out and about come home and immediately put your clothes in the hot dryer for at least 20 minutes. If you don't have a dryer, double bag your clothes tightly and keep in your car or outside if possible until you get to a laundry mat. I've dealt with them twice and it's not fun!

It's not fun when you get affected. When it causes you to lose sleep when you are tired from work the situation can lead to a physical as well as mental breakdown

I am terrified of bedbugs ever since I spent a night in a house full of them. It was horrible.

I once stayed in a hostel infested with bedbugs. It was nightmare. I left my bedding there and upon coming home didn't bring the luggage in, soaked all clothes in dettol, took a shower and washed those clothes also in dettol, other items were kept in the sun. Luckily these measures worked, i didn't bring that bug home.

They don’t shower properly in France

maybe they should wash their bedsheets

I am pleased that you are talking about this huge issue !!! The governments should come up with a solution as this issue is huge !

Love the bug expert lady! She looks genuinely loves her job

This situation is traumatizing. You can also get them from work, apartment laundry rooms and public laundromats, drycleaning places, even in between pages of used books etc. These are in addtion to all other ways mentioned in this video and postings. Spray doesn't work. Have to go to Pest control place and have them apply the scorching heat treament.

Last year I stayed at a four star hotel in Lisbon...and I found several bedbugs in the bed, I was terrified as this was the first time I encouentered these insects... the hotel personnel blamed on my suitcase which was a big lie, Lisbon is filled with this plague

I’ve got serious bitten by bedbugs during walking Camino in Spain few years ago, it was over my whole body and the itchiness was irresistible, very unpleasant experience.

My granddaughter recently had a bad experience in a holiday apartment in Portugal.. the bed was crawling with bedbugs so they spent the first night on the sofa and checked out immediately in the morning. Unfortunately they are still trying to get a full refund

I was terrified of them. Once they invade your home, it will take many rounds of pest control to completely eliminate it. By the time you find them, most likely, they have already invaded multiple rooms. In apartments it is most difficult to get rid of them as if one house has it others will also and unless you are not doing pest control for all the homes in the building it will return again and again say after every 6-9 months.

When I buy new bedding, clothes or towels, I always wash and tumble-dry them at high temperatures before using them, just in case. I’ve never seen or heard of them locally, but I do worry about introducing them from textile items shipped from overseas. Until I was a young adult, I always thought they were imaginary, because of my Mom’s saying “sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite”, until I learned otherwise, to my horror.

If you've ever had them they will scare you so bad you will be afraid to read this comment section,or to say anything bad about them for fear of their return.

I moved to Europe a year ago and was shocked to see that no one has the zippered mattress covers designed to keep bed bugs out. I don't understand that. France is the most visited country but they dont use those...? It makes no sense. I went shopping for one in Croatia and no one knew what I was talking about. I had to ask a relative to bring me one from the US.

Well it's correlated to the hotel guests, that are placed in hotels, because of the lag of capacity in other facilities

What is sad is, the only reason we are talking about it or even trying to fix outbreak is because of the Olympics soon. But trust me no one would do anything otherwise

You really really don't want them it's extremely hard to get rid of them, you can basically pick them up from any 2nd hand item even clothing! And the nymphs are almost transparent you can barely see them! Why on earth they let people staying in hostels or auberges use their own sleeping bags from bed to bed is beyond me, the camino de Santiago auberges are notorious for bedbugs for this very reason.

They recommend to put your luggage in the bathroom of your hotel where there aren’t any fabrics

I have an extensive hospitality background working in 4-5 star Hotels. I won't stay in one if i can avoid it. HOTELS DO NOT WASH BLANKETS & BEDSPREADS EVERY NIGHT OR EVEN YEARLY. The pillows remain in the rooms for years. Yuk

Diatomaceous earth is the solution for bedbugs . Basically diatomaceous earth is a dehydrant which dehydrates any insect having exoskeleton thus eliminating bedbugs completely as they spread it to their peers.

There almost completely stamped out in the UK. People using steam cleaners regularly on there mattresses and other things bedbugs like to explore is the best option, no chemicals that are harmful to people. Repeated use of a steam cleaner keeps them at bay if you have any issues do it one day, turn your heating up full put wet towels over the radiators as this moist hot air helps there eggs to spawn and repeat the process everyday for 1 week,

A friend of mine had bed bugs in her apartment once. It was a nightmare and full time job getting rid of them. It’s a good thing she was between jobs at the time and could deal with all of this.

Anyone else started feeling VERY itchy watching this, in bed, at night? 😅😂😢😢

I just scratched my self.... 😳

This reminds me of the year 2015. What a horrible year!! I spent that whole year trying to eradicate a bedbug infestation that just wouldn't go away. I tried and tried and tried. Nothing worked. It was an absolute nightmare. In the end, I just decided to pack up and move, twice. Just to make sure that we were as far away as possible from those nasty little creatures. After a couple of years of respite, one of the rooms got infested again in the new house! I was beyond horrified when I found out. I had to send everyone packing and asked them to leave the house and we decided to fix the problem by boiling huge amounts of water and pouring them like crazy on the entire floor in each room. Luckily that seemed to have stopped the nasty bugs in their tracks and I never saw them again.

I recently had a war with bed bugs. Got them from a hotel in Berlin. For about 1-2 months we fought epic battles, I didn't sleep much, but at the end I won. They can be defeated, but you have to act quick and not stop until they are dead. Use diatomaceous earth food grade, steamer, dryer for the clothes and traps for bed,sofa legs.

This sounds like a new creature movie. Attack of the bedbugs! Coming in a cinema near you.

The volume of human traffic from all over the world into and out of Paris is absolutely huge. Cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, London and Paris are teetering on the brink of collapse. Terrifying times.