Bedbugs are popping up in Paris hotels, homes, and even public transport, and with the Olympics just 10 months away, that has city officials' skin crawling.

Just 10 months before the opening of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics, the French capital is battling an invasion of bedbugs.

The tiny pests were first reported in hotels and vacation rental apartments across the city during the summer. Then there were sightings in movie theaters and, in recent days, there have even been reports of bedbugs crawling around on seats in both national high-speed trains and the Paris Metro system.

One metro train driver was dismayed to find some of the unwelcome guests in his driver’s cabin.

    • @AllBlue22@lemmy.worldEnglish
      127•9 months ago

      Hate to burst your bubble but per the Center for Invasive Species “they are thought to have originated in Europe, the Middle East or in India, but moved across the world as humans did.”

      • ericEnglish
        45•9 months ago

        But … but the US makes such a good scapegoat!

        • @ShakeThatYam@lemmy.worldEnglish
          37•9 months ago

          I’d like to know why the fuck Americans are traveling to Paris to go to Disneyland. We have two perfectly good Disney theme parks in the US. Why not go to France and enjoy French things??

          Edit: OP is an idiot. Another commenter determined that less than 10% of visitors to Disneyland France are American.

        • @dogslayeggs@lemmy.worldEnglish
          35•9 months ago

          A) Your source is behind a paywall, so I can’t read it.

          B) So Disney Land Paris is ONLY popular with Americans? Because if you honestly think that the reason Disney Land gets bedbugs is because Americans visit it, you might be a moron. Just because it is popular with Americans doesn’t mean that no other countries visit it.

          In fact, let’s look at the numbers: in 2016, 49% of visitors to DL Paris were from France, 17% from the UK, 9% from Spain, and going down through Europe. The rest of the world (U.S. included) is only 9% of the visitors. In 2011, the numbers were 51% France, 12% UK, 9% Spain, and going down through Europe, with the rest of the world (US included) being 9%. I can’t find any newer numbers than 2016, but if the percentages are almost identical from 2011 to 2016, then I’m guessing they are similar for 2023. So the entire premise of your argument that DL Paris gets bedbugs because of less than 10% of its tourists is so unbelievably stupid that I don’t even know where to go from here.

    • Bilb!AEnglish
      26•9 months ago

      It doesn’t matter where the bedbugs came from, they are everywhere. Paris is an international destination; this is entirely Paris’s failure to manage it a problem that comes inevitably with that status.

      • @Voyajer@lemmy.worldEnglish
        21•9 months ago

        He thinks bed bugs originated in the new world. (They’ve been present in Europe for 900+ years.)

        • KaleEnglish
          2•9 months ago

          If you want to blame the Americas for anything, blame syphilis. That wasn’t in Europe until the late 1400/early 1500.