“Unkillable” bedbugs from Paris alarmed Europe: flights were canceled

Europe has been bitten by bloodsuckers – British authorities are threatening to cancel flights if “super bugs” are found on board a plane, and hotel owners will send pest control specialists to thoroughly clean the rooms of those arriving from France. The UK tourism industry is preparing for an invasion of the biting creatures from Paris.

British hotels and transport operators are bracing for an infestation of “super bugs” as an infestation in Paris threatens to spread across the UK, The Mail on Sunday writes.

The publication has learned that a major British hotel chain is asking guests at check-in whether they are from France. When guests leave, pest control technicians thoroughly clean the rooms.

Meanwhile, Air France, which operates up to six direct flights a day from Paris to London, said it would cancel any flight if bedbugs were found on board.

The news comes as experts warn that these “super bugs” have developed resistance to insecticides, The Mail on Sunday writes.

“It’s harder than ever to kill them,” says Nicolas Roux de Béziers, of the pest control website badbugs.fr. “Pest controllers have to go back to kill them again because they survive spraying.”

An outbreak of the blood-sucking insects, whose stings cause a painful itch, has caused a wave of revulsion in Paris, with residents and tourists posting images on social media of the beetles crawling across hotel sheets and train seats.

With thousands of travelers arriving in the UK every day from France on trains, flights and ferries, fears are growing that the outbreak will quickly spread here.

Millennium Hotels and Resorts, which operates 18 hotels in the UK, is asking new guests whether they are from France, according to staff at one London hotel.

“Every time we check in, we ask the guest: ‘Are you coming from Paris?'” said the receptionist. “All Millennium Group hotels do this.”

The hotel manager added: “As soon as guests leave, we take that particular room out of use and just clean everything again.”

Rail company Eurostar said its trains between London and Paris must be disinfected if there is “the slightest doubt” of contamination, while Transport for London bosses said they were “monitoring” the Tube network.

Staff at the five-star Renaissance Hotel at St Pancras railway station, the terminus of London’s Eurostar line, said no bedbugs had been found there, but staff had been trained to identify the pests over the past two weeks.

Filippo Lorenzonetto, manager of the Megaro Hotel near St Pancras, said there were no cases of bedbugs there either, but he was “concerned” about the situation in Paris.

Aviation bosses said they were closely monitoring the situation amid reports on social media that bedbugs had been spotted at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport – one of the world’s busiest.

EasyJet, which operates more than ten direct flights between London and Paris every day, said last night: “Our aircraft are cleaned to a very high standard every evening and key areas of the cabin are disinfected. We continue to actively monitor the situation in France.”

Air France said that if bedbugs are suspected to be present on board one of its flights, the flight will be canceled and a team of specialists will be immediately dispatched to confirm or rule out the presence of the insects: “If bedbugs are confirmed, a chemical test will be carried out.” aircraft processing.”