Sniffer dogs will help inspect French trains and the Paris metro for bedbugs after dozens of reports of infestations, the country's transport minister said adding that so far not a single bedbug had been found. Clement Beaune said that there had been about ten traveller reports about bedbugs at Paris public transport operator RATP and 37 at rail operator SNCF.
"When there is a problem, we deal with it, we won't deny it. There is no outbreak of bedbugs in public transport," Clement Beaune said after meeting with transport operators and travel associations.
All French public transport operators will boost health procedures in general and the fight against bedbugs in particular, notably with canine sniffer teams, which the minister said were the most effective means of detection.
Every three months, data will be published about all bedbug reports and any confirmed infestations, he said.
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"Total transparency will bring total confidence," he said, adding that there was "no need for psychosis or fear".
This comes as two schools in southeastern France became infected with bedbugs and were closed down for several days to be cleaned out, local authorities said.
{{/usCountry}}This comes as two schools in southeastern France became infected with bedbugs and were closed down for several days to be cleaned out, local authorities said.
{{/usCountry}}Bedbugs had largely disappeared from daily life by the 1950s but have appeared in greater numbers in recent decades due to high population densities, people taking more holidays and mass transit, experts believe. One in 10 French households are believed to have had a bedbug problem over the past few years.