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Science Weekly

What’s really going on with Paris’s bedbug crisis?

Science Weekly

The Guardian

Science

4.21K Ratings

🗓️ 10 October 2023

⏱️ 19 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Guardian’s Paris correspondent, Angelique Chrisafis, tells Madeleine Finlay about the explosion in bedbug sightings in the city, and how residents and officials have reacted. And Prof Jerome Goddard explains what makes the creatures so difficult to eradicate, and why the biggest threat they pose may be to our mental health. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod

Transcript

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0:00.0

This is the Guardian. Get your morning mojo going with Mullah like Greek style.

0:17.0

Now with a new recipe, with Vitamin B6 and Vitamin D. Let's have it!

0:25.0

Mull-a-light, get the good going. Ah, Paqui, Paqui, walks along the Seine, a trip up the Eiffel Tower, freshly baked croissons.

0:44.0

And now...

0:45.0

A bedbug infestation sweeping through Paris and anxiety quickly rising,

0:50.0

with reports of the blood-sucking parasites on buses and trains inside movie

0:55.3

theaters and hotels. In the last few weeks panic has been spreading across the

1:01.1

city as residents and tourists post their encounters with the

1:05.8

tiny bloodsuckers on social media. It's so freaking itchy and I've been

1:10.1

checking all my bags to make sure I don't carry any of them home guys be careful

1:13.7

on the metro I took the metro once I was enjoyed and look at my legs and the crisis

1:19.1

has made its way to the top of the political agenda too.

1:23.0

The French government held an emergency meeting today to discuss plans to address a widespread

1:28.0

infestation of bedbugs in hotels, homes and across public transport.

1:33.0

But is France suffering a significant bed bug outbreak?

1:41.0

Or is the threat they pose more psychological?

1:48.0

From the Guardian, I'm Madeline Finley,

1:51.0

and this is Science Weekly.

1:57.0

Right, so everyone is itching themselves and even if they haven't been bitten by anything. And people's behavior has changed and that means things like you notice

2:06.8

people avoid sitting down on the Paris metro. Many people have said to me

2:10.9

we don't sit down anymore and we won't be sitting down again.

2:13.5

That's Angelique Chrysophis, the Guardian's Paris correspondent, and she's been writing about the

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