Bed bugs are having a ~moment~

Paris has recently been getting a lot of bad press for a serious bed bug infestation. But as it turns out, it’s not the only major city dealing with the issue. Egypt and South Korea have also had outbreaks, and Algeria has tightened border control to screen for the six-legged hitchhikers. A library in London was shut down earlier this month after the bugs were spotted on furniture, and employees at a Tesla factory in Buffalo, New York, have complained of a workplace infestation. Now Hong Kong is distributing bed bug prevention leaflets to travelers at its airport.

What is going on?!

While there have been outbreaks worthy of all the news coverage, it turns out that bed bugs have been on the rise for quite a while. There has been a global resurgence of the suckers for at least 20 years, according to the BBC. And in that time, they’ve become frustratingly resistant to pesticides.

Now that people are traveling again en masse after years of staying at home, we’re more aware of what is likely already a “consistent, and persistent problem,” according to TIME. In 2020, a French hospital shut down one of its units after bed bugs were found in four rooms, and the problem took over three weeks and USD$400,000 to fix.

Part of what allows bedbugs to thrive is that we have traditionally seen them as an individual problem rather than a societal one worth battling with public funds, TIME reports. It’s not an easy problem to fix on your own, and calling a pest control service can be unaffordable. Bed bugs thrive in the absence of professional exterminators, and that’s exactly what they get most of the time.

“People haven’t got as much disposable income now, and so they might be putting up with bed bugs,” David Lodge, director of UK-based Beaver Pest Control, said in an interview with Sky News about an uptick of bed bug reports in the UK. “And of course, if they do that, they can then spread to neighboring premises.”

Part of the panic over the bugs could also be just good old-fashioned panic. No-one wants them, obviously, and so heightened awareness of issues in Paris makes any local bed bug story feel more urgent. But you should always be vigilant about checking your hotel room and your luggage for bugs before you snuggle in and before you unpack. Bed bug experts suggest traveling with hard-sided luggage filled with clothing sealed in zip-top bags, and keeping it all zipped up and stored on hard surfaces when not in use. Don’t put your suitcase on the bed, or on the floor, and don’t unpack your clothes into an unfamiliar wardrobe, which could be harboring the bugs.

But perhaps the most important tip of all is to always call a pest expert at the first sign of bugs. You might think you’re able to handle it, but you’re almost certainly going to fail.

“Do not try and treat the infestation yourself,” James Logan, a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said in a news release about recent infestations. “The only thing you can do really is to call a pest controller, get an expert in to sort the problem out.”