Nearly 200 homes are believed to be infested by bedbugs. The city is asking the health authorities for help.
It is a little tasty pest, with cowardly methods. The bedbug quietly waits for its prey to fall asleep, before attacking it in its sleep. Upon awakening, the poor victim can only note the multiple bites that dot his skin damaged by redness. The executioner has already disappeared. From the first rays of the sun, the bug hides in your mattress, lays its thousands of eggs there and is ready to suck your blood as soon as you fall into Morpheus’s arms again.
The town of Stains had a bitter experience of it. Several districts of the commune of Seine-Saint-Denis are infested by bedbugs; the local power appeals to the health authorities. The Regional Health Agency was seized, while nearly 200 homes would be affected by the profusion of this pest.
Traumatized residents
According to the newspaper Express, which quotes the municipal hygiene service, the families affected by this scourge are “on the verge of a nervous breakdown”. The bedbug invasion causes deep stress and a state of hysteria among the inhabitants. Some no longer want to enter their homes; others have undertaken to “throw everything away” – bed, sofa, etc. – without necessarily having the means to buy back this furniture. Terrorized children no longer want to lie down in their infested bed, the newspaper still reports.
The eradication of this insect is particularly complex. Bedbugs are stubborn; it can remain in ambush for a year, without food, hidden in textiles (carpets, beds, clothes, etc.). Overcoming them requires drastic and expensive pest control measures. For a population with modest incomes, the problem is sometimes irresolvable.
Stigma
In addition, the presence of the bedbug is associated with a strong stigmatization of the affected households. Some see it, wrongly, the mark of a lack of hygiene. The proliferation of this pest has nothing to do with hygienic conditions: the bug does not care about the cleanliness of the habitat, only the blood of its hosts obstructs it.
Faced with this scourge, the city demands help. But, as the press reports, the different actors (yawns, tenants, municipality…) are passing the buck. However, it will be necessary to deal with this problem, which is not limited to Stains. In France, 180,000 sites were treated by professionals in 2016, according to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for disinfection and rat control.
A meeting is to be held on February 28 at the sub-prefecture of Seine-Saint-Denis between municipalities, donors and the ARS Ile-de-France, adds the Express. The actors will discuss possible financial support to the affected cities.
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