‘I’ve been thinking about it all day’: psychosis spreads to London after bedbugs were discovered on the subway

After Paris, is it London’s turn? While the French capital has been dealing with a severe bedbug outbreak for weeks, the English capital may well be experiencing the same episode.

This is a video posted on TikTok last weekend on London public transport where we see what could be a bedbug on a passenger’s leg, causing a lot of concern. The video also reports the possible discovery of bedbugs on a bus in Manchester yesterday.

Mayor Sadiq Khan has since said the possibility of bedbugs on London’s public transport is a “real cause for concern”. “People are worried that these bugs in Paris will create a problem in London,” he told the website PoliticisJoe, before admitting to contacting officials “to see if there are any lessons that can be learned.”

“I’ve been thinking about this all day”

Transport for London (TfL, London’s transport operator) will be very attentive to the situation and will disinfect seats daily as part of its cleaning protocol, the Daily Mail highlights, which is causing panic in the face of these insects “that have caused Paris to be in hell.” Eurostar, with its party said its trains between London and Paris should be disinfected if there is “the slightest doubt” of infestation, adding that it had not noticed an increase in the number of bedbugs on its trains.

Hotels are also preparing for an invasion of bedbugs from Paris. According to the Daily Mail, a major British hotel chain is already asking its customers about a possible trip to France. In this case, guests’ rooms are deep cleaned by pest control specialists before departure.

Faced with numerous concerns, all major British media outlets took up the issue, such as the Guardian newspaper, which went to meet London Underground users. “I’m very, very scared. I thought about it all day,” says the 22-year-old student. As a precaution, another passenger says he won’t be on the Underground and will even opt for the Overground (Ed., London’s other rail network).

National growth of 65%

Responding to questions from the Telegraph, Adam Jewson from pest control company Merlin Environmental is trying to calm users’ fervor in the face of the video, which has racked up nearly 2 million views in three days. “It looks a bit like a bedbug, but the video is not good enough for identification. [… ] We’ve seen bedbugs on trains before, so it’s not impossible, but it doesn’t seem right. »

The problem is not all that new according to Luton Borough Council, the local authority for Luton (north London), which states that “the pest control service is receiving an alarming number of bedbugs every week. » The claim is supported by data from specialist company Rentokil, cited by the Institute of Environmental Health, which notes that the number of infections in the UK increased by 65% ​​in the second quarter of 2023 compared to the previous year.

If panic is gradually setting in in the English capital, its mayor tries to calm it down, claiming that “TfL has one of the best cleaning regimes for equipment at night.” “For a number of reasons we don’t think this problem will arise in London,” he concludes.