Yahoo TV

STORY: "There's at least a dozen (bedbugs). If I provoke them a bit, you see, there's maybe even 15 of them, and a lot of really tiny ones."

Social media users have been publishing footage of bedbugs

crawling around public transport in Paris, in cinemas and even Charles de Gaulle airport

(Laura Mmadi, Traveler) "That really traumatized me, meaning I'm actually taking a OuiGo train right now, and to be honest, I'm not calm. So I'll keep my luggage closed to prevent them (bedbugs) from getting into my home. Also, I'm not from here, so once I get home, I'll have to wash all my clothes, especially since I'm back from Madrid and maybe they have some there, too. So right now, we're really becoming paranoid."

Bedbugs had infested more than one in ten French households between 2017 and 2022

according to a report published by health agency Anses in July

With the Paris Olympics less than a year away

French authorities have started a drive to exterminate the pests

(Sacha Krief, Pest control store manager) "In reality, we've always had bedbugs (in Paris), we have to realize that. Now, the only difference is that it's being talked about a lot in the media right now, with all that's happening in trains and cinemas, so everyone is panicking a bit. But people need to know that we can get bedbugs under control, we just need to know how to do it correctly by getting the help of the right professionals, quite simply."