According to Bed Bug Specialist, “a combination of a hot wash cycle (the maximum allowed according to the labels of the clothes) along with detergent will be too much for the bed bugs”, but “the wash cycle has to be long enough, hot enough, and the detergent has to come in contact with the bugs and their eggs”. Research shows that “washing clothes at 60 degrees C for 30 minutes terminates all bed bugs and eggs”.
How can I check my hotel room for bed bugs?
If you wake up with a series of itchy red bites, typically in a cluster or in a row, that is your first clear sign that your hotel could have bed bugs. If you spot any, they will look like small, brown-colored, flat-bodied insects. To try and tell if your hotel room has bed bugs before you sleep, there are a few things to look out for. According to Martin, a few tell-tale signs include “rust-colored dots on the mattress” from old squished bugs, eggs hidden in places (“they are a pale yellow color” about 1 millimeter wide”), or a “musty odor”, as “the smell excreted by bed bugs is certainly distinguishable”
Could bed bugs travel from Paris to the United Kingdom?
Sky News has reported that the likelihood is that bed bugs are already in the UK. “I think there’s probably a similar level of issue in London as there is in Paris at present,” microbiologist and founder of Bed Bugs Ltd David Cain told Sky News. In a report by pest-control company Rentokill released this September, “the UK saw a 65 per cent increase in bed bug infestations from 2022 to 2023”, according to Sky News. Apparently, during the pandemic, we saw a decrease in the number of bugs due to a lack of travel, but now that normal travel is resuming the newly evolved superbugs are keen to travel as much as humans are.
Eurostar is taking preventative measures to prevent the spread from Paris to London. “The presence of insects such as bedbugs on our trains is extremely rare. The textile surfaces on all of our trains are cleaned thoroughly on a regular basis, and this involves hot-water injection and extraction cleaning, which has proven highly effective in eliminating bugs. We also plan to introduce preventive treatment across our entire network.”
A version of this article originally appeared in Condé Nast Traveller.
