The Ministry in charge of the City announced Monday the experimentation in the Bouches-du-Rhône of a digital platform intended to improve the fight against bed bugs by accompanying users confronted with an infestation by this insect.
The website stop-punaises.beta.gouv.frwhich is part of an interministerial plan launched in March 2022 and will be extended to other departments, makes it possible to assess the user’s level of infestation, to centralize useful information, to make available effective protocols, to direct users to labeled companies to deal with the problem and to ensure follow-up over time, specifies the Ministry of Town and Housing in its press release.
Rising infestations
In recent years, bedbugs have been on the rise almost everywhere in the world, due to the boom in travel and tourism. They feed on human blood, mainly at night, and their bite can cause a skin reaction (redness, swelling).
“If no large-scale statistical study exists, its resurgence is proven by the concordant testimonies of the various actors confronted with its effects, in particular the companies called to disinfect the premises”, adds the ministry. In 2020, a study unveiled by the Ministry of Health estimated the number of annual consultations with a general practitioner linked to these parasites at around 70,000.