Bedbug infestation sparks unusual scene in the City of Lights

Source: Fox News

A video has surfaced showing multiple mattresses piled up and littering a street in Paris, France, amid a current bedbug infestation.

Aarya Bondge, an 18-year-old fashion student, was walking home from class when she noticed a collection of mattresses on the street.

Bondge told SWNS that some looked to be new and some looked to be old — noting that many had plastic coverings surrounding them.

The 9th district street she was walking on is called Rue Saint Lazare and is home to many different hotels.

The student captured the sight of mattresses on the street — and noted that hotels might have been throwing out the beds due to the recent bedbug infestation taking over the city.

"I don’t know if it was bedbugs … They might have been throwing out their mattresses because of that," she said.

Bondge told SWNS that Paris is still dealing with the issue — and Parisians are not taking it lightly.

"Line 6 of the metro is still terrible," she said, noting that many people are refusing to sit on the seats due to bedbugs.

"I would still rather stand for an hour than touch the seats," she said.

The bedbug outbreak began recently in Paris — and many are concerned about what the bugs could be spreading.

The bedbug problem is so severe that it is being treated as a public health crisis, as Fox News Digital reported this week. The government created a global action plan extending until 2024 to fight against the massive spread of bedbugs in France's housing.

However, the insect problem has spread beyond people's homes and has been highlighted by social media users in gyms and movie theaters.

In May, it was reported that a hospital had a bedbug infestation.

A recent study published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases said bedbugs may be able to acquire and transmit methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

It's a type of bacteria found on people’s skin that can cause serious infections — also known as a staph infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Although this particular study used artificial feeders and not real people, the germ can still cause serious infections.

Dr. Bruce Hirsch, an attending physician in infectious diseases at Northwell Health in Manhasset, New York, told Fox News Digital recently that the presence of MRSA is still very possible.

"There have been previous associations of exposure to bedbug to MRSA outbreaks, though very unusual," he said.

He added that Staph tends to be the most common on the front of the nose, on the skin and around the environment of bedsheets, clothes and more.