EXCLUSIVE Rugby fan, 24, heading to Marseille for the World Cup ‘has been having nightmares’ about bedbugs and will avoid sitting on public transport – as visitors bring their own bedsheets

Rugby fans travelling to France this weekend for the World Cup quarter-finals are avoiding public transport at all costs and in some cases bringing their own bedsheets as the country reels from a nationwide panic over bed bugs.

Reports have emerged of infestations in Paris and Marseille, with households dumping mattresses plagued by the notoriously hard-to-kill mites in the street.

Over the next few days, thousands of Britons are expected to make their way to Marseille as Wales play against Argentina on Saturday, while England take on Fiji on Sunday.

Natalie Shenkosky, 24, who lives in London, told Mailonline: ‘I’m heading off to Marseille tomorrow for the rugby-filled weekend and the bed bug situation is definitely making me a bit wary.

‘It also feels like an infestation we shouldn’t be having this day and age? 

‘I’m not taking my own sheets, but will definitely not be sitting on any transportation seats and will be keeping a close eye out for bugs in our Airbnb.

‘I’ll be travelling to Marseille with friends and family – we secured the tickets about a year ago now and they just so happen to be for the England and Wales game.

Ms Shenkosky said: ‘It also feels like an infestation we shouldn’t be having this day and age?’

Video shows a backstreet in Marseille filled with home furnishings abandoned during the crisis

Bed bugs are seen in a sofa bed in L’Hay-les-Roses near Paris, France, last week

Comic opera star Melinda Hughes tweeted on her trip to Lyon: ‘I plan to put myself in the freezer for 72 hours when I get home’

‘We’ve so been looking forward to it, but bed bugs will not be ruining the weekend – although I can’t lie I have had a few nightmares after seeing the viral videos of the bugs on transportation – which we will actively avoid if we can.

‘I’ll definitely be rooting for England, however my boyfriend used to work for the Wales rugby team so that will also be fantastic to watch.’

Nicola Murray, 28, from Sligo, Ireland, arrived in Paris last Friday and told media she was relieved to be staying at an Airbnb as there was ‘less traffic’ than at a hotel, The Times reports. 

She said: ‘The Airbnb owner actually sent us a message to assure that everything is cleaned to a very high standard.

‘We’re going to avoid taking public transport where we can and rent bikes for the weekend. I got a mattress protector and I have my own bed sheets and I told one of the girls to bring Jungle [Formula] insect repellant spray, because that has deet in it that will deter the bedbugs.’

There are a few key indicators that could tell British holidaymakers whether or not they have their bed to themselves.

Nic Shacklock from Online-Bedrooms said: ‘With England and Welsh rugby fans heading across to France for the Rugby World Cup, we want to urge a word of caution when using public transport in the midst of the bed bug infestation.

‘Nothing would ruin your trip more than finding out you’ve brought home unwelcome guests by sitting on a seat which is harbouring the blood-sucking critters.

‘It’s estimated over a million fans are heading to the Rugby Village. If everyone is using public transport while Paris is gripped by a bed bug infestation, it’s more than likely an outbreak is heading to our shores.

‘It’s worth placing bin bags or thick plastic bags on seats while using the Metro as they don’t like to cling onto smooth plastic materials. While bedbugs are tiny to spot, they are visible to the eye, so make sure to look around for any moving black specs.

‘We also advise being cautious when you arrive at the hotel room. Check under your bed sheets and strip the entire room as the bugs can be hiding within the mattress and on the sofa.’

Anna Roberts, founder of Explorage.com, added: ‘If you’re due to travel to France this weekend for the Rugby World Cup Quarter-final, you might be worried about the current bed bug infestation that has plagued Paris.

‘No one wants to bring bed bugs back on their clothes or in their bags – Here are a few things you can do on your return to avoid transmission:

‘First place all fabrics into sealed plastic bags. Bed bugs hate plastic, there is no way for them to grip onto it to move around and, despite what you might think, bed bugs have no teeth and cannot bite through plastic.

‘So put everything material, including coats and backpacks into sealed plastic bags before bringing them into your home. Vacuum packing bags are ideal for this.’

Thousand of Irish fans made the trip to Paris last weekend for the match against Scotland on Saturday, with more set to arrive this week.

Experts say Internet searches for bedbugs in Ireland have peaked at an all-time high as the public looks for guidance to avoid the unwanted parasites.

Within France, the government is battling to contain a bout of nationwide panic, after several secondary schools were closed across the country due to the infestation. 

Footage shows residents walking past discarded mattresses in one of the streets in Lyon, France’s second largest city, with some of the items lying in the road and others propped up against buildings.

Locals are also chucking out their home furnishings because of the issue, with a placard reading ‘bedbugs’ pinned to the headboard of a bed to warn others not to take it.

The crisis has been something of sore spot for France as it hosts thousands of British and Irish rugby fans in Marseille and Paris for the Rugby World Cup this weekend.

Government officials were holding an emergency meeting on Friday on how to tackle a crisis borne out of anecdote and viral posts on social media, and which is now filling talk show airtime – even if pest-control experts remain largely nonplussed.

Rail travellers, cinemagoers and US influencers in Paris for Fashion Week were among those reporting seeing the bugs, or being bitten by them.

Leftist lawmaker Mathilde Panot took a vial she said contained bedbugs into parliament. 

She told French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne bedbugs were everywhere and she lambasted the government for inaction.

Video from Marseille appears to shows residents throwing mattresses from apartments into the street below in attempt to rid their homes of bedbugs 

A mattress is seen abandoned on a sidewalk in Marseille next to a line of bins

Sheets get an airing from balconies in Marseille as the southern French city deals with bed bugs

‘Madame prime minister, these little insects are spreading despair in our country. Do we need to wait for Matignon (PM’s office) to become infested before you act,’ Panot said.

Sniffer dogs are inspecting French trains and the Paris metro for bedbugs, though so far not a single one has been found on public transport, the country’s transport minister, Clement Beaune, said.

Beaune met last week with transportation companies to draw up a plan for monitoring and disinfecting – and to try to ease what some have called a national psychosis inflamed by the media.

‘There is no resurgence of cases,’ Beaune said, telling reporters that 37 cases reported in the bus and Metro system and a dozen others on trains proved unfounded – as did viral videos on social media of tiny creatures supposedly burrowing in the seat of a fast train.

Between 2017 and 2022, more than one in ten French households had been infested with bedbugs, the health authority says. 

The National Agency for Food, Environmental and Workplace Safety (ANSES) said the presence of bedbugs did not mean poor hygiene.