UK Telegraph headline "Bedbugs carried into Spanish hotels by Christian pilgrims" - reference to Camino Portugues

[HumanistHiker]

After the BBC website reporting on the great Parisian bedbug panic over the last few weeks, bedbugs on the Camino Portugues have now caught UK journalists' attention.

Article on the Telegraph website - not sure if you'll all be able to view as the Telegraph paywall can be finicky https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-n...-spain-hostel-camino-de-santiago-caldas-reis/

" Insects spread by those completing St James Way pilgrimage in northern Spain after initial outbreak in Paris
By James Badcock in Madrid 19 October 2023 • 3:06pm

Bedbugs have been spread by Christians undertaking the St James Way pilgrimage in Spain, forcing hostel owners to close or bring in exterminators.

Half a dozen hostels have been forced to temporarily close for fumigation in Caldas de Reis, en route to the cathedral city of Santiago de Compostela.

“Fumigation helps but this year we have seen an enormous number of pilgrims and what this means is that they transport the bugs from one place to another,” said Jesús Fariña, manager of the Doña Urraca hostel in the town.

A group of 43 pilgrims first sounded the alarm in August when they were forced to cancel their stay at a hostel in Ribadiso because of the volume of bedbugs they discovered.

The group was put up by the council in nearby Arzúa so participants could complete the final day of walking westward to Santiago.

A warm and long summer has been blamed for the outbreak, which has led many establishments to introduce new rules to prevent the insects spreading through travellers’ clothes and baggage.

“We don’t allow guests to take their rucksacks or boots into their rooms,” Mr Fariña told the newspaper El Periódico de España.

One hostel in Caldas de Reis is reported to have shut for a six-month refurbishment after fumigation failed to dislodge the bugs, typically hiding in cracks in the furniture or behind wooden fittings.

“The problem with bedbugs is that if they get into the wood, you have to take everything apart to get rid of the pests,” said Celestino Lores, from the Virxe Peregrina hostel in Pontevedra.

“We had to remove the skirting boards and window trim to eradicate them.”

Both Spain and France have received about 70 per cent more reports of infestations this year, compared with 2022.

Madrid council has said it is receiving a new report every day, but is confident the levels will not reach those of Paris because the city’s “subway seats are not made of cloth”, which provide a hopping-off and on point for bedbugs between homes."

 

[JCLima]

Christians are the only ones spreading bedbugs in the Camino?
I didn't know bedbugs discriminated

 

[Corned Beef]

Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em,
And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum.
And the great fleas themselves, in turn, have greater fleas to go on;
While these again have greater still, and greater still, and so on.

Augustus De Morgan (1806-1871)

 

[Tincatinker]

Blimey, that must be the most nearly accurate headline the Torygraph has carried in years…

 

[vkimble]

After the BBC website reporting on the great Parisian bedbug panic over the last few weeks, bedbugs on the Camino Portugues have now caught UK journalists' attention.

Article on the Telegraph website - not sure if you'll all be able to view as the Telegraph paywall can be finicky https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-n...-spain-hostel-camino-de-santiago-caldas-reis/

" Insects spread by those completing St James Way pilgrimage in northern Spain after initial outbreak in Paris
By James Badcock in Madrid 19 October 2023 • 3:06pm

Bedbugs have been spread by Christians undertaking the St James Way pilgrimage in Spain, forcing hostel owners to close or bring in exterminators.

Half a dozen hostels have been forced to temporarily close for fumigation in Caldas de Reis, en route to the cathedral city of Santiago de Compostela.

“Fumigation helps but this year we have seen an enormous number of pilgrims and what this means is that they transport the bugs from one place to another,” said Jesús Fariña, manager of the Doña Urraca hostel in the town.

A group of 43 pilgrims first sounded the alarm in August when they were forced to cancel their stay at a hostel in Ribadiso because of the volume of bedbugs they discovered.

The group was put up by the council in nearby Arzúa so participants could complete the final day of walking westward to Santiago.

A warm and long summer has been blamed for the outbreak, which has led many establishments to introduce new rules to prevent the insects spreading through travellers’ clothes and baggage.

“We don’t allow guests to take their rucksacks or boots into their rooms,” Mr Fariña told the newspaper El Periódico de España.

One hostel in Caldas de Reis is reported to have shut for a six-month refurbishment after fumigation failed to dislodge the bugs, typically hiding in cracks in the furniture or behind wooden fittings.

“The problem with bedbugs is that if they get into the wood, you have to take everything apart to get rid of the pests,” said Celestino Lores, from the Virxe Peregrina hostel in Pontevedra.

“We had to remove the skirting boards and window trim to eradicate them.”

Both Spain and France have received about 70 per cent more reports of infestations this year, compared with 2022.

Madrid council has said it is receiving a new report every day, but is confident the levels will not reach those of Paris because the city’s “subway seats are not made of cloth”, which provide a hopping-off and on point for bedbugs between homes."

The media had to qualify bedbugs with Christian pilgrims (as if they know the faith of the travelers...). Could they just have said 'pilgrims'? The bias against people of faith is disturbing.

 

[Tincatinker]

Ah, c’mon, we’re talking the Telegraph here. It’s editorial policy has been biased against everybody who wasn’t a personal friend of the proprietors since Victoria fell off her perch - and the Rothermeres took that personally at the time.

Me, I’m happy to see that the prevalence of bedbugs in gay Paris, liberal Lisbon, sanctified Santiago and every other spot where their hosts accumulate is finally getting some mainstream publicity. It really is time to stop blaming hospitalero/a, family run Hostales and the like and accept that the source of the scourge is “us”: every bedbugs favourite lunch (breakfast and supper) and us that are the vector not some lazy hospitality provider who couldn’t be bothered to get out the bug spray

 

[trecile]

The media had to qualify bedbugs with Christian pilgrims (as if they know the faith of the travelers...). Could they just have said 'pilgrims'? The bias against people of faith is disturbing.

I hardly see this as bias. More like bad reporting and headline writing from people who didn't do any background research about the demographics of those who walk Caminos.

 

[MickMac]

Christians are the only ones spreading bedbugs in the Camino?
I didn't know bedbugs discriminated

I am afraid that newspaper and the truth are distant relatives that never meet.

 

[henrythedog]

Once upon a time the Daily Telegraph was an authoritative source of reassuring ‘right of centre’ news which allowed one to believe that all was right with the world, and all that was wrong emanated from the wrong side of the channel.

Alas, no longer.

 

[dougfitz]

I hardly see this as bias. More like bad reporting and headline writing from people who didn't do any background research about the demographics of those who walk Caminos.

This might have been a good explanation if the reference to Christians had been in the headline, not the body of the report. The headline, presumably provided by a sub-editor, was neutral. The article wasn't. If they could do that, they could have replaced 'christian' with 'pilgrim' in the article, but didn't. Of course, that might just be carelessness. But carelessness or bias, it is still sloppy reporting on that count.

 

[Vacajoe]

The article had two main points which had little to do with the Camino: first, that these bedbugs are a continuation of the pests afflicting Europe (but not the UK) and second, that they afflict only those Christians of the European persuasion headed to the shrine of Saint James (otherwise known as “Catholics” and not clean and kind UK CofE folks). Love the Brits but there is definitely a bias against the rest of Europe.

 

[bernadettep]

After the BBC website reporting on the great Parisian bedbug panic over the last few weeks, bedbugs on the Camino Portugues have now caught UK journalists' attention.

Article on the Telegraph website - not sure if you'll all be able to view as the Telegraph paywall can be finicky https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-n...-spain-hostel-camino-de-santiago-caldas-reis/

" Insects spread by those completing St James Way pilgrimage in northern Spain after initial outbreak in Paris
By James Badcock in Madrid 19 October 2023 • 3:06pm

Bedbugs have been spread by Christians undertaking the St James Way pilgrimage in Spain, forcing hostel owners to close or bring in exterminators.

Half a dozen hostels have been forced to temporarily close for fumigation in Caldas de Reis, en route to the cathedral city of Santiago de Compostela.

“Fumigation helps but this year we have seen an enormous number of pilgrims and what this means is that they transport the bugs from one place to another,” said Jesús Fariña, manager of the Doña Urraca hostel in the town.

A group of 43 pilgrims first sounded the alarm in August when they were forced to cancel their stay at a hostel in Ribadiso because of the volume of bedbugs they discovered.

The group was put up by the council in nearby Arzúa so participants could complete the final day of walking westward to Santiago.

A warm and long summer has been blamed for the outbreak, which has led many establishments to introduce new rules to prevent the insects spreading through travellers’ clothes and baggage.

“We don’t allow guests to take their rucksacks or boots into their rooms,” Mr Fariña told the newspaper El Periódico de España.

One hostel in Caldas de Reis is reported to have shut for a six-month refurbishment after fumigation failed to dislodge the bugs, typically hiding in cracks in the furniture or behind wooden fittings.

“The problem with bedbugs is that if they get into the wood, you have to take everything apart to get rid of the pests,” said Celestino Lores, from the Virxe Peregrina hostel in Pontevedra.

“We had to remove the skirting boards and window trim to eradicate them.”

Both Spain and France have received about 70 per cent more reports of infestations this year, compared with 2022.

Madrid council has said it is receiving a new report every day, but is confident the levels will not reach those of Paris because the city’s “subway seats are not made of cloth”, which provide a hopping-off and on point for bedbugs between homes."

I got bedbugs in Sept while in Estella
I informed the person incharge. She assured me she had a cert of hygiene and it couldn't be her fault! I had to get a cortisone injection and meds. Still have marks on my body after the episode. It's all part of the Camino. Bedbugs are real.

 

[Marcus-UK]

Me, I’m happy to see that the prevalence of bedbugs in gay Paris, liberal Lisbon, sanctified Santiago and every other spot where their hosts accumulate is finally getting some mainstream publicity. It really is time to stop blaming hospitalero/a, family run Hostales and the like and accept that the source of the scourge is “us”: every bedbugs favourite lunch (breakfast and supper) and us that are the vector not some lazy hospitality provider who couldn’t be bothered to get out the bug spray

In 2008 I was working in Beijing for NBC at the Summer Olympics. My colleagues in New York where being put up in high quality 4/5 Star hotels for the three months of the project. All of the hotels became infested with bed bugs.
At the time there seemed to be a major infestation in North America and all of the pest control agencies seemed to have lost the battle against the critters. Of course all the business travelers were then taking the infestation back to their homes and the contagion spread. I think that the US pesticides companies produced more Permethrin that year rivaling the amount of agent orange and DDT used in previous generations.
My colleagues abandoned their clothes and Luggage in New York rather than take the scourge home with them.
The old peasant solution for Bedbugs in Spain used to be painting their housewalls in a caustic limewash solution. Utilising iron bedsteads, not wood with the occasional bonfire of mattresses and blankets ifan infection occurred.

 

[MickMac]

This might have been a good explanation if the reference to Christians had been in the headline, not the body of the report. The headline, presumably provided by a sub-editor, was neutral. The article wasn't. If they could do that, they could have replaced 'christian' with 'pilgrim' in the article, but didn't. Of course, that might just be carelessness. But carelessness or bias, it is still sloppy reporting on that count.

A vacuous article in keeping with the journal.

 

[Stephan the Painter]

Whatever the article said about Christians (which was just stupid), the point is that there are more bed bugs than there were 30 years ago when a resurgence started.

From Vox:

"Why bed bugs are surging now​

There are some obvious reasons. More people live in cities now, and bedbugs love densely packed warm bodies. We’re also traveling more than ever before, giving bedbugs an opportunity to spread (see: horror stories of bedbugs in Airbnbs).


But the main reason why it’s boom time for bedbugs, according to the review, is that they’ve evolved resistance to many pesticides, our main line of defense. Indeed, these critters are now resistant to “most of the major classes of insecticides,” the review states, including pyrethroids, which is still one of the most commonly used insecticides. They’ve also developed resistance to DDT, which attacks insects in a similar way to pyrethroids."

Permethrin is a pyrethroid. So it makes you wonder if it's effective as I've been told to treat your clothing and backpack to prevent spread.

It’s not just Paris. There’s a “global resurgence” of bedbugs.

It’s a bedbug’s world now. We’re just sleeping in it.

www.vox.com

 

[MickMac]

The article had two main points which had little to do with the Camino: first, that these bedbugs are a continuation of the pests afflicting Europe (but not the UK) and second, that they afflict only those Christians of the European persuasion headed to the shrine of Saint James (otherwise known as “Catholics” and not clean and kind UK CofE folks). Love the Brits but there is definitely a bias against the rest of Europe.

Not the UK ?? that is incorrect! I worked for several years with an international hotel group as Facilities Manager in London England.

We had several Major outbreaks of bed bug Cimex Lectularis one needing the complete closure of over 20 guest rooms, it was a common occurrence normally noticed when a guest reported bites.

Central London used to be a transport hub for Europe, that has changed significantly to Paris and Amsterdam hence may be part of causation of the outbreaks in Europe as well as climate changes to a more sub tropical weather patterns.

It can be controlled, never eliminated, but like the mosquito they are omni present in today's modern world of travel.

We had a drastic solution which meant stripping room of all fixtures and fittings including saddle boards and headboards and burning in a controlled environment then fumigation.

 

[trecile]

Permethrin is a pyrethroid. So it makes you wonder if it's effective as I've been told to treat your clothing and backpack to prevent spread.

Possibly not, but it's the only tool I have other than inspecting the bed, so I'll continue to spray inside my backpack, my sleeping gear, and all my cloth stuff sacks on the theory that prolonged contact with those treated surfaces will eventually kill them and I won't be transporting bugs from place to place.

 

[dougfitz]

Not the UK ?? that is incorrect! I worked for several years with an international hotel group as Facilities Manager in London England.

I took @Vacajoe's comments to be a tongue-in-cheek commentary on the focus of the article in the Telegraph.

 

[dougfitz]

So it makes you wonder if it's effective as I've been told to treat your clothing and backpack to prevent spread.

I think over the years that the advice on this forum has pointed out the limitations of the various bed-bug treatments. How optimistic other sources might be about pyrethroids I cannot say, but you are right to be cautious. Nonetheless, of the treatments readily available for pilgrims, permethrin seems to me to be the most effective treatment available for our sleeping gear, packs, etc. Pyrethrin, a plant extract, might be the best alternative if you are prepared to carry enough so that you can re-apply it regularly.

 

[David Tallan]

Whatever the article said about Christians (which was just stupid), the point is that there are more bed bugs than there were 30 years ago when a resurgence started.

From Vox:

"Why bed bugs are surging now​

There are some obvious reasons. More people live in cities now, and bedbugs love densely packed warm bodies. We’re also traveling more than ever before, giving bedbugs an opportunity to spread (see: horror stories of bedbugs in Airbnbs).


But the main reason why it’s boom time for bedbugs, according to the review, is that they’ve evolved resistance to many pesticides, our main line of defense. Indeed, these critters are now resistant to “most of the major classes of insecticides,” the review states, including pyrethroids, which is still one of the most commonly used insecticides. They’ve also developed resistance to DDT, which attacks insects in a similar way to pyrethroids."

Permethrin is a pyrethroid. So it makes you wonder if it's effective as I've been told to treat your clothing and backpack to prevent spread.

It’s not just Paris. There’s a “global resurgence” of bedbugs.

It’s a bedbug’s world now. We’re just sleeping in it.

www.vox.com

Fortunately, I don't think they've developed a resistance to a good length of time in a dryer with high heat.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

I was a newspaper journalist for 22 years.
This kind of headline is what happens when newspaper bosses cut back on skilled copywriting staff.
Headlines in the Telegraph are (IMHO) written by the housekeepers.

 

[MickMac]

I was a newspaper journalist for 22 years.
This kind of headline is what happens when newspaper bosses cut back on skilled copywriting staff.
Headlines in the Telegraph are (IMHO) written by the housekeepers.

I think that journal would take that as a compliment.

 

[Vacajoe]

I took @Vacajoe's comments to be a tongue-in-cheek commentary on the focus of the article in the Telegraph.

You are correct!

 

[TravellingMan22]

The ‘copy’ on the Telegraph feed on Twitter/X that ‘drives people to this article is…..

….’Bedbugs have been spread by Christians undertaking the St James Way pilgrimage in Spain, forcing hostel owners to close or bring in exterminators’

They have 3.3M followers and the article has low on engagement though viewed 20.1K times!

There is only 1 comment of note….

….Gosh. I am not a BIG fan of Christians myself, but calling in the exterminators is a bit extreme, sureky??

 

[Sue127]

Christians are the only ones spreading bedbugs in the Camino?
I didn't know bedbugs discriminated

My immediate thought, too.

 

[David61]

Ah, c’mon, we’re talking the Telegraph here. It’s editorial policy has been biased against everybody who wasn’t a personal friend of the proprietors since Victoria fell off her perch - and the Rothermeres took that personally at the time.

Me, I’m happy to see that the prevalence of bedbugs in gay Paris, liberal Lisbon, sanctified Santiago and every other spot where their hosts accumulate is finally getting some mainstream publicity. It really is time to stop blaming hospitalero/a, family run Hostales and the like and accept that the source of the scourge is “us”: every bedbugs favourite lunch (breakfast and supper) and us that are the vector not some lazy hospitality provider who couldn’t be bothered to get out the bug spray

Well said. I saw a documentary on the Black death a couple of years ago and it raised the question of how it spread. There were of course the mad explanations of "vapors" etc but "the science" determined it was the fleas carried by rats. This documentary questioned the validity of that as rats do not typically travel miles and miles to other towns and villages. The answer of course was the vector in that case ( and most others) was people.

 

[peterhore]

From today's Daily Telegraph:

 

[peterhore]

It's not just the BBC or Daily Telegraph, there's something of a scare campaign running all across the media. All I can say is that i have been lucky - so far - and in more than ten years of walking the camino inc time as an hospitalero (where we used to steam clean, hot wash, etc on the slightest suspicion of bedbugs), I have never even seen a bug. And I've only met two pilgrims who have been 'infected', one had a severe allergic reaction to something that had bitten her, and the other turned out to have - poor thing - shingles.
And despite the import of today's DT article, where the hotel was held responsible for the infestation, I agree with others (above) that it is humans who are the vector.

 

[trecile]

I have noticed more bed bugs and bed bug reports later in the season as the bugs have had more and more pilgrims transporting them across the Caminos than in the Spring.

 

[astronwolf]

Maybe the journalists are onto something here. I'm a Christian and I often experience the urge to stop and scratch, kind of like a cat but I haven't yet been able to scratch my ears with my feet. Could Christians indeed be a vector for bedbugs?

 

[trecile]

Could Christians indeed be a vector for bedbugs?

Yes, along with the rest of the human race.

 

[peterhore]

And here's a story (today 24 October) about Russian fake-news bedbugs in France.
I read that, after the bites of bedbugs themselves, the second most common symptom is the paranoia and neurosis that the fear of bedbugs causes amongst hospitaleros, caminantes and periodistas. No mention of Christians in the story, though.

 

[Corned Beef]

Talking about paranoia. Stories about the Russians generating bed bug stories are becoming as common as bed bugs in France.

Panic! Russia sends France into a tailspin over bedbugs

Kremlin misinformation blamed for fear of a bedbug invasion in Paris.

www.politico.eu

 

[Bristle Boy]

Blimey, that must be the most nearly accurate headline the Torygraph has carried in years…

Accuracy and truth have often been the losers to hyperbole and sensationalism. Selling newspapers, advertising and providing the conduit of the views of owners and editors alike are the objective.
The Sun and Times take some beating.
I know this is true....I read it on the Internet.

 

[dick bird]

Please do not let this thread drift into comment on the quality, or lack of it, of the UK’s print media, or the P word. You know what I mean and I am keeping a close eye on certain persons.

 

[TravellingMan22]

Please do not let this thread drift into comment on the quality, or lack of it, of the UK’s print media, or the P word. You know what I mean and I am keeping a close eye on certain persons.

Agreed. Tho not sure what the P word means. I must be being slow!!!! I consume a lot of media worldwide and for UK media read every other media in the vast majority of the world. All sides of the political landscape and both tabloid and broadsheet. Was probably always that way sadly, but social media not offers an ‘opportunity’ to flush it out!! Point bring none seem much better or worse than others… we just view it on our personal beliefs!! The metrics have changed from circulation to clicks and engagement!

 

[dick bird]

Agreed. Tho sure what the P word means. I must be being slow!!!! I consume a lot of media worldwide and for UK media read every other media in the vast majority of the world. All sides of the political landscape and both tabloid and broadsheet. Was probably always that way sadly, but social media not offers an ‘opportunity’ to flush it out!! Point bring none seem much better or worse than others… we just view it on our personal beliefs!! The metrics have changed from circulation to clicks and engagement!

Rule 2, politics. Hard to discuss the media without getting political. As for the bedbug issue, the problem does seem to be getting worse. Of course it is the patrons of hotels etc who bring them in, and with a high turnover of patrons who bring their own bedding, albergues are especially vulnerable. Don’t just check the bed, look around as they live in the architecture.

 

[JabbaPapa]

This might have been a good explanation if the reference to Christians had been in the headline, not the body of the report. The headline, presumably provided by a sub-editor, was neutral. The article wasn't. If they could do that, they could have replaced 'christian' with 'pilgrim' in the article, but didn't.

Other news outlets are saying that these bed bugs are "French", which is of course another pet prejudice of the English supposed "Middle Class" ...

Scars that I still have from insects are from flying ants near Lleida in 2021. They don't just bite you, they use acid ...

 

[TravellingMan22]

Rule 2, politics. Hard to discuss the media without getting political. As for the bedbug issue, the problem does seem to be getting worse. Of course it is the patrons of hotels etc who bring them in, and with a high turnover of patrons who bring their own bedding, albergues are especially vulnerable. Don’t just check the bed, look around as they live in the architecture.

Ah sorry! I was being very slow!!!

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Scars that I still have from insects are from flying ants near Lleida in 2021. They don't just bite you, they use acid ...

I have had multiple welts from chiggers after foraging for raspberries a few times. They take weeks to calm down and nearly a year for the scars to go away. Thankfully they are always beneath my clothing.