Invasion of bedbugs on board forced to take off flights in the European capital

Qantas was forced to leave its plane in Rome after bedbugs were found on board a plane heading from Perth, The Guardian reports.

The parasitic insects were found in the front of the cabin of the economy-class Boeing 787 Dreamliner while it was on a QF5 flight from Perth to Rome on October 9, a source with knowledge of the incident confirmed on Tuesday.

Bedbugs are small insects that feed on the blood of some mammals, including humans. It can be difficult to get rid of this scourge.

As first reported by SMH, after arriving in the Italian capital, the plane had to be decommissioned for cleaning, leading to the cancellation of the Qantas Rome-Perth flight on October 10.

A Qantas spokesman said the flight was cancelled to allow engineers and maintenance crews to carry out a deep cleaning of the aircraft after "identifying a problem with a small number of economy class seats.".

Qantas said the airline wanted to “sincerely apologize” to customers for the disruption.

The affected passengers were provided accommodation and rebooked for alternative flights within 48 hours of their initial departure, Qantas said.

The airline said its plane cabins are regularly cleaned at the highest level and treated with disinfectants every 50 days as a standard precaution.

Professor Michelle Power, a parasitologist at Macquarie University, said the bugs were “likely” brought into the plane in someone’s luggage or on a passenger’s clothes and then infiltrated the cabin.

“They are related to travel. People can go to an infected hotel, and because they like dark rooms and are attracted to the smell of human clothes, they get into someone’s luggage.

“These are flightless insects that don’t have airplanes,” she said.

Michelle Power said bedbugs are not dangerous, although their bites can cause itching and irritation, but they are very difficult to get rid of and can hide in sheets and crevices for a long time without needing food.

She said bedbugs have "two sides": on the one hand, wealthier people who have traveled a lot, started them and subsequently transported them, while people who are already experiencing health problems may not be able to afford pesticides or potentially heat water to the 55°C temperature needed to kill bedbugs.