Marseille (AFP)
The library of the Alcazar in Marseille was closed Thursday because of the presence of bed bugs "involuntarily brought by its visitors", announced the town hall.
After having noted the presence of bed bugs in the municipal library, the city decided to close "immediately the establishment" Thursday at 17:00 "as a preventive measure".
"These insects have contaminated some books, a place conducive to their development, following the exchanges with the public," the city adds. "The municipal services specialized in the eradication of these pests are already mobilized to intervene as quickly as possible on the whole site in order to carry out a complete diagnosis and to set up the appropriate operations of disinsectisation".
The library will be closed until at least October 11th. Its reopening will then be decided according to the results of the first investigations and the progress of the treatment. The town hall asks the Marseillais who borrowed books to return them as soon as possible so that they are treated.
Former auditorium since 2004 became a municipal library with a regional vocation, the Alcazar has nearly a million documents available for consultation, including 350,000 open access and precious funds such as medieval manuscripts.
Bed bugs are not vectors of disease and do not present a health hazard, even if their bites are uncomfortable.
Eleven public schools in Marseilles, infested with bed bugs, had to be treated in December 2018. A year earlier, two units of the Timone hospital had been evacuated for treatment.
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