Olympics-South Korea deploys sniffer dog to screen for bedbugs after Paris Games

By Daewoung Kim and Sebin Choi

INCHEON, South Korea (Reuters) - South Korea has deployed a bedbug sniffer dog at its main Incheon international airport in a bid to reduce the risk of the tiny insects entering the country when athletes, officials and fans return from the Paris Olympics.

Leading the campaign is a two-year-old beagle named Ceco, who pest control company Cesco said is the first and so far only canine trained in the country to detect the odour of pheromones, the chemicals released by bedbugs.

Ceco is capable of sweeping a standard hotel room in under two minutes, company official Kim Min-su said.

The pest control company has teamed up with South Korea's ministries of security and transportation, as well as the Disease Control and Prevention Agency, and is working with airlines and Incheon airport to screen travellers on arrival.

Last year, authorities in Paris raced to contain a nationwide panic over bedbugs as the city geared up for the Olympics, worried that the tiny wingless critters might ruin the event and conducted a campaign to root out any infestation.

"As the global community is gathering in Paris, France, on the occasion of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, there's a chance bedbugs will enter the country following the event," a government press release said.

"Therefore, we are taking a preemptive response to intercept the entry through the Incheon international airport, which is the main gateway to the country."

Ceco and his team were deployed on Friday as more athletes and officials started arriving from Paris and will continue to work through to Sept. 8, the government said.

South Korea sent 144 athletes competing to the Olympics in Paris, which ended on Sunday.

Flights arriving directly from Paris are being disinfected once a week compared to a rate of once a month normally, and the airport quarantine service is being prepared to swing into action if an outbreak is detected in an aircraft or the airport.

South Korea also went through a period of national hysteria in 2023 after reports of suspected infestations at micro-apartments, motel rooms and a traditional spa called a "jjimjilbang" and conducted a widespread disinfection campaign.

(Reporting by Daewoung Kim and Sebin Choi, Writing by Jack Kim; Editing by Ed Davies, Peter Rutherford)