A MAJOR Brit holiday airport had to be fumigated after a bedbug infestation, with passengers and airline staff reporting itchy bites

The largest airport in Spain, Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport, has been hit with an apparent bedbug outbreak.

AFP

Bed bugs crawl around in a container on display during the 2nd National Bed Bug Summit in Washington, DC, February 2, 2011[/caption]

AP

The largest airport in Spain, Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport, has been hit with an apparent bedbug outbreak[/caption]

Getty

Two-day old lines of bedbug bites on a woman’s back[/caption]

Airport workers have reported having insect bites, leading to the airport’s managing body to hire pest control.

The company has had to fumigate hallways, furniture, and even check-in belts for bedbugs, ticks, and cockroaches.

But a Naturalia report into the alleged outbreak isn’t such a big deal, suggesting that the bites were “a one-off incident with no determined origin”.

The company said in a statement: “The presence of bed bugs is associated with the movement of people and not with the facilities.

“In the short to medium term, the situation should return to normal.”

The airport’s operator AENA has said that inspections, monitoring, and prevention treatments had been orchestrated.

It added that whenever an insect was identified in various limited and defined areas, specific actions were taken.

Experts say these critters are notable by being oval in shape, flat, brownish-red in colour and around the size of an apple pip.

They need regular blood intake to survive.

Also, humans are not their only target — they attack any warm-blooded animals, including birds.

Bites tend to be small, red and itchy but the critters are not always easy to spot.

Often they are only discovered when it is too late, which can mean having to fumigate property and replace furniture.

AENA also said it had worked “in coordination” with the cleaning company and the specialised firm to incorporate necessary hygienic measures and has kept the companies to wich these workers belong informed consistently.

Alongside the bedbugs, the airport is also having to deal with 421 people without permanent homes sleeping in the airport, NGO Caritas says.

El Mundo’s report said: “What began as a large group of homeless people spending the night, night after night, on Level 1 of Terminal 4 of Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport has finally become overwhelming.

“They can now be found on any floor, in any corner, despite the temperature reduction at nightfall or the constant messages over the PA system that resonate every few minutes.”

Many are residing in the airport as they struggle to live in a city where living and housing costs have rocketed in recent years.

The site’s Terminal 4 has become the place where most of those looking for shelter sleep.

This has led to departure halls becoming crowded as well as bathrooms often occupied by those living in the terminal.