Mid-summer is the peak season for rove beetles, a very small insect that can penetrate the holes of a screen window and cause a very painful chemical burn mark about the size of a person’s palm when it is crushed on the skin, doctors warned.
According to Wu Nan-lin (吳南霖), a dermatologist at Hsinchu’s Mackay Memorial Hospital, the number of patients being treated for wounds caused by rove beetles has increased by more than 50 percent in the past two months.
He warned the public not to crush the insects if they are found inside the home, to avoid skin contact with its irritant, pederin.
Photo: Tsai Chang-sheng, Taipei Times
He said he recently treated a resident of Hsinchu surnamed Chen (陳) who is in the habit of keeping the lights in his bathroom on when he sleeps at night.
An insect apparently flew into his armpit and was crushed one night last week. Chen said his armpit began to hurt the next day and medicine did not make it feel any better as the wound became red and swollen and the skin started flaking. The pain felt as if the skin were being cut by a knife and sprinkled with salt, he said.
“That’s a typical rove beetle wound,” Wu told him when he sought medical advice.
The insect is very small, making it hard to take precautions against, Wu said, adding that people should go to the doctor immediately if their skin is exposed to the pederin, and avoid applying medicine on their own because it sometimes causes infections or leaves scars, rather than healing the wound.
Wu said rove beetles are categorized in the Coleoptera order of insects, with a body length of about 1cm and width about 2mm, and shaped like a termite, but colored orange-yellow. They usually inhabit rice paddies, grassland and forests, appear between April and October, and are attracted to light when it is dark, so they will fly into lit homes.
Serious skin inflammation results from contact with pederin, usually the result of crushing the insect or touching a dead insect that has been crushed, causing blisters, burning and severe pain.
Wu suggests that people not leave their lights on when sleeping and keep their windows closed at night because screen windows cannot keep the insect out.
People should blow or use objects to remove the insect and refrain from crushing it, and wash their clothes thoroughly and separately if stained with the pederin, he added.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS