Not All Caterpillars Grow Up to Be Beautiful Butterfly's

Did you know that there is a poisonous Caterpillar? We found out the hard way this weekend. In between games at a Softball Tourney all the kids were playing on the playground. All of a sudden Ty runs over crying and said he had been stung by something. He's been stung by a wasp before, so he knows what he is talking about. One of the Dad's had some tobacco and we immediately put it on there. It wasn't working, he was still in pain. We tried to look for a stinger, or mark of one, but could not find one. In the area where he had been stung his skin was raised, it looked like he had goosebumps. It was a rectangular shape about an inch long with curved ends. He was in major pain. So much that I was about to go to the ER. Ty is my kid who never cries at the Dr's office when he gets shots; he had to have 3 staples put in his head this Summer (with no anethesic) and didn't even flinch. We gave him a dose of Motrin and rubbed a lot of After Bite cream on him. He kept saying his armpit hurt too. The Motrin started to work in about 15 minutes and he started to calm down. Later in the day he had this mark on him.

A friend of ours at the game said it looked like an "asp" bite. When I got home I Googled "picture of asp bite" and a lot of bug bite links came up. I started reading and found a picture that looked like Ty's bite here:

http://www.afpmb.org/pubs/Field_Guide/Images/originals/Fig.%20133.jpg

Ty was stung by a puss caterpillar (Megalopyge opercularis). The puss caterpillar is the larva of the flannel moth, and is one of 50-plus stinging caterpillars found in the U.S. Because the puss caterpillar larvae belong to the so-called "flannel moths", several species of which also produce similar stinging caterpillars, the puss caterpillar has often been incorrectly termed an "asp". The larva of the crinkled flannel moth (Lagoa crispata) is similar in appearance and in the clinical presentment of its sting. The larval stage of this insect is a small, woolly, pussycat-appearing caterpillar covered with rows of long, venomous spines embedded in a coat of soft, cuddly hairs. Here's a picture:

http://hortipm.tamu.edu/pestprofiles/chewing/asp/puss1.html

Because these caterpillars appear as innocuous pieces of fluff, children and adults may pick them up and play with them. Spines, hidden among the soft hairs, pierce the skin and release a toxin. The toxin usually but, not always, produces an immediate onset of excruciating, unrelenting pain, radiating to the lymph nodes in the armpit or groin, and then to the chest. Though rarely a true medical emergency, these symptoms have the feel of a serious, life-threatening event. It is common for victims to visit emergency rooms for appropriate medical interventions. Within minutes or hours of the sting event, a halo of reddened skin, caused by capillary congestion, forms. The reddened tissue is locally sensitive, painful, and warm or hot to the touch. The skin remains reddened but otherwise unmarked for minutes or hours. As the local redness subsides, a pattern of darker, raised, nodular lesions forms, usually within 24 hours after the sting. These darker lesions are arranged in a characteristic pattern. The sting pattern varies based on which portion of the caterpillar touches the body. The puss caterpillar's underside is shown below.

http://www.bugsinthenews.com/Puss%20Caterpillar%20pg%204.htm

This is what touches the skin as the caterpillar crawls along. If the underside is pressed against the body, the sting pattern will follow this shape; if one side of the caterpillar is involved, the sting pattern is usually that of a crosshatched triangle. If the upper surface is pressed against the skin, the sting pattern is that of a crosshatched oval. The sting pattern usually begins to show within 24 hours, but the full pattern may not be expressed for hours or days after the sting occurs.

To treat a puss caterpillar sting you should do the following, according to several websites:

1. Apply tape over the area stung and pull gently. The tape will remove the poisonous spines from your skin.

2. Take Ibuprofen

3. Apply a bug bite cream

If your pain does not subside within 15-30 minutes, I would seek medical attention.