A tourist came into contact with a small beetle in Bali. She only realized a few days later that the animal could be poisonous.
Your Bali vacation was almost ruined by a little bug. Australian resident Stephanie Moody was spending a few days in the sun with her family when she suddenly noticed a rash on her shoulder. At first, the nurse thought the red spot was sunburn. It turned out to be something much worse.
Moody, her husband and their young son were staying in a hotel in the middle of the Ubud jungle, the woman told Australian broadcaster abc.news.au. The city, best known for its lush landscape, is also teeming with small poisonous insects. The family also made several trips. “We were in the monkey forest and the rice fields and all the things you do in Ubud.”
Beetle causes vomiting and fever
After a few days, small blisters appeared on the red spot. Moody was already packing to head back to Mudgee, a rural town about 170 miles northwest of Sydney. “It felt really gross and painful,” recalls the native Canadian.
Stephanie Moody from Australia was on vacation in Bali with her family when she suddenly noticed a rash on her shoulder. Facebook screenshot
“Fortunately, there was a medical center in the hotel where they were staying,” says Moody. There, the attending nurse immediately said, “I think you need antibiotics. Should I call a doctor?” Moody was still relaxed at this point. “I’ll wait because I’m flying back to Australia tonight,” she said.
For the next hour, the tourist was “very nauseous”. His shoulder injury “turned yellow and turned into a balloon-shaped blister, a big yellow blister. Eventually I started vomiting and had symptoms of a fever.”
Known cases from Italy
Hotel staff called a doctor, who told Moody that she had come into contact with a venomous insect called Paederus. She was immediately given antibiotics and creams to treat the blisters.
Moody thanks you. Had she not been treated immediately, she would have been in excruciating pain during the six-hour flight to Australia. The hotel nurse told the Canadian that it was a big advantage not to treat the blisters herself. People who touch the area spread the toxin to other parts of the body.
The Paederus beetle is distributed worldwide and is also known as the “biblical plague beetle”. Of the approximately 30 different species, ten are also native to Central Europe. It has been proven in Austria in the past, for example at Lake Neusiedl. In humans, they cause skin lesions or dermatitis. A few hours after contact, the skin turns red, associated with itching, swelling and flaking. This can last a long time, up to several weeks. Later, a scar or yellowish pigment spot often forms in the same location. Cases of pedicero dermatitis are known in Asia, Africa, South America and Australia, and cases have also been reported in Italy.
Rfi navigation account, time 20 minutes 02/19/2023, 19:55| Act: 02/19/2023, 20:27