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A caterpillar is believed to have caused a school trip for some children to end up in hospital. Three students had to be transported by helicopter.
Basel – A school trip ended prematurely in hospital for 13 Swiss children. The suspected reason: a caterpillar that causes allergic reactions. The students may have come into contact with this in the forest. The oak processionary moth is also found in many places in Germany and can endanger human health.
Because of oak processionary moth: 13 students from Switzerland hospitalized
The police of the canton of Basel-Landschaft reported in a Report about the incident. According to the report, the incident occurred on Tuesday (May 28) at around 1:15 p.m. in Rüneberg, Switzerland. During the class’s school trip, with children aged between nine and eleven, a total of 13 children came into contact with the unknown substance, after which they showed skin and eye irritations, as well as breathing difficulties.
Three of the children had to be taken to hospital by rescue helicopter to further investigate the symptoms, and the remaining ten students were also taken to hospital for checks after receiving local first aid. The exact cause is still unclear, but the oak processionary moth is believed to be the cause. This is what the symptoms and the examinations suggest.
Student in hospital because of caterpillar: “He suddenly couldn’t see anymore”
The Swiss newspaper Blick.ch spoke to a mother of the affected children. Noah A. (9) was one of the students admitted to hospital. His mother Amaral says that she was surprised that her son had not come home, so she called the teacher: “She told me on the phone that Noah was in the hospital. I was scared and almost fainted,” she explains.
Noah was among the ten children who were taken to hospital for check-ups. Nevertheless, the boy had symptoms: “He suddenly couldn’t see anything anymore, he was itching badly. His eyes were so inflamed that he couldn’t stop crying,” his mother describes the incident.
More oak processionary moths due to heat and dryness: In case of allergic reactions, see a doctor
The oak processionary moth is not uncommon in Germany either. Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture The warm and dry weather in recent years has allowed the animal to spread significantly in this country. The main problem is caused by the larvae, which form stinging hairs between May and June. These stinging hairs become more numerous as the larval stages progress, and the stinging poison thaumetopoein they contain is dangerous to human health.
If a person comes into contact with the stinging hairs, they can easily penetrate the skin and mucous membranes and cause skin irritation, eye irritation, breathing difficulties and allergic reactions. If allergic reactions such as skin rashes or shortness of breath occur, a doctor should be consulted urgently. Dangerous animals are spreading again and again in Germany. For example, the Nosferatu spider, whose bite can pierce human skin penetrates, or the Asian hornet.
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