Gypsy moths have found yet another way to annoy people
Tammy Morey woke up one morning last spring to find itchy welts lined up on her arm. Soon, they appeared on the back of her neck and legs, spawning an itch so fierce she couldn’t sleep.
A few weeks ago, the bumps appeared again on her arm, and after a walk by the cranberry bog near her home in Carver, Morey found herself in an agony of itching.
“It’s like the itchiest thing,” she said. “Worse than poison ivy. Worse than mosquito bites. . . . I can go into a fit of scratching like a madwoman.”
Any number of irritants can cause a rash like that, but Morey’s doctor thought the likely culprit was gypsy moth caterpillars, newly abundant in the region. These bugs don’t bite, but their tiny hairs can trigger an allergic reaction, providing yet another reason to hate the invasive critters, which are just starting to munch on tree leaves and pepper backyard decks with droppings.
