People in Beijing and Tianjin have been "infected"! Don't swat this insect if you find it

"Is this a rove beetle? I've never seen one at home before!" "I'm in Haidian, and I found a rove beetle on the wall of my toilet!"... Recently, many Beijing citizens have reported finding rove beetles and even being injured by them. In this regard, professionals remind us to be extra vigilant against the "black and red" poisonous rove beetles and never take photos of them when we see them.

"When I was washing my face at night, I suddenly found a black and red insect on the face towel. It looked like the rove beetle I had seen in the south before." A few days ago, Ms. Yang, who lives in Daxing District, found a rove beetle in the toilet. "I heard that this kind of insect is called 'flying sulfuric acid'. Fortunately, I found it in time and my face was not 'ruined'. This is the first time I have seen this kind of insect in Beijing. How could it appear for no reason?" Surprised, Ms. Yang quickly took a photo and sent it to the community owners group. Many neighbors also reported that they had seen it in their homes.

A search for "Beijing rove beetle" on social media revealed that citizens in many districts, including Dongcheng, Chaoyang, Haidian, Fengtai, Tongzhou, and Fangshan, have reported seeing this insect. Many of them said it was the first time they had seen it in Beijing, and some even reported being injured by rove beetles.

Ms. Wang, who lives in Jinsong, Chaoyang, felt a bug fall on her face before going to bed. She subconsciously slapped it and removed it with paper. "I saw a bug that looked like an ant, but I didn't pay much attention to it. My face started to turn red at noon the next day, and pustules appeared in the afternoon. I went to the hospital and the doctor said it was caused by the venom secreted by the rove beetle, which caused inflammation." Ms. Wu applied ointment for a week as instructed by the doctor, and gradually got better.

Why are there more reports of rove beetles appearing in Beijing this year ? In this regard, Wu Qi, a lecturer in the Museum of Natural History, explained: "Although rove beetles are generally more common in the south, they have always been found in Beijing, but they were rare before. Rove beetles generally like to live in humid environments, especially after rain in summer and autumn. The fact that there are more of them in Beijing this year may be related to the heavy rainfall in Beijing this year."

In fact, it is not just Beijing. Recently, many netizens in Tianjin have also discovered rove beetles appearing in their local area.

This insect has a long-standing "bad reputation". In May this year, a woman had a rove beetle on her eye. Knowing how dangerous it was, she gently rubbed it off with her hands. Unexpectedly, she was hit again the next day, and the middle of her eyelid was rotten.

Some people even get double eyelids in seconds because of it.

Some people were lucky at the time, but suffered later.

Some people didn't even see the "culprit", but spent a whole year forgetting about it. Some people were bitten and the back of their necks were "rotten"...

What exactly is the rove beetle and why does it make people so scared?

In fact, although it is small and inconspicuous, the family is quite large. In the family of Paederidae, there are more than 63,000 species in total! Every year from June to September after the rain, this large family is active. They live in weedy and humid places. The hotter the weather, the more active they are.

However, not all rove beetles are poisonous. "The most common poisonous rove beetles are the black and red ones," Wu Qi said. This insect likes to fly to bright places, especially at night, flying around the lights in the room. The stronger the light, the easier it is to attract it.

The body of the rove beetle contains an acidic liquid with a pH value of 1-2, which is a strong acid, and is similar to the pH value of ordinary hydrochloric acid (the pH value of 1 mol/L hydrochloric acid is 1). The pH value of toilet cleaners that people often use in their daily lives is around 2.

Therefore, if it touches people, it is easy to "burn" them, sometimes there will be linear or dotted edema erythema, or papules, blisters, pustules, and even burning pain, itching and other symptoms; if it touches the eyes, it will burn the conjunctiva and cornea, and if it is not treated in time, it may even cause blindness; if it touches the vulva, it will swell obviously, and if the reaction is severe or the area is large, there will be fever, dizziness, local lymph node enlargement and other symptoms. And even if the skin heals, the scar will remain for a long time...

If you don’t want to get into trouble, do these 5 things

Never slap rove beetles with your hands. In fact, rove beetles rarely provoke people. Most people are "attacked" because they are "exploded" by slapping them directly, or accidentally pressing them, which causes the strong acidic venom in their bodies to "rot" their skin. If you encounter them unexpectedly, you can gently blow them away, or "shovel" them off with paper and throw them outside.

Be careful before going to bed. Often, rove beetles have already warmed your bed, so check before going to bed to avoid stepping on them without realizing it.

Clean regularly. Keep the indoor and outdoor environment clean to prevent the breeding of rove beetles.

Install screens at home. Rove beetles are phototactic, and when there is light in the room, the insects will try to enter the room, and screen windows and screen doors can play a good blocking role.

Wear long sleeves when going out. When you go to parks, suburbs, or rural areas, you should wear long sleeves and long pants, and carry mosquito repellent and insecticide with you.

Of course, if you accidentally come into contact with the venom, you can first wash it with clean water or alkaline soapy water. If the condition is serious, you should seek medical attention in time.

Source: Beijing Daily Client, Guangming Online, Tianjin Traffic Radio