Mount Maunganui beachgoers are having their summer holidays ruined by a pesky bug that's being called the “mount mauler”.
Itchy bites have caused some victims a week of sleepless nights. Summer has brought with it more than a suntan for the western Bay of Plenty beachgoers.
“I'd class it as hot needles – like a burning, hot prickling sensation,” says victim Cherie Lemmon.
Without realising it, Ms Lemmon was eaten alive by the mystery beach bugs as she sunbathed. Before long she knew she was in trouble.
“I have actually been bitten in the past, so I do realise by later that night or the next day I was going to be in trouble,” she says.
Over the past week, pharmacies in the area have been dishing out soothing cream to more and more people who are suffering bites from the "mount mauler".
“On average we have had about five to 10 people coming in a day complaining of this reaction,” says pharmacist Rebecca Lukey.
Mount Manganui pharmacist Mark Bedford has been researching the "mount mauler” for the past 14 years.
“If they are all over your body you've got seven nights of intense itching no sleeping ahead of you,” says Mr Bedford.
Experts are mystified as to what bug is actually behind the bites. But Mr Bedford says a translucent looking larva called phycosecis limpata is to blame.
“We've collected these bugs before and we sincerely believe it's this bug that's biting,” he says.
Victims don't know they have been bitten by the bug until welts appear two or three days later. Usually they are treated with an antiseptic or an antihistamine. However, infected bites could mean a trip to the doctor’s for steroid treatment.
The mauler only lives in dry sand, so to avoid any bites, sit below the high-tide line.
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http://www.3news.co.nz/Beach-bugs-chomp-people-in-Mount-Maunganui/tabid/420/articleID/282887/Default.aspx#ixzz2Hq6pqy21