Toxic caterpillar plague hits London spreading skin rashes and asthma attacks

A plague of toxic caterpillars has hit London leaving a trail of severe skin rashes and life-threatening asthma attacks in its wake. Wildlife experts are warning people not to touch the oak processionary moths (OPM), and urged anyone to report nests as soon as they spot them. OPMs are now in their caterpillar stage and can cause skin rashes, asthma attacks, eye and throat irritations, vomiting, dizziness and fever.

A spokesman for Richmond Council tweeted this week: ‘Our tree contractors will be out and about treating trees affected by the hatching of the Oak Processionary Moth. Please don’t handle the moths as they are a danger to your health.’
The Royal Forestry Society wrote on Twitter: ‘It’s time to be vigilant! Oak Processionary Moth spotted in parks.’
A spokesman for the Forestry Commission said that pest controllers were being sent out this week and are targeting nests across south-east England.
The spokesman said: ‘OPM caterpillars were spotted emerging from egg plaques in mid-April, so we started treating trees with an approved insecticide during the week.
‘The treatment programme is expected to continue for about five or six weeks. We aim to complete this while the caterpillars are still small enough.
‘We will treat oak trees at more than 500 sites in the “Control Zone” in and around London.’
He added: ‘The larvae, or caterpillars, of the oak processionary moth can affect the health of oak trees, people and animals.’

A protein in the caterpillars’ tiny hairs can cause skin and eye irritations, sore throats and breathing difficulties in people and animals who come into contact with them.
The spokesperson explained that OPM caterpillars are most easily recognised by their distinctive habit of moving about in late spring and early summer in nose-to-tail processions, from which they derive their name, and the fact that they live and feed almost exclusively on oak trees.
Hairs on the caterpillars contain toxins called thamentopoein and health experts have warned that you don’t even need to be in direct contact with them as the hairs can be carried in the wind or fired off as a defence mechanism.
The nests – which are white and can be tennis ball shaped or stretch to around 3ft long – contain hundreds of caterpillars, which are about two-inches long. Nests have been found at four sites in Bexley, south London, and Richmond – with other known ‘hotspots’ including Croydon, Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Southwark.
They’ve even been found as far north as Watford. Other hotspots include Ealing, Tooting, Epping Forest in Essex, and the Twickenham area of south west London.