In Tuesday’s front page article on browntail moth caterpillars, David Brooks casually comments “It’s not much of an agricultural pest but if you touch the caterpillars you’ll get a nasty rash.” It’s much worse than that. These browntail caterpillar moths are horrific. On a recent camping trip to Casco Bay, my husband and I ended up in urgent care. The microscopic hairs of the moths are poisonous to people, and can be inhaled and get into your lungs. The hairs can be carried in the wind and get into your skin. We had to duct tape all exposed areas of skin to get the hairs off us.

I had one land on my neck, just picked it up, had no idea what it was, thought it was just a gypsy moth caterpillar. I had a severe allergic reaction. I had very itchy welts all on my neck, chest, under my hair, down my back. This was three weeks ago, and I still have spots on my neck that are itchy. We had to cut our trip short by three days, everything in the camper had to be washed in hot water, and the camper had to be disinfected. We had a tote with barbeque tools in the camper, took it out to clean it, and there was one of the caterpillars there. They are a significant health risk. New Hampshire needs to be very aggressive getting rid of browntail moth caterpillars.

Nancy Kyle

Pembroke