Mom Sending Out Warning After Her Son Was Bit By A Venomous Caterpillar

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Mom Sending Out Warning After Her Son Was Bit By A Venomous Caterpillar

Andrea Pergola/Facebook

For some people, raising children can be a taunting task. No matter how much you try to protect your children from harm, you can't always guarantee they'll be safe.  

One Florida woman can attest to that and is now issuing a stark warning to the public after her son was stung by a venomous caterpillar.

In a June 16 Facebook post, Andrea Pergola revealed her 15-year-old son Logan was doing landscaping work when he started to feel as if his wrist was "on fire" and had pain shooting up his arm.

"Within 5 minutes he was dizzy, had lost color, was complaining of the worst pain he had ever felt & his eyes weren't super focused," Pergola wrote. "We tried to wash it off... He just looked really, really bad and kept looking worse."

The grid-like markings on her son's wrist eventually spread to his chest, Pergola tried to use herbal remedies and garlic to treat the wound.

When the treatments failed to make an improvement, the mother-of-three began to do research on the mysterious caterpillar that bit her son.

"My father saw the caterpillar, put on gloves and picked it up. We put it in a baggie and began doing some research on it quickly," she explained.

"We found out that this particular caterpillar has poisonous hair on it and also has venomous glands. And, since it appeared to be an adult, we knew the poison would be even stronger. We knew we had to get him to the emergency room," Pergola added.

They rushed Logan to Florida Hospital in Zephyrhills within 30 minutes of the sting, and doctors knew exactly what they were dealing with.

Logan was bitten by a flannel moth caterpillar, also known as the puss caterpillar or tree asp, which according to the University of Florida is one of the most venomous caterpillars in the United States.

"He was in and out of it and really just groaning and asking to make the pain stop," Pergola continued. "The next 3 hours were pretty rough and while I had read that there had never been a death from the caterpillar I was also looking at my otherwise really healthy son wondering if maybe they were wrong."

Doctors were able to medicate Logan through an IV, which included a "high dose of Benadryl, prednisone and anti-nausea meds."  

"We are native Floridians. We are outside all the time, camping, outside, in the woods. We had no idea this was out there," Pregola said. "I would just hate for a small child to pick this up. Logan is healthy and weighs 100 pounds. I know this would hurt a small child even worse than my 15-year-old son."

As frightening as this venomous caterpillar is, there are still other warnings parents should watch out for:

[H/T: News Channel 8, Fox 13]

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Maya has been working at Shared for a year. She just begrudgingly spent $200 on a gym membership. Contact her at maya@shared.com