PEDIATRICS Vol. 98 No. 3 September 1996, pp. 458-459
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Ingestion of a Blister Beetle (Mecoidae Family)

Rolando Q. Mallari MD1, Mohammed Saif MD1, Musallem S. Elbualy MD, FAAP1, and Anil Sapru MD1

1 Department of Pediatrics, Royal Hospital, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman

Cantharidin, the most important active principle of Cantharis vesicatoria (Spanish fly), has a long history. It is a medieval medicine, considered over a hundred years ago as the most powerful medicine on the Materia Medica. It has been used as a skin irritant, vessicant, and abortifacient, and has long been wrongly considered an aphrodisiac.1

The following cases appear exceptional in that the source of the poison—the blister beetle itself—was ingested, resulting in the manifestations of cantharidin poisoning.

CASE REPORT

Two siblings were referred to the Royal Hospital in Muscat on March 30, 1994, for repeated episodes of blood-stained vomitus and passage of reddish-colored urine after ingestion of a beetle they caught in a garden.

Submitted on June 2, 1995
Accepted on November 15, 1995




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L. Moed, T. A. Shwayder, and M. W. Chang
Cantharidin Revisited: A Blistering Defense of an Ancient Medicine
Arch Dermatol, October 1, 2001; 137(10): 1357 - 1360.
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