Rash-causing moth spreading due to warming, scientists find
By PATRICK WHITTLE
Associated Press
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A forest pest that bedevils Maine residents and tourists with hairs that cause an itchy rash appears to be spreading due to warming temperatures. The browntail moth is a scourge in America’s most forested state, where it defoliates trees and causes a rash in humans that resembles poison ivy. The caterpillars have been the subject of an outbreak in the state for about seven years. The scientists wrote recently in the journal Environmental Entomology that the growth and spread of the moth is tied to increasingly warm weather, especially in the fall.
