Beach bites leave their mark

Bites from tiny bugs at the beach have caused a woman and her husband to break out in a rash.

The woman, who only wanted to be known as Anne, was at the beach on Tuesday morning near Waiariki St in Omanu, when small bugs "the size of a freckle", possibly the bugs known as the Mount Mauler, left a rash of bites on her legs and feet.

"We spent about an hour and 45 minutes sitting on the dry sand on our boogie-boards and we had these little things hopping up and off us."

Anne said she did not think much of it until the next morning, when she discovered "intensely itchy" bites covering the length of both of her legs and her feet.

"There are probably about 70 spots on my legs. The itchiness was unbearable. It looks like I have severe chicken pox."

When speaking to the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend yesterday, Anne said the bites had begun to go away and a homemade paste of vinegar and cornflour had helped to relieve the itching.

"I've lived in the Bay for seven months or so but I haven't seen this before."

Her husband's bites, while less numerous, were blistery and weepy, Anne said.

Unichem Mount Dispensary pharmacist Mark Bedford said he was unsure if the bugs responsible for Anne's itches were the Mount Mauler, but people were coming into the pharmacy daily after being bitten by the infamous bug.

"People come in here year in and year out when they get bitten. The best treatment is not to get bitten, and that's by trying not to lie in soft sand above the water mark. People come in several times a day at this time of year with bites from the beach bug. It starts in December and goes through until about the end of January."

Mr Bedford has been treating people he believes have been bitten by the mauler for 15 years.

A Toi Te Ora - Public Health Service spokeswoman said the organisation had not received any reports linked to the Mount Mauler.

Scientist and beetle specialist Richard Leschen from Landcare Research has told the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend previously there was no evidence the beach bug, scientifically named phycosecis limbata, had ever bitten a person.

"I'm not convinced they bite anyone," he said. "I've collected them and researched them and I have never been bitten in my life."