'Giant mealybug no threat to health'

An expert in Dhaka on Thursday said there is nothing to worry over giant mealybug.

"This insect is not a threat to public health. It does no harm to humans. However, any sensitive person may feel itching from the touch of it," Sher-e-Bangla Agriculture University Entomology department professor Noor Mahol Akhtar Banu told BSS.

Reports were published in media following an outbreak of giant mealybug at Home Economic College in the city.

Akhtar Banu, who researched on morphology, life cycle and all other aspects of giant mealybug to obtain her PhD degree, said this insect was first seen at Sher-e-Bangla Agriculture University in 2003.

Then the number of the insect was less. But later the number gradually increased and spread in other areas, she said.

The spread of this insect in India, Pakistan and China was seen since much earlier, she added.

The presence of giant mealybug was found in Dhaka's Cantonment, Farmgate and Khamarbari areas and in some places in Panchagar, Thakurgaon and Dinajpur districts during a survey in 2011, she said.

Akhtar Banu said the adult female insects do harm to trees by sucking water from different parts. If the attack is acute, the whole three is covered with this insect.

She said the attack of the insect is noticed in 72 types of trees in Bangladesh.