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Sandra Palacios
Granada
Thursday, 27 March 2025, 07:49
At least four children have been affected by a processionary caterpillar infestation in the municipality of Villanueva de las Torres in the north of Spain's Granada province. Some parents have reported that the children have come into contact with the caterpillars at school, an issue which also happened last year.
Mayor of Villanueva de las Torres, Dolores Serrano López, has said that the town hall carried out a preventive treatment of pine trees in the school and the park between December and January, but that it does not have enough money to treat all the trees in the town.
The mother of one four-year-old who was affected last year explained to SUR's sister newspaper Ideal that her son "came home from school and said he was very itchy in his private parts. I thought it was a urine infection and took him to hospital. There they told me that he had several spores stuck in him and they had to treat him".
The next day she went to the town hall to report what had happened and was told that they would solve the problem. "Supposedly they did, but my child kept coming back every day with a rash on his face, neck or hands," she said.
The mother wanted to warn the town hall again this year before the processionary caterpillar season started. "The mayor told me that it had no effect then because it has to be sprayed before they came out of the nests. This year she assured me that it would be sorted out earlier and there wouldn't be a single caterpillar," the mother said.
However, the caterpillars have returned to Villanueva de las Torres and at least four children have already been affected with dermatitis and urticaria. "The last one was one of the youngest girls in the school who is three years old. A caterpillar crawled up her neck and they had to rush her to the doctor," the woman explained.
Another mother says that there are more parts of the village affected in addition to the school (Molino, Calle Rosas and the park) and there are houses "where they enter on a daily basis". The woman went on to say, "The neighbours are desperate, the town hall ignores them."
"You find the caterpillars in the street, the situation is distressing. My little boy, who is two years old, was playing in the sand in the park and we had to rush him to the doctor because he couldn't breathe from the amount of spores in the soil. We don't know what to do anymore," said another resident.
Another woman, 22, said that her street is infested with caterpillars: "I can't take the dog out, I have to walk it somewhere else. I also have to be careful not to leave any of the windows of the house or car open because they get in". She added that she gets itchy all over her body because of the number of processionary caterpillar hairs that are blown around in the air. "I asked the mayor to cut the branches of the pine tree next to my door; they were getting inside and we had to pour ammonia on them".
Serrano López says that between December and January the town hall carried out a preventive treatment of the pine trees at the school and in the park. "There has been an improvement, but the processionary is very difficult to eradicate," she said.
The mayor went on to say that they have focused on the places that could be most dangerous for children because the council does not have enough money to treat all the trees in the town. "It costs a lot of money and there are a lot of pine trees," she said, adding that the school "has to be vigilant".
"We have treated them, but if there are any left, they should sweep them up, it isn't difficult. There have been caterpillars, but like everywhere else," she said.
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