Editing Lytta vesicatoria (section)

== Interaction with humans ==

[[File:Collecting cantharides.jpg|thumb|Collecting ''Cantharides'', 19th century]]

=== Preparation of cantharidin ===
{{main|Cantharidin}}

[[File:Cantharidin-2D.svg|thumb|[[Cantharidin]]]]

[[Cantharidin]], the principal active component in preparations of Spanish fly, was first isolated and named in 1810 by the French chemist [[Pierre Robiquet]],  who demonstrated that it was the principal agent responsible for the aggressively blistering properties of this insect's egg coating. It was asserted at that time that it was as toxic as the most violent poisons then known, such as [[strychnine]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Robiquet |first=M. |year=1810 |title=Expériences sur les cantharides | journal=Annales de Chimie |volume=76 | pages=302–322 }}</ref><!--no current medical claim is being made here-->

Each beetle contains some 0.2–0.7&nbsp;mg of cantharidin, males having significantly more than females. The beetle secretes the agent orally, and exudes it from its joints as a milky fluid. The potency of the insect as a blistering agent has been known since antiquity and the activity has been used in various ways. This has led to its small-scale commercial preparation and sale, in a powdered form known as ''cantharides'' (from the plural of Greek κανθαρίς, ''Kantharis'', beetle), obtained from dried and ground beetles. The crushed powder is of yellow-brown to brown-olive color with [[iridescent]] reflections, is of disagreeable scent, and is bitter to taste. [[Cantharidin]], the active agent, is a [[terpenoid]], and is produced by some other insects, such as ''[[Epicauta]] immaculata''.<ref name=FarlexDict12>{{cite book |author=Anon |year=2012 |orig-year=2009 |title=Farlex Partner Medical Dictionary |chapter=Cantharide |location=Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania |publisher=Farlex |chapter-url=http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Cantharide |access-date=14 December 2015 }}</ref><ref name=Froberg10/><ref name=AggrawalAPC>{{cite book |editor-last=Aggrawal |editor-first=Anil |year=2007 |title=APC Textbook of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology |chapter=VII. Spanish Fly (Cantharides) |location=New Delhi, India |publisher=Avichal |isbn=978-8177394191 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=8177394193 |access-date=14 December 2015 |page=652f }}</ref><ref name=SaundersVet>{{cite book |editor1=Blood, Douglas Charles |editor2=Studdert, Virginia P. |editor3=Gay, Clive C. |year=2007 |title=Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary |edition=3rd |chapter=Cantharides |location=Philadelphia, PA, USA |publisher=Elsevier |isbn=978-0702027888 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=070202788X |access-date=14 December 2015 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/saunderscomprehe00doug }}</ref><ref name=MosbyDict>{{cite book |editor=Jonas, Wayne B. |year=2005 |title=Mosby's Dictionary of Complementary and Alternative Medicine |edition=3rd |chapter=Cantharides |location=Philadelphia, PA, USA |publisher=Elsevier Saunders |isbn=978-0323025164 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0323025161 |access-date=14 December 2015 }}</ref>

=== Toxicity and poisonings===

Cantharidin is dangerously toxic, inhibiting the enzyme [[PP2|phosphatase 2A]]. It causes irritation, blistering, bleeding and discomfort. These effects can escalate to erosion and [[hemorrhage|bleeding]] of [[mucosa]] in each system, sometimes followed by severe gastro-intestinal bleeding and [[acute tubular necrosis]] and [[Glomerulus (kidney)|glomerular]] destruction, resulting in gastro-intestinal and [[kidney dysfunction|renal dysfunction]], [[organ failure]], and death.<ref name=Froberg10/><ref name=EvansHooserCompTox10>{{cite book |last1=Evans |first1=T. J. |last2=Hooser |first2=S. B. |editor1=Hooser, Stephen |editor2=McQueen, Charlene |year=2010 |chapter=Comparative Gastrointestinal Toxicity (Ch. 16) |title=Comprehensive Toxicology |edition=2nd |isbn=978-0080468846 |pages=195–206 |location=London, England  |publisher=Elsevier Academic Press |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0080468845 }}</ref><ref name=Gupta12>{{cite book |last1=Gwaltney-Brant |first1=Sharon M. |last2=Dunayer |first2=Eric |last3=Youssef |first3=Hany  |editor=Gupta, Ramesh C. |year=2012 |chapter=Terrestrial Zootoxins [Coleoptera: Meloidae (Blister Beetles) |title=Veterinary Toxicology: Basic and Clinical Principles |edition=2nd |isbn=978-0123859266 |pages=975–978 |location=London, England |publisher=Elsevier Academic Press |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0123859263 |access-date=14 December 2015 }}</ref><ref name=karras>{{cite journal |last1=Karras |first1=David J. |title=Poisoning From "Spanish Fly" (Cantharidin) |journal=[[The American Journal of Emergency Medicine]] |year=1996 |doi=10.1016/S0735-6757(96)90158-8 |quote=While most commonly available preparations of Spanish fly contain cantharidin in negligible amounts, if at all, the chemical is available illicitly in concentrations capable of causing severe toxicity. |volume=14 |issue=5 |pages=478–483 |pmid=8765116 |last2=Farrell |first2=S. E. |last3=Harrigan |first3=R. A. |last4=Henretig |first4=F. M. |last5=Gealt |first5=L. |display-authors=3}}<!--paper reviews knowledge as well as reporting cases--></ref><ref name=WilsonCompTox10>{{cite book |last=Wilson |first=C. R. |editor=Hooser, Stephen |editor2=McQueen, Charlene |year=2010 |chapter=Methods for Analysis of Gastrointestinal Toxicants (Ch. 9) |title=Comprehensive Toxicology |edition=2nd |isbn=978-0080468846 |pages=145–152, esp. 150 |location=London, England |publisher=Elsevier Academic Press |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0080468845 |access-date=14 December 2015 }}</ref>

Preparations of Spanish fly and its active agent have been implicated in both inadvertent<ref name=Froberg10>{{cite book |last=Froberg |first=Blake A. |editor1=Holstege, Christopher P. |editor2=Neer, Thomas |editor3=Saathoff, Gregory B. |editor4=Furbee, R. Brent |year=2010 |chapter=Animals |title=Criminal Poisoning: Clinical and Forensic Perspectives |location=Burlington, Massachusetts |publisher=Jones & Bartlett |isbn=978-1449617578 |pages=39–48, esp. 41, 43, 45ff |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1449617573 |access-date=16 December 2015 }} Note: ''the active agent appears variously as [[cantharidin]],{{rp|41}} and "cantharadin"{{rp|43,45ff}} or "canthariadin"{{rp|238}}'' (sic).</ref> and intentional poisonings.<ref name=Froberg10/> Arthur Kendrick Ford was imprisoned in 1954 for the unintended deaths of two women surreptitiously given candies laced with [[cantharidin]], which he had intended to act as an [[aphrodisiac]].<ref name=Froberg10/> It has been suggested that [[George Washington]] was treated with Spanish fly for [[epiglottitis]], the condition which caused his death.<ref>{{cite book |last=Henriques |first=Peter R. |year=2000 |title=The Death of George Washington: He Died as He Lived |publisher=Mount Vernon Ladies' Association |location=Mount Vernon, Virginia |pages=27–36 |isbn=978-0-931917-35-6 }}</ref>

Currently the cantharidin in US, in the form of collodion, is used in the treatment of warts and [[molluscum]].{{cn|date=May 2024}}

=== Culinary uses ===

In [[Morocco]] and other parts of North Africa, spice blends known as ''[[ras el hanout]]'' sometimes included as a minor ingredient "green metallic beetles", inferred to be ''L. vesicatoria'', although its sale in Moroccan spice markets was banned in the 1990s.<ref name="Davidson">{{cite book |last=Davidson |first=Alan |editor-last=Jaine |editor-first=Tom |others=Vannithone, Soun (illustrator) |title=The Oxford Companion to Food |location=Oxford, England |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-19-211579-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont0000davi |url-access=registration |access-date=13 December 2015 |page=671ff }}</ref> [[dawamesc|''Dawamesk'']], a spread or jam made in North Africa and containing [[hashish]], [[almond paste]], pistachio nuts, sugar, orange or [[tamarind]] peel, [[clove]]s, and other various spices, occasionally included cantharides.<ref>{{cite news |last=Green |first=Jonathon |title=Spoonfuls of paradise |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/oct/12/featuresreviews.guardianreview34 |access-date=14 February 2017 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=12 October 2002}}</ref>

=== Other uses ===

In [[History of China#Ancient China|ancient China]], the beetles were mixed with human excrement, [[arsenic]], and [[Aconitum|wolfsbane]] to make the world's first recorded [[stink bomb]].<ref name="Theroux_1">{{cite book |last=Theroux |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Theroux |title=[[Riding the Iron Rooster]] |publisher=Ivy Books |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-8041-0454-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/ridingironrooste00ther_0/page/54 54]}}</ref>

In [[ancient Greece]] and [[Medicine in ancient Rome|Rome]], Spanish fly was used to attempt to treat skin diseases, while in medieval Persia, [[Medicine in the medieval Islamic world|Islamic medicine]] applied Spanish fly, named ''ḏarārīḥ'' (ذراریـح), to attempt to prevent [[rabies]].<ref name="Moallemi 2021">{{cite journal |last1=Moallemi |first1=Mostafa |last2=Yousofpour |first2=Mohammad |last3=Jokar |first3=Assie |title=Prevention of Rabies by Application of Lytta vesicatoria in Persian Medicine Texts in Islamic Civilization |journal=Traditional and Integrative Medicine |date=2021 |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=70–77 |url=https://jtim.tums.ac.ir/index.php/jtim/article/download/254/244/}}</ref>

In the 19th century, Spanish fly was used externally mainly as blistering agent and local irritant; also, in chronic gonorrhoea, paralysis, lepra, ulcers therapy. ''L. vesicatoria'' was used internally as a diuretic stimulant{{Cn|date=June 2024}}

An extract from Spanish fly was thought to be a strong [[aphrodisiac]], and various [[love potion]]s were named thusly.<ref>Joe Schwarcz, [https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/health-and-nutrition-you-asked/spanish-fly-really-aphrodisiac Is "Spanish Fly" really an aphrodisiac?]</ref>