Swarms of bo dau den, an insect shaped like black bean, have invaded residents’ homes in Village 3, Hung Phuoc Commune, Bu Dop District in Binh Phuoc Province.

The pests have become a public nuisance over the last month.

Tran Xuan Ngoc, a resident, said he had collected nearly 200kg of the insects, scientifically known as Mesomorphus villiger, each day.

The insect emits a foul odour. They fall into the residents’ rice and soup and can be found everywhere in the residents’ houses, Ngoc said.

The insects start swarming at 12pm-3am every day, especially on rainy days.

Nguyen Tuan Anh, another resident, said the insects had even crawled into his children’s ears while they were sleeping, so he worried a lot.

Local residents have used different methods to control the insects, such as spraying chemical substances, burning rubbish and smoking them out, but still the insect population has not decreased.

More than 100 households in the district have been affected by the insects, according to the Bu Dop District Preventive Medicine Centre.

Phan Quoc Phu, an official at the centre, said it had initially proposed that the provincial preventive medicine centre should spray the insects with dengue prevention substances.

The same problem has plagued Quang Trung and Xuan Thanh communes in Thong Nhat District in the southern province of Dong Nai over the same period.

Some 50 households were attacked by the insects, local authorities said.

Local residents said the swarms often appeared at night.

Nguyen Nhu Huynh, a resident of Quang Trung Commune, said he felt nauseated and his eyes started burning when he smelled the insect.

Tran Lam Sinh, director of the Cultivation and Plant Protection Department under the Dong Nai Agriculture and Rural Development Department, said the insects had appeared in the province in 2003 and had grown in number since 2013, especially in the Thong Nhat, Trang Bom, Long Thanh and Cam My districts.

The insect does not harm plants or people and does not destroy people’s things, but the smell and burning sensation they caused made them a nuisance.

Local authorities and concerned organisations are researching effective methods of killing the insect.

The department has suggested that residents could drive the insects away by smoking them out.

Cao Trong Nguong, director of the provincial preventive medicine centre, said the insects did not spread disease.

At present, no chemical can deter or exterminate the insect, according to the director.

The residents can collect the insects and bury them.

VNS