Cicada-related injuries

To the Editor.— We wish to describe a previously unreported type of injury that we have encountered recently at the Children9s Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, during this year of the 17-year locust, more properly termed cicada. Twelve children have come to the emergency department within a 1-month period with injuries related to activities involving catching, killing, or dodging these defenseless insects. The city of Cincinnati was invaded with an estimated 100 million of these insects during the late spring/early summer of this year.