Korean bug

{{Short description|Chinese - Korean aphrodisiac}}

{{Orphan|date=April 2022}}

Korean bug is a popular aphrodisiac{{cite book | vauthors = Acton QA |title=Issues in Pharmacology, Pharmacy, Drug Research, and Drug Innovation: 2013 Edition |date=1 May 2013 |publisher=ScholarlyEditions |isbn=978-1-4901-1057-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G2V4C9m67BcC&dq=use+of+KOREAN+BUG+as+aphrodisiac&pg=PA925 |access-date=21 December 2021 |language=en}} in China, Korea, and Southeast Asia,{{cite journal | vauthors = Lee JK, Tan RB, Chung E | title = Erectile dysfunction treatment and traditional medicine-can East and West medicine coexist? | journal = Translational Andrology and Urology | volume = 6 | issue = 1 | pages = 91–100 | date = February 2017 | pmid = 28217454 | pmc = 5313309 | doi = 10.21037/tau.2016.11.13 | doi-access = free }} either eaten alive or in gelatin form. The aphrodisiac effect has not been clinically tested and is achieved by cantharidin inhibition of phosphodiesterase, protein phosphatase activity and stimulation of adrenergic receptors, which leads to vascular congestion and inflammation.{{cite journal | vauthors = Pajovic B, Radosavljevic M, Radunovic M, Radojevic N, Bjelogrlic B | title = Arthropods and their products as aphrodisiacs--review of literature | journal = European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences | volume = 16 | issue = 4 | pages = 539–47 | date = April 2012 | pmid = 22696884 | doi = | url = https://www.europeanreview.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/1364.pdf }} Cantharidin is an unreliable and dangerous aphrodisiac. Its impact is primarily based totally on stimulation of the urogenital tract, robust pelvic hyperaemia with consequent erection or a possible priapism.{{cite book | vauthors = Sheppard CA, Prischmann DA |title=A world view of insects as aphrodisiacs, with special reference to Spanish fly |journal=American Entomologist |date=October 2002 |volume=48 |issue=4 |pages=208–220 |doi=10.1093/ae/48.4.208 |url=https://academic.oup.com/ae/article-pdf/48/4/208/18763150/ae48-0208.pdf |access-date=21 December 2021}}

The bug is type of a beetle of Palembus dermestoides species. Medical studies have shown that it is a vector of causative agent of hymenolepiasis.{{cite journal | vauthors = Butenandt A, Tam N |title=About a sex-specific fragnance of the water bug Belostoma indica vitalis (Lethocerus indcus Lep.) |date=1957 | journal = Hoppe-Seyler's Z Physiol Chem |volume=308 |issue=Jahresband |pages=277–283|doi=10.1515/bchm2.1957.308.1.277 }}