In a world already struggling with the loss and devastation wrought by a killer pandemic, it seems unthinkably cruel that a second deadly plague could strike so soon.
But vast areas of Africa, the Middle East and Asia are being brought to their knees by an invasion of locusts – some in swarms the size of Paris.
Crops are stripped bare and millions have been plunged into hunger and, in some cases, starvation, as hundreds of billions of the insects descend at a time.
Just one swarm of the black-eyed bugs with bright yellow bodies can devour the same amount in one day as half the population of the UK.