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Allergic to ants?

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout' started by Harrisment, Sep 6, 2004.

  1. Harrisment

    Harrisment Member

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    Have any of you ever known someone that was allergic to the bite of fire ants? I found out the hard way today that I am one of these people. I went by my parents house for a little while to help them with some landscaping this afternoon. I felt some pain on my foot and saw some ants crawling around, so I immediately hosed myself off. By the time I made it home about 15 minutes later, my face was bright red and I was breaking out into hives. There were big red splotches all over my body that looked like a rash and my eyelids/face started to swell up. The symptoms steadily got worse over the next couple hours and I started to get lightheaded, so I decided to go have it checked out. Before it was all over, I ended up in the emergency room and they gave me a couple shots and now I feel much better.

    Talk about a scary ordeal....the doctor said that is in fact possible to be allergic to ants and it was a good thing I decided to go to the hospital. He told me to go see my family doctor tomorrow and he can provide some medicine that will help if this ever happens again. What I don't understand is why I've never had this type of reaction before to an ant bite. Could I have just suddenly developed an allergy to them? Anyone else with similar stories?
     
  2. Dr of Dunk

    Dr of Dunk Clutch Crew

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    From what I recall fire ants do inject a venom or some type of acidic substance when they bite, so it's easy to see how people can be allergic to them (kind of like bee stings). I don't have any similar stories, but I once saw a furry orange ant about 1 inch long that scared me once. That's about all I got.
     
  3. SWTsig

    SWTsig Member

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    that's the sh!tty thing about allergies, they can pop up out of nowhere. i have allergies to just about everything (i tested positive to every allergen they submitted me to.... yeah!), but the only real life-threatening allergy i have is pinenuts. i had had no previous allergy to them, but one day i ate a salad with em and my throat closed up, broke out in hives with severe swelling and had a kicka$$ asthma attack. nothing a couple cortisone shots and a nebulizer couldn't take care of though. a few hours at the ER and i was feeling alright. but everytime i go to a restaruant (especially Italian), i have to make sure pinenuts come nowhere near my food.

    so i feel for ya.
     
  4. Joe Joe

    Joe Joe Go Stros!
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    One thing is for certain: there is no stopping them; the ants will soon be here. And I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords.

    PS The allergy to ants suck.
     
  5. Cohen

    Cohen Member

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    Nah. They'll be around, but they won't rule.


    ...
    The predatory straw-itch mite, Pyemotes tritici (Lagreze-Fossat and Montane), feeds on and paralyzes developing RIFA. It's not effective when applied as directed and, as the common name implies, can be potentially harmful to the user.

    Parasitic nematodes (Steinernema spp.) are minute roundworms that seek out and penetrate the bodies of various insects, paralyzing them. The nematodes develop inside the host, eventually causing the insect's death. Species and strains vary in their effectiveness. Tested strains caused ants in treated mounds to temporarily move away from the treated mound, but few colonies were eliminated.

    Thelohania solenopsae is a microsporidian (protozoan) pathogen of fire ants discovered in 1973 in Brazil, the homeland of the red imported fire ant. It has since been found in red imported fire ant colonies in Florida, Mississippi, and Texas. This microscopic pathogen infects ant colonies and chronically weakens them. Workers transmit the pathogen to the queen through food exchange. The disease slowly reduces her weight. She lays fewer and fewer eggs, all infected with the pathogen, further weakening the colony. Colony death can require from 9 to 18 months after initial infection. The microorganism appears specific to both red imported and black imported fire ants and does not infect either plants or native ant species. Studies are underway to determine feasible methods for mass-producing the pathogen. It has been released in limited field tests in Florida, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.

    Parasitic fungi (e.g. Beauvaria bassiana) also are being evaluated in parts of the southern U.S. as individual mound treatments. Several strains have been identified and are being evaluated for efficacy under field conditions in the southeastern U.S.

    Decapitating phorid flies
    {cool!} are minute flies that attack fire ants, depositing single eggs into individual ants. The fly larva develops in the ant head capsule, decapitating the ant at maturity. Preliminary field tests with this species in Florida during the summer of 1997 suggest that the flies may be establishing themselves.

    A parasitic ant species is known to attach to fire ant queens. As it lays its eggs, it re-directs the fire ant workers to care for the young parasitic ants at the expense of the fire ant colony. This biocontrol agent is still under investigation in quarantine facilities in Gainesville, Florida.

    Some minute parasitic wasps and at least one species of Strepsiptera (a unique order of endoparasitic insects with varying degrees of host specificity) are being evaluated in lab and field trials, particularly in Florida. To date, none of these potential biocontrols have shown the promise of other agents described above.
    ...


    http://www.cahe.nmsu.edu/pubs/_g/G-320.html

    As for the allergy, our neighbor found out last year that she's allergic. You may want to ask your doc for a prescription for an EpiPen. They're not cheap and if you leave'm in the heat they'll ruin, but they could save your life.
     
  6. m_cable

    m_cable Member

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  7. Dr of Dunk

    Dr of Dunk Clutch Crew

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    Just to make Joe Joe feel better, I caught the Simpsons reference. :)
     
  8. DaDakota

    DaDakota Balance wins
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    I think if you take an allergy pill it helps reduce the reaction.



    DD
     
  9. Vengeance

    Vengeance Member

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    I'm allergic to fire ants. Some people (apparently you) are VERY allergic to them, and the bite can, in some rare cases, be lethal b/c of the allergy. For me, I used to not be so allergic to them, but now it's really bad. Last year, I went to see Guster at Numbers. While I was waiting outside, I got bitten on a finger by a fire ant. My hand swelled up so big I couldn't move any of the fingers, and it hurt just to move my arm. Took a week to go down . . .
     
  10. Cohen

    Cohen Member

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    I'm probably the only one here that doesn't watch the Simpsons religiously? :confused: :)
     
  11. Cohen

    Cohen Member

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    If it becomes fill-blown anaphylactic shock, benadryl can cause serious breathing problems.
     
  12. arno_ed

    arno_ed Member

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    no. i never watch it, i have seen some episodes w couple of years ago. but i haven't seen a single episode in about 6 years
     
  13. AMS

    AMS Member

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    one plus about living in virginia, I got away from those dreaded fire ants....
     
  14. PhiSlammaJamma

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    These are drug smuggling ants from mexico. You were probably high.
     
  15. SWTsig

    SWTsig Member

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    i was gonna post the same thing.
     
  16. Puedlfor

    Puedlfor Member

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    If I recall something from my Discovery channel viewing, it is possible for you to develop an allergic reaction to fire ant "bites" after repeated exposure - that is probably what happened to you. Glad you're ok - that must've been a scary time.

    also - ants bite, but the problem comes with the sting. They clamp down with the jaws, then begin stinging - rotating around till you knock em off. If you let em sting, you'll end up with a ring of welts that hurts like the dickens.
     
  17. meggoleggo

    meggoleggo Member

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    if it does come to anaphylactic shock, the only thing that's gonna help is an epi pen and some paramedics with an ambulance.
     
  18. Summer Song Giver

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    I was thinking, you lucky b*stard until I did a double take :D
     
  19. Harrisment

    Harrisment Member

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    Yeah, that is one of the things that every doctor/nurse I saw asked me. Was my throat closing up or was I having trouble breathing. Luckily, I never had either of those symptoms so it wasn't nearly as serious as it could have been. Earlier today my face started to turn red again for about an hour, and I read somewhere that symptoms can reappear for up to 25% of people that have an allergic reaction. The doctors told me to take Benadryl for the next couple of days, but I was trying to avoid it being at work and all. Looks like they know what they're talking about after all.
     

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