How Do I Treat Fire Ant Bites?

Red imported fire ant (RIFA; Solenopsis invicta) originally distributed in the Parana river basin (including Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina) in South America. The originally inconspicuous foreign fire ants in the southern United States have caused very important agricultural and environmental health problems and economic losses in the United States.

Red Ant

More than 100 million acres of land in 12 states in the southern United States have been occupied by invasive fire ants, and the economic damage to these affected areas in the southern United States is estimated to be more than billions of dollars per year. Due to the impact of commercial activities and the globalization of agricultural transportation, the problem of fire ants is no longer just a problem that the United States or American countries need to pay attention to. Although the invasion of fire ants has long been notorious, in other non-invaded states in the United States and in countries around the world, they have tried their best to prevent the invasion of fire ants. However, due to the convenient transportation and the rapid development of global trade, the prevention of fire ants After all, the strategy of outdiffusion was incomplete. Puerto Rico was also invaded between 1975 and 1984. In 1998, it was found that it invaded Southern California. In 2001, the red fire ants successfully crossed the Pacific Ocean. New ethnic groups were established in New Zealand and Australia. Has caused agricultural and environmental hazards in some areas.

No reports of fire ants have been found in Asia, old records from Taiwan

Three Solenopsis species have been recorded, but no invasive fire ants have been found. However, from September to October 2003, cases of suspected fire ants invading agricultural land were found in Taoyuan and Chiayi areas. After sampling and identification, it was determined that invasive fire ants that harmed the United States, Australia and New Zealand had been found in Taiwan, and farmers and people were successively known. Case of being bitten by an ant and sent to a doctor.

* The true social structure of life. Except for the male mates responsible for mating, which are only responsible for reproductive queens and reproductive periods, the vast majority of individuals are infertile females (professional ants).

* Infertile worker ants can be divided into worker ants and soldier ants subclasses, and the class structure changes into continuous polymorphisms.

* The queen queen in the mature ant nest lays about 1500 ~ 5000 eggs per day, and it takes about 20 ~ 45 days (worker ants), 30 ~ 60 days (large-scale worker ants), and 180 days (solitary ants, queens and males) for the eggs to develop to adults. ant).

* The ant species of completely inhabited ant nests, mature ant nests will pile up soil anthills with a height of about 10-30 cm and a diameter of about 30-50 cm, but it will only take about 4-9 months to form a new ant nest. Anthills appearing mature with apparently small mounds.

* The life span of queen ants is about 6 ~ 7 years, and the life span of workers (workers and soldier ants) is about 1 ~ 6 months.

* Invasion of red fire ants does not have a specific marriage and flight period (mating period), as long as the ant nest matures, new reproductive individuals can form throughout the year. The male and female ants will fly into the air about 90 ~ 300 meters for marriage and flight pairing and mating. The female ants who have completed the mating can fly for about 3 ~ 5 kilometers to find a new nest site.

* Invasion of mature red ants nests can generate approximately 4,500 reproductive females per year. Invasion of mature red ants nests can produce approximately 4,500 reproductive females per year. The population is divided into single queen and multiple queen types. There are about 50,000 to 240,000 individuals in mature single queen ant nests, which can form 80 to 120 anthills per acre, and about 100,000 to 500,000 individuals in mature multiple queen ant nests, which can form more than 50,000 acres per acre. 400 anthills.

The characteristics of ant nests invading red mites mature anthills are clearly one of the ways to quickly identify red invading fire ants, because none of the approximately 270 species of ants in Taiwan will build a ground above 10 cm. The type of anthill, so the anthill of the hill is one of the basis for judging whether it is an invasion of red fire ants. However, it should be noted that the invasion of the red fire ant population before immature is not obvious, and it is easy to cause judgment errors with the ants' nests of other species.

Possible ways for invasive fire ants to enter Taiwan

* Smuggled horticultural products containing soil, such as seedlings and plants contaminated with ant nests.

* Imported culture soil (such as vermiculite, peat soil, perlite) contaminated by ant nests.

* The container mezzanine or the bottom of the container carries ant nests containing queen ants.

Proliferation pathways of invading red fire ants after entering Taiwan

* Active diffusion (natural diffusion): natural migration, flood spread.

* Passive diffusion (man-made diffusion): horticultural plant pollution, turf pollution, soil waste movement, compost, horticultural farming equipment, empty container pollution, vehicle pollution, etc.

The name of the fire ant is to describe the pain like a fire burn after being bitten by it, followed by blisters like burns. Invading red fire ant nests are extremely aggressive when disturbed by external forces. The number of mature ants nests can reach about 200,000 to 500,000 individuals. Therefore, invaders often suffer from a large number of fire ants biting with sting needles and a lot of acid. In addition to the venom injection, in addition to the immediate destructive injury and severe pain, the venom protein in the venom often causes the attacker to become allergic and risk death from shock. If the pustule is broken, it is often easy to cause secondary bacteria. Sexual infection. In a survey conducted in 1998, about 33,000 people in South Carolina needed medical treatment because of bites by ants. Of these, 15% would have a severe local allergic reaction, and 2% would have a severe systemic reaction causing anaphylactic shock. In the same year, there were two cases of deaths caused by direct bites of fire ants.

§ Two-stage chemical control law

The two-stage treatment method is a combination of two treatment methods, which is also the method most recommended by researchers and control personnel. Spread bait in the foraging area of red invading fire ants, and use an independent anthill treatment method after about 10 to 14 days, and continue processing until the problem is solved. The two-stage treatment method is recommended to be processed twice a year, usually the first time in April to May, and the second time in September to October. The two-stage chemical control method is recommended to be used as a pesticide control method. After approval by the Pesticide Advisory Committee, 3 kinds of baits and 6 contact agents can be used for fire ants control on agricultural land (Table 1).

Baits

Spinosyns

Fipronil

Pyriproxyfen

Independent Ant Nest Processing-

Contact insecticide

(Indlidual Mound Treatments-Contact Insecticides)

Permethrin

Cypermethrin

Deltamethrin

Fenvalerate

Carbaryl

Andan (propoxur)

Tables 1 and 2 Recommended Drugs

Bait

Most of the fire ant bait formulations use grinded and degreased corn particles as the bait matrix and soybean oil as the carrier. That is to say, the yellow solid material is degreased corn particles. Add it to soybean oil, and then mix the soybean oil containing the medicine with the corn particles, and the soybean oil will be an important ingredient of the bait to attract the ants to eat. However, soybean oil often begins to rot due to expiration, which affects the attractiveness of ants, so it needs to be used as soon as the bait is fresh. The medicaments used in the bait can be roughly divided into two categories: the first category is chemical agents (poisons), and the second category is insect growth regulators (IGR). General research surveys show that no matter which type of bait is used, the control effect obtained can only control 85% to 95% of the fire ant population. However, the obvious difference lies in the start time and speed of the decrease in the number of ant populations. Generally speaking, the effectiveness of growth regulators is relatively delayed, but it is more conducive to controlling the expansion of the fire ant population. Formulas for spreading the minimum effective amount of fire ant bait. In most cases, about 1 kg of medicament needs to be sprinkled every 4,000 square meters.

Use fresh bait

Apply the bait on a dry surface, and there will be no rain for 12 hours after the bait is applied

Use in places where fire ants actively forage

Do not mix bait with other substances such as fertilizer

Use the correct caliber and dose

Independent Anthill Treatment

Directly treating visible anthills with irrigation or powder or granules in severely and moderately hazardous areas, this control method can effectively prevent more than 98% of the anthills. However, its obvious disadvantage is that it can only control visible anthills, but many newly established ant nests do not produce obvious anthills. It is also difficult to see anthills in some places with dense control measures, which often causes Omissions in handling. Most of the filled dosage form products need to add 5 to 10 liters of medicament per ant nest to be effective.

§ Non-Chemical Control Law

Boiling water treatment

In mildly hazardous areas, non-chemical treatment methods such as hot water can be used instead of the aforementioned IMT drug control methods, which can reduce the impact of the drug on the environment. The method is to directly treat the visible ants mound with boiling water. The use of this treatment method has an effect of controlling anthills by nearly 60%. Use at least 6 liters of boiling water for each anthill, and it should soak all areas of the ant nest as much as possible. The single treatment success rate is low, but continuous treatment for 5-10 days may be successful. But be careful not to get burned by boiling water, and the boiling water treatment will also damage the surrounding plants.

Flooding

Another non-medicine control method is to use water flooding, ants can be drowned, but the proportion of successful killing of ant mounds is very low. The effective use of water flooding method is to directly dig the anthill, put the entire ant nest into a bucket of 15-20 liters full of cleaning liquid, and leave it for about 24 hours to eliminate the visible mature ant nest. note! Many fire ants are attacked when digging anthills. The biggest disadvantage of this method is that it can't deal with the area with a large hazard area; in addition, when handling the ant nest, do not overturn the ant nest to cause danger.

§ Biological Control Law

Biological control methods for fire ants in the United States have been studied, and preliminary release test results have been obtained, but they have not reached the mature stage. At present, two types of biological control methods are considered to have the potential to effectively control the density of invading red fire ant populations. They are small bud fungi and fire ant parasitic fleas from native fire ant natives in South America. Although the biological control method cannot completely eliminate the invading red fire ants, it is hoped that the survival advantages of the invading red fire ants will be reduced so that the native ants can compete with them.

§ Parasitic fungi

The small bud fungus will be transmitted to the queen by the infected worker ants through the feeding effect. Once the infected queen's weight will be greatly reduced, the egg production will be reduced, and the entire ant nest will gradually weaken. Small bud bud fungi can also be transmitted to queen larvae by worker ants, and the queen after emergence of pupae and emergence will still be infected. Ant nests can be extinct within 9 to 18 months, and they will become significantly smaller after 3 months of treatment. But researchers have found that not all queens in multi-queen nests will be infected by pathogenic bacteria, that is, some queens have obvious resistance. The small bud fungus was discovered in South America in 1973, and after investigation, it has established a foothold in the United States in 1996. Another main reason to use fire bud bacterium to control fire ants is that the study found that the bud bud fungus does not infect ant species in the United States, but only invades red fire ants and black fire ants. Sex.

§ Parasitic flies

Fire ant parasitic flies will parasitize the eggs of the fire ant worker ants. After the eggs hatch, the larva will feed on the ant's head. Finally, the worker ants will die. Parasitic fleas can severely affect and disrupt the foraging behavior of the fire ant population. . Studies have shown that fire ants parasitic fleas have obvious host specificity, and only parasitic invasion of red fire ants. In addition, fire ants parasitic flies are easily reared by fire ants in large numbers.

Invasive Fire Ant Public Health Education

Basic symptoms of being bitten by a fire ant

When the ant nest is disturbed by external forces, the red invading fire ants will quickly attack the invaders, and the worker ants will bite the skin with their big jaws, and use their barb-free sting needles to acupuncture 7 to 8 times in a row to put the venom in A large amount of venom is injected. The high concentration of toxic substances in the venom will immediately cause a severe burning sensation. This burning and itching sensation will last for more than 1 hour. After 4 hours, a blister will form in the captivity. Pustules will last for many days, and most people will be able to recover in about 10 days, but usually leave some scars. If the pustules are broken, it is easy to cause secondary infection of bacteria. People who are sensitive to some constitutions will have an allergic shock reaction due to the bite of the red invading fire ants, and even severe cases may cause death. Reactions to fire ant allergies are usually flushing of the face, general urticaria, swelling of the face, eyes, and throat, chest pain, cessation of breathing, blurred speech, paralysis, and heart attack.

Basic treatment steps after being bitten by fire ants

* For treatment after a fire ant bite, first treat the bite with ice and wash the affected part with soap and water.

* Generally, topical ointments containing steroids or oral antihistamines can be used to relieve the symptoms of pruritus and swelling, but try to use the above medicines as directed by your doctor.

* Secondary infection of the wound should be avoided as much as possible after being bitten. Different from the general blister treatment, the pustule should not be broken.

* If you have a more specific physiological reaction after being bitten by a fire ant, you must contact your doctor and explain to your doctor the symptoms after being bitten by a fire ant.

* Some people have more severe reactions to ant bites, such as general itching, urticaria, redness and swelling of the face, dyspnea, chest pain, and rapid heartbeat. You must seek a professional dermatologist or allergy specialist as soon as possible.

* If a person with a history of allergies is bitten by a fire ant, you need to seek emergency treatment from an allergist.